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I taught a class on accountability yesterday and it continues to amaze me that so many leaders don't really understand the concept of accountability. The definition of the word has morphed over recent years and many leaders struggle greatly to comprehend how to get more accountability with team members. Why?
Dictionary.com actually represents accountabilty as a synonym of responsibility. This is wrong. The root word in accountability is "count" while the root word for responsibility is "respond". Accountability is the ability to count and responsibility is the ability to respond. We must have some form of measurement to hold people accountable and responsibility is the ability to respond to a situation.
Holding someone "responsible" is code for BLAME. If you seek blame, you are not holding someone accountable. If you have no measurement...you cannot count. Accountability is simply a representation of the measurement. You hired me to make 10 and I made 12. You hired me to make 10 and I made 8. It is not good or bad it simply "is".
The result of the measurement is accountability. When we learn to practice true accountability, it becomes difficult to argue with the facts. A great example is the tragic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. With blame and accusations starting to me made, the truth about the actual cause and the ability to prevent the event in the future is going be very difficult to achieve. Blame kills information and improvement becomes very illusive.
Accountability is a process and a skill that can be learned. There are certain actions that any leader can implement to promote true accountability. Learn these simple skills and your team's accountability will flourish!
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