An Article to Read Before You, a Highly Responsible Person, Burn Out

"That person really has a strong sense of responsibility."

That is one of the traits praised in workplaces and teams.
They pay attention to things they weren't asked to do, work beyond their own roles, and even cover for others' mistakes.

However, that "strong sense of responsibility" often creates a structure where you are exploited as a "convenient person" before you realize it.

And then, the person who was more serious and sincere than anyone else suddenly loses their passion for work one day.

"I'm the only one working hard."
"Everything is going to end up being done by me anyway."
"No one helps me."

--And so, in the end, they quietly burn out.
This is not a "personality problem."
It is a structural problem.

***

The more responsible a person is, the more they convince themselves, "I have to do it," or "I have to finish it properly." Behind that lies the desire of "not wanting to cause trouble for others" or "not wanting to lose trust."

However, that conversely creates a structure that expands the "room for others to slack off".

For example, let's say three people were sharing the preparation of materials for a meeting.
Even if one person is late, if you, with your strong sense of responsibility, cover for them, things will proceed without any problems on the surface. As a result, a "tacit expectation" that "it's okay because that person will do it" begins to accumulate.

This is an unconscious fixation of roles, and gradually, the structure where the "person who doesn't do it" stays that way, and the "person who does it" is burdened even more, is reinforced.

Another thing that highly responsible people tend to overlook is the discomfort regarding the fact that a "design for sharing responsibility" does not exist.

In fact, the more responsible a person is, the more likely they are to feel guilty about "leaving things to others"..
Therefore, they end up taking on tasks that should be handled by the team all by themselves.

But there is a pitfall here.
An organization should essentially be a "mechanism for distributing responsibility".

However, if a highly responsible person does not follow that structure and takes it on alone, the organization conversely transforms into a "structure that cannot distribute responsibility."
In other words, well-intentioned individuals are destroying the "function of distribution."

So, how can you escape this structure?

First, what is needed is the perspective that "responsibility is something that should be designed".

"Who bears which responsibility, and to what extent?"
"What is considered 'fulfilling one's responsibility'?"
"From where does 'shared responsibility' begin?"

Unless you establish a structure to define and operate these things, not based on intuition or custom, but by explicitly documenting them, the structure where highly responsible people "lose out on their own" will not disappear.

And another thing is to have the courage to delegate.

Delegating work to others is not the same as abandoning your responsibilities.
It is also an act of encouraging the organization to 'train in sharing responsibility'.

Having a strong sense of responsibility is noble.
However, if it is exercised to the point of wearing down your own mind and body, it is no longer a 'virtue' but a 'structural crisis'.

Many of those who burn out are people with a strong sense of responsibility.
The fact that they quietly disappear is a sign that 'there is a problem with the organization's design'.

If you are carrying the weight of responsibility all by yourself—
that is likely due to the 'structure'.

The previous #StructuralAnalysisTheorySeries was...