By Carisa Holmes-Peters

How can a word make you squirm?

Accountability. Ohhh!! Does that word make you squirm a little? Tell me I am not alone? In my 25 + years of leadership, it’s a word that has come with many highs and lows. Being in business as long as I have, I have been fortunate to see both sides of accountability. When I avoided it, I floundered. When I embraced it as a positive part of growth, I moved forward. Repeatedly telling ourselves that accountability feels restrictive does not serve us well. So, let’s dig in and see if we can start to better understand why human nature nudges us to avoid accountability.

The word accountable is quite straightforward and simple. To be accountable is to be responsible. So why then, can being responsible become so complicated and gray within organizations? I take comfort in knowing I am not alone. I have seen it time and time again within teams, organizations, and even with certain individuals. The good news is that we can change our beliefs of accountability! Who has the most to gain? Each of us individually!!

So in this blog post, I would like to share with you 3 reasons why accountability isn’t always so simple. And I want to clarify, accountability touches everyone. From members of leadership to every individual on your team. Accountability is not limited to certain roles or levels of job responsibility. It impacts every single individual personally and professionally. 

To start, I’d like to restate why accountability is so important. Accountability is important to each of us and our organizations because it is directly tied to our goals. Now if you are sitting here thinking what goals? I have to break it to you….you have more work to do. Every individual should have goals; personal and professional. Goals are the foundation of what motivates you in the short term and ties to your long-term vision for yourself. Goals keep us growing and moving forward. Individual goals help you and they absolutely can contribute positively to the organizations you are a part of. 

So Why Do We Get Stuck?

Lack of ownership – 

When you have a sense of ownership for your part in the big picture, you will stay focused on where you are trying to go. Be sure to have your own goals and document them. Recognize your strengths and work to improve your weaknesses. Hold yourself responsible and reward yourself when you complete them.

Team Leaders avoid holding others accountable – 

This can happen for several reasons such as the team leader does not have trust. Maybe the goals are unrealistic or unattainable. Does every individual understand the large vision and how they fit into that picture? Leaders often don’t know how to be candid and navigate difficult conversations. We avoid what makes us squirm! Often feedback is avoided and not openly shared. However, as we all know, if you don’t talk about it, you can’t fix it!

Our thoughts, feelings, and actions are not serving us well – 

How many of us say we have goals and then each week we will allow ourselves to spend our time on things that are not tying back to the goals in the big picture? How many of us make excuses as to why we cannot accomplish what needs to be done? Goodness, in a year affected by covid, a plethora of excuses have been served up on a platter for us! When we give credibility to all the excuses, we are doomed to fail before we even get started. If you find yourself spending so much time defending your actions or output, take a step back and try to look at the situation from a neutral position. Deadlines, goals, expectations, benchmarks, scorecards…they are all neutral. They have no feeling or emotion. We bring that to the table and that is where things go off course. In the end, our success is directly impacted by our thinking, feelings, and our actions. 

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Oh, it’s just starting to get good. Those are hard truths that we need to hear again and again. Next month, I’ll share part 2 which will focus on 3 actions you can take to improve accountability for yourself and those within your team. It starts with letting go of any defensive or long-held beliefs that accountability is negative. Until then, spend some time making a list of the top areas in your personal life or organization that lack accountability. Be sure to include how it is negatively affecting the outcome you seek. If we focus on where we want to go, we can get there!

I’ll leave you with some great news! You have everything you need to change how accountability makes you think, feel and act!

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.”

-Jim Rohn, American Entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker.

Carisa Holmes has 25+ years of experience in leadership and office culture. She is currently an Owner and Administrator of Holmes Marketing Services. In her current role, she focuses mostly on Human Relations, Client Experience, and Office Culture.