You can delegate authority. You cannot delegate responsibility.

What’s the difference? Well, authority is what someone can do. Responsibility is what they have to do. Typically, they go together. If you are given the power to do something, then you have the responsibility for getting it done right. Likewise, if you are responsible for getting something done, you need the authority to do it.

If you have the authority to do something, you can grant that power to someone else. If you are responsible to someone else, though, for getting something done, you cannot just absolve yourself of that responsibility and decide you do not want it anymore…if your boss is holding you accountable, you do not simply get to decide that you’re not.

But…

…even though you cannot pass off your responsibility to your boss, you can make your employees be responsible to you, and if you are giving them greater authority, you should.

We talk a lot in the leadership literature about empowering your employees and pushing decision making down to the lowest possible level. That’s especially great when you expect creativity and innovation form your people, because those require freedom of action in order for people to try new things. When folks get that power, though, they need to be held accountable for exercising it appropriately. That does not mean they should be fired when an idea doesn’t work out, but it does mean they should use good judgement and be ready to face the consequences if they are negligent or unethical. They need to realize that if they are given the freedom to make decisions then they need to make smart ones, and if they don’t, they will be held accountable.

Remember: at the end of the day, YOU are still going to be responsible to the people above you, but you need to make sure the same sense of responsibility flows from your employees back up to you.

Authority and responsibility go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other, so make sure you don’t give one without the other, either.