A couple of months ago I was leading some staff development workshops for a client of mine, Patriot EMS of Ironton, Ohio. The material in one of those workshops, “EMS Supervision for the First-Line Supervisor,” was very familiar to me as I had developed the original program in the mid-1990s for the Officer Development Program at Chesterfield Fire & EMS.
As frequently happens when I’m teaching or facilitating training, my mind suddenly conjures up a story that makes a difficult concept much more easily understood by both my audience and me. While working with this particular group, the differences between responsibility, authority and accountability suddenly became crystal clear, for me as well as my group.
Now maybe I’m a little “dull,” but I’ve always had some difficulty explaining the differences between these three interrelated terms. As this section of the workshop approached, a story that could clearly explain these three concepts came to me. My story was about how I obtained my driver’s license in the state of New Jersey.
My Mom taught me how to drive. She taught me everything there was to know about operating and taking care of a car. She started out letting me drive in parking lots and on the back roads where there wasn’t much traffic. She focused on making sure that I knew the traffic rules, driver courtesy and what happens when you don’t do maintenance — everything I would need to successfully obtain my driver’s license and become a safe and courteous driver who understood my responsibilities as a driver. But none of that allowed me to start driving the family car on my own.
For that, I had to go down to the local office of the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles to take and pass the driving test, both written and practical. Only by demonstrating competency by passing those tests did the State of New Jersey give me the authority to operate a motor vehicle legally. By successfully obtaining my license, I entered into an agreement with the State of New Jersey: I could legally operate a motor vehicle so long as I obeyed the state’s rules on operating a motor vehicle.
Along with that license came accountability. By obtaining my driver’s license, I also understood and accepted that there would be consequences if I failed to follow the rules. Violations of those rules, such as exceeding the speed limit or being involved in a motor vehicle crash or other such activity would earn me “points.” Earn enough points and the State of New Jersey would revoke my license — my authority — to legally operate a motor vehicle.
Simple, huh? My audience that weekend thought so as well. I had been working with these terms for years and never really felt good about how I was explaining them to my officer development students. If only this “ah-ha” moment had come sooner!
