In my previous post, "Holding Accountability Accountable" I wrote that I was thinking about the concept of accountability and how we use. He are some of my thoughts on it.
Accountability is a good thing
I do not believe anyone would argue this point. Holding ourselves accountable and, if we are in a leadership role, holding others accountable is the only way to create an environment that allows for success.
Accountability is often used as a hammer
"I am going to hold you accountable for this." These are words we hear a lot...usually after a discussions about something that was not going well or underperforming. It also seems as if these words are used as a way to delegate the accountability - to lift it off the person saying the words to the one hearing them.
Just as you cannot delegate responsibility you cannot delegate accountability
When we tell someone, "I am going to hold you accountable" we also must tell ourselves the same thing. We are equally responsible for the results. We must make sure our team has the proper tools, guidance, personnel, ability, etc that they need to obtain the desired results.
Speaking of Tools
We must make sure that the tools we give someone are the proper tools. We cannot give our team a hammer when a screwdriver is needed. And just because we think we have given our team the proper tools we must follow up and make sure that they aren't using the hammer to beat on a screw.
Empowerment
We want the power to do what is necessary to accomplish the expected results. It frustrates us when we aren't given the freedom to decide the path - or at least be in on the discussion. We must empower our team before we can hold them accountable for the results expected. They may decide to do some things differently than we would but achieve if they achieve the required results it's ok...right?
These are just a few thoughts. I'm sure I will have more. Accountability is a complex topic and competing thoughts abound but it is a fun exercise to think about it!
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