208 Transition

Most accountability problems in organisations are created by leaders who won’t let go.

A few years ago, I worked on a small project to build a new client onboarding system. I tried to introduce human-centred design. It failed—not because the idea was flawed, but because leadership couldn’t trust experienced employees to lead the work.

When leaders hold on too tightly, employees quickly become “difficult,” “resistant,” or simply a problem to be managed. I watched this happen in real time. Yet it could have been very different.

This experience raises a simple question:

What conditions genuinely allow accountability to emerge?

Peter Block offers a compelling answer: inversion.

Inversion is one of the tools that builds citizenship in workplaces—sitting alongside possibility, positive framing, and the stories leaders tell. But inversion is at the centre of accountability and co-design. It is remarkably simple: give away control to create ownership.

It is counterintuitive, but deeply human.

Who is not accountable to their own ideas?
Who doesn’t like learning on their terms?
Who doesn’t want to inject their experience into something that matters?

This is the culture that creates accountability—so often absent in hierarchy and managerialism. It’s not a loss of control; it’s a choice to create the conditions where people can step forward.

Is there risk? Of course. Sometimes those given inverted responsibility won’t respond. But change and transformation are learning circles built on feedback. At worst, you gain an insight. At best, you unlock capability that was invisible under traditional control.

If we want accountable workplaces, we need to rethink where responsibility lives—and be willing to invert.

Where have you seen inversion work (or struggle) in your own organisation?