By nature, professionals pride themselves on their competence—the ability to apply their technical knowledge to situations in order to solve problems. There is great inner satisfaction that comes from a job well-done. Each engagement is a challenge to prove that you are, in fact, competent. And you’ve been successful over the years by applying methods, procedures and protocols that are tried and true.

And this is precisely where you can get into trouble because even with those built-in disciples and habits, you occasionally fall short. And it hurts. It penetrates your very core and you get that sick feeling, knowing you didn’t meet the challenge. Because it affects you deeply, you naturally want to protect yourself from the sting of a blunder.

There’s a problem? It should be right. It HAS to be right. But it’s not. It’s wrong. How could that be? It wasn’t me, was it?

So, being a problem solver, the first thing you do is to analyze how the problem occurred. You look at what you did or didn’t do. But what you’re really hoping to find is something that WASN’T attributable to you. Surely there is someone or something else involved to explain the misstep.

Do you notice the relief you feel when you do discover that the reason for the error is something beyond your control, at least partially? It’s comforting and reassuring. Aaaaaaah—something to blame. And blame gets you off the hook—at least for now.

• If traffic wasn’t so bad, I would be on time.
• If my staff had completed their work on time, I would have made the deadline
• If I didn’t get pulled from this job by a partner, I would have completed your assignment to me.

I heard of a manager, when questioned by a client about a report that was weeks late, confidently indicated that the report was on the partner’s desk for review. Of course, the manager failed to state that he had just put it there that morning, leaving the client to believe that it’s the partner who is to blame. Not very professional, but got the manager off the hook.

You do not enhance your professional stature by always having a “reason” for your underperformance. This week, catch yourself when you are tempted to blame someone or something else. When necessary, stay on the hook, be responsible and prevent it next time.