Credit and blame are at the heart of organizational behavior. Over the years, issues of credit and blame have been among my clients' top concerns. When working well, credit and blame can enable individuals, teams, and entire organizations to confront reality and effectively move forward. When broken, however, credit and blame can derail efforts at any level of an organization.

Among the top complaints my clients have had about credit and blame are that their bosses simply "don't get it", and see the world through biased lenses.

The following are examples of descriptions that apply to an unfortunately large proportion of bosses:

"Rewrites history" in order to unfairly claim credit or deny blame

Blames due to personal biases rather than the facts at hand

Blames others for own errors or mistakes

Blames situational factors rather than own performance for poor results