[mdkess]

"Compliments should always go to the team. Credit should be handed out freely and generously. Success belongs to the team but failures belong to you."

This is a distinguishing trait of every great manager that I've worked with.

[incision]

>"This is a distinguishing trait of every great manager that I've worked with."

If it's genuine, or at least convincing, I would agree.

I've witnessed a few attempts at this which clearly didn't meet that criteria and it was nearly the most off-putting managerial song and dance I've ever witnessed.

I get the impression there's a certain group of people who read lists like these online or in a book somewhere and go about mimicking them without understanding the underlying prerequisites.

Eating the failure and giving the success necessarily requires a total understanding of the actual successes and failures.

Without that, the selfless routine is doing everyone a disservice by hiding the actual problems and quashing further discussion that might reveal them.

[shrikant]

> I get the impression there's a certain group of people who read lists like these online or in a book somewhere and go about mimicking them without understanding the underlying prerequisites.

As a somewhat of an aside, I notice this disturbing tendency a lot in rookie salespeople. One of the bits of sales advice everyone appears to have read in some list somewhere is something about mirroring and first names.

It would creep me out (and trip the "douchebag alert!" signal) every time I spoke to a salesperson who would poorly imitate my mannerisms and keep jamming in my first name between their words.

[sukoto]

Fake it till you make it?

[yesimahuman]

It's not always so simple. Taking blame of others' mistakes can come across like regret for hiring or trusting that person. Sometimes part of giving people responsibility is letting them deal with the mistakes they make.

[mdkess]

Within the team, I think that is entirely appropriate. People thrive on, and should be given responsibility. Individuals should be rewarded or disciplined appropriately. That is part of the manager's job.

Outside of the team, ultimately the manager is responsible for delivering. That is their job, and with a good manager, the buck stops at them - without exception. If they don't deliver, it is their failure - even if that failure is a result of their reports failing to deliver, or unrealistic requirements from their superiors. Perhaps the appropriate internal action for that failure is to discipline their reports, but ultimately they are the captain of their ship, and should be the first one on and the last one off.

[joshyeager]

In this framework, you don't take the blame for others' mistakes. You take the blame for your team's mistakes, and take responsibility for fixing them. You explicitly do not place blame on the person who actually made the mistake, nor do you imply that you should not have hired or trusted them.

Obviously, all this assumes that it actually was a valid mistake. In the rare case where the failure was caused by gross negligence or intentional misconduct, then you should take responsibility for hiring and trusting them, and then you should fire them.

[donaq]

It depends on the execution, I think. http://thecodelesscode.com/case/106

[lazyant]

This is the standard for (good) coaches too regarding teams winning or losing.