Accountability

Accountability.  Accountability has been a common theme is many areas I have ventured the last couple of weeks - in social media, business meetings, training my clients, networking events.  It got me thinking.  What are my views on accountability?  What are your views on accountability?

The reflection on my own accountability took me several different directions.  The first is accountability to your peers.  I work on a variety of projects, from office administration to event management.  This project variety lends to working with a variety of personality types and management styles.  Needless to say, I work hard to work well with everyone to achieve the best results for all involved parties.  The countless projects I work on would never get completed if I did not have accountability to the other parties involved.

Accountability in business is what I am talking about.  You are embarking on a project, and generally speaking, the project has a manager, to which whom you are accountable for completing the project in a timely and thorough manner.  If the project falls short, you take the fall.  You are accountable for your actions and missteps throughout the life of the project.  If you perform well, you will be given more projects to prove your worth over and over again.  You may even see an increase in responsibility, perhaps now supervising others in the workplace.  These people will now be accountable to you.  You now have many people you are accountable to - your boss or supervisor and the people you are supervising.

As a supervisor, it is important that you hold yourself accountable to your people.  The people you supervise are counting on you to provide appropriate feedback and to be reasonably fair.  It is your job to follow up with project assignments.  After all, it is you that is ultimately responsible (and accountable) to your supervisor for incomplete projects.

At home, you are accountable to your family.  There is a rule - spoken or unspoken - that there should be communication with your family, especially your partner.  It is both of your responsibility to be accountable to the other for communicating with the other.  When you choose to not communicate with your partner, assumptions are made, fingers get pointed, and love disappears.  I am not a family counselor by any means; but I do know what works in my household.  Being open in communication and holding both myself and my partner accountable to promises we make to each other makes our relationship much easier and a lot more fun.

Amidst all the work and home accountability, it is important that you remain accountable to the debts you promised to pay.  Ever get the nagging feeling that you have forgot to do something you promised to do?  Perhaps it's pay back the money you borrowed from a friend.  Maybe you are late on your phone bill.  The point is that you made a promise and became accountable for the debt.  Pay it.  Pay it on time.  That nagging feeling turns into a feeling of gratitude quickly once you pay the debt.

Do you like to volunteer in the community?  Are you a part of a board of directors?  Talk about accountability.  You are now accountable to many other people doing the exact same thing you are doing - volunteering and contributing to the community or cause for the greater good.  It feels good to be a part of the bigger picture.  However, with the increase of exposure comes an increase in accountability.  If you forget or choose not to follow through with an assignment, more people than just your boss see the misstep.  The entire board or service community sees.

I am not trying to paint a picture of doom and gloom; I just thinks it's important to see that accountability goes a long way.  Accountability leads to organizational success.  Organizational success leads to overall success.

Most importantly, be accountable to yourself.  You cannot be accountable to anyone if you are not true to yourself.  If you make a promise to yourself, keep it.  It is easier to keep promises to others when you can keep promises to yourself.  First step, go and do it.  Stop reading this and get going.

(Thanks for reading.)