Accountability Is Not the Same as Blame
There’s a lot of lip service around the term “accountability”.
It’s probably on a wall somewhere in your office, and it populates company visions, values, and goals.
However, I believe accountability to be one of the most misunderstood concepts in businesses, as well as life in general.
The misunderstanding is twofold:
1. First, most of us associate BLAME with accountability, but they are, in fact, quite different.
Blame is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as “the situation in which people say or think that someone or something did something wrong or is responsible for something bad happening”.
Cambridge defines accountability as “the fact of being responsible for what you do and able to give a satisfactory reason for it”.
Very different! To begin with, blame assumes that something is wrong, while this is not the case with accountability. Whether you are blaming yourself or others, blame is an inherently accusatory and negative concept. Blaming rarely produces long-lasting results, let alone personal growth or leadership development.
“Blame is a lazy person’s way of making sense of chaos.”
— Douglas Coupland
2. Second, while blame can be conferred on someone else, accountability is engagement and ownership we impose on ourselves. I cannot hold you accountable if you do not do so yourself.
Think about that for a minute.
Accountability starts with you. As a leader, it is essential that you hold yourself accountable. You are first and foremost accountable to yourself; to do your best to keep the intentions and promises you make to yourself. You have also most likely made yourself accountable to your own board and/or CEO for results and initiatives.
But to inspire your team to hold themselves accountable for their own responsibilities, you will need to demonstrate that you are accountable to them. Communicate your own commitments and responsibilities to your employees, as appropriate. Keep them updated as to progress – or lack thereof. You are not only modeling behavior you wish them to emulate but setting the stage for institutionalizing accountability into the organization.
And that’s when the real workplace culture change magic happens; when all employees in an organization hold themselves accountable for their own performance and that of the company. Through our work as executive coaches, Momentum professionals have been privileged to help scores of leaders ensure their culture makes employees feel engaged in their work, therefore driving and sustaining greater performance and more revenue.
Personally, I hold myself accountable for offering ideas here that are helpful, inspiring, or both. Please let me know how I’m doing!
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Fundamental of the Week #12: BE ACCOUNTABLE
Own what happens in your world. That means holding yourself and others to account in a way that strengthens the relationship.
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