Leadership Principles: Accountability
Of all the leadership principles we’ve discussed throughout this series, this is probably the toughest. Not for me to write about necessarily but for us as leaders to comprehend and live out. If you were to ask ten different people what the word accountability means you’re likely to get eight or nine different answers. Anything from answering to the shareholders to being held responsible for my actions and decisions. I’d like to unpack this idea in a couple different ways. I’d like to talk about two different places of accountability, pre-mistake and post-mistake, which are really two sides of the same coin. But I’d also like to give a challenge to whom we should be accountable to. Let’s talk about that coin first.
On one side we have pre-mistake accountability. The idea here is pretty straightforward, a level of accountability that is in place before a mistake is made. Let me be very clear, this isn’t for the sake of covering yourself when a mistake is made but yet people who will keep you from going down that road towards the mistake. Again, we’ll talk about the who in a bit but first let me give an example. There’s not a decent parent in the world that would say yes to their children when asked if they could go play ball in the middle of an incredibly busy highway or interstate. That would be a mistake on the children’s part that could be fatal so we say no. Pre-mistake accountability sometimes looks like that but really, oftentimes, the person heading for the highway doesn’t ask but we still have to say no. If feels like we live in a world in which people want to forsake the friend for the sake of the friendship. We are so worried about hurting feelings that we don't speak up. Other times, we’re worried about our jobs, our reputations, our title, etc. so we stay quite only to allow that person to cause ripples throughout our organizations and lives.
Now, let’s turn that coin over. Post-mistake accountability is also pretty straightforward, at least in understanding, but is handled pretty different that the prior. There’s an unfortunate trend in human nature that causes us to want to “eat our own.” Too often we want to air their business, separate ourselves from them, and even scold them publicly. What if we were to go to them and say something along the lines of, “I know you’ve made a mistake but I’m going to stand by you and walk with you to make it right again. It’s not going to be easy at times and you’ll have to take the consequences but you won’t have to do it alone.” Could you imagine what that might mean to the person who is probably navigating a lot of emotions. They may need to step back or step down from leadership depending on the nature of the offense but we can look to restore them as a person. This is true in church circles, business life, and even families. It requires a great deal of humility on everyone’s part but in the end, it’s worth it.
I understand that this is just a brief snapshot, at best, of what accountability needs to be like but I want to make sure to get into the “who” of it all. You may have just read all that and thought, who do I have that could be this for me. Who do I trust that much? I believe the best accountability is called 360 degree accountability. It’s submitting yourself to those you answer to, peers you do life with, and those you lead knowing it’s for the best for you and your organization. It’s easy to receive accountability from those that lead us because in some way we have to answer to them. It may be for our paycheck or our job itself or it may just be for a particular project we’re passionate about. It’s a little more challenging to answer to our peers and especially to those we lead. It requires us swallowing our pride and listening with an open mind and then wading through the reality of what’s being said. Don’t miss this, it has to be done in the context of TRUST! We have to have a level of trust to hear the person holding us accountable and they have to trust that we’ll hear and receive what they have to say. The stronger the trust, the more likely of a quality conversation that could keep us and our organizations from trouble. In the event the trust isn’t quite as strong, I would encourage you to step back from the situation and evaluate whether or not the things being said are true. If not, thank the person who shared them and keep moving but if they are, make the necessary adjustments.
Truthfully, I can’t cover accountability in a post like this. I believe I’ve just scratched the surface with these ideas but hopefully I’ve given you some thoughts to process. Make sure you have people in your life that can ask the tough questions when necessary and can hold you up when needed. Stay the course! You have what it takes!