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Funny
thing, accountability. Ask almost anyone if they hold
themselves accountable and you will receive one of
several replies: 'Of course!', 'Sure!', 'I do, but
no one else seems to!'. Notice the emphasis.
And
then reading a book recently about personal accountability
and read this statement:
'Accountability
starts with you!'
I
could not stop laughing. Perhaps is struck me funny
because it was late in bed. My wife thought there
was something very wrong with me. Well, perhaps there
is, but my response was normal.
I
pictured Abraham Lincoln pointing a finger at me while
saying very loud and with feeling, 'Accountability
starts with you!'
Houston,
we have a problem.
Abe,
buddy, turn that finger around.
I
understand what the meaning was supposed to be and
I even understand it was well intentioned. But
that is not what it says. Let's be correct and accurate
if we are talking about accountability. Accountability
starts with me. Let's say what we mean, people. Don't
let Abe or ourselves off the hook here. Let's hold
ourselves accountable for saying what we mean.
Nevertheless,
poor Abe is guilty of something we all do at some
point. We point fingers. We look to find some outside
source to blame for our circumstances. We rage, we
yell.
·
'It was the xyz department.'
· 'It was the xyz department that forgot
to ________.'
· 'It wasn't my idea.'
· 'We could sell more if we had xyz.'
· 'My manager doesn't spend enough time with
me to train me right.'
· 'My manager interferes too much.'
· 'My employees just stand around every chance
they get.'
· 'It's Not My Fault!, and my personal favorite,
· 'It's not my job.'
Sound
familiar? I do this EVERY day. This is victim thinking.
What will any of those statements do to solve the
problem? Nothing.
How
often do we look inside and ask ourselves, 'What could
I have done to make that situation better?' The answer
to myself is, 'Not too often.'
Honestly,
I find I have to work very hard to not blame. It is
so much easier that trying to work out a solution.
I
am no pillar of strength. I fall into the same cycle
of victimization as everyone else. I blame, mostly
my wife. She is a handy target. But I will choose
anyone so that I don't feel responsible and accountable.
Accountable to myself. And I don't do this on purpose.
It is a habit, and not just a habit at home. I carry
it to work with me every morning.
How
do we stop this cycle of non-accountability, even
with ourselves? We already know the answer, the difficulty
is sticking to it.
When
is the subject of accountability brought up most?
When it is CYA time. Very few discussions about accountability
are held when things are going well. Why is that?
Wouldn't that be the best time for it? No one is in
trouble yet. Everyone is on the same moral high-ground
in the beginning. Establish the ground rules for accountability
from the start. However, in today's busy, fast-paced
business world, there is simply not time. That is
what I am told.
To
illustrate personal accountability in it's best form,
I have a short story to tell.
We
have recently been working with an employee of a particular
company. This person was unhappy with their current
work environment and was extremely concerned and frustrated.
This
person mistakenly signed up for our free organizational
assessment thinking that they would get an answer
about her culture in five minutes or so with some
great advice on some action they might be able to
take.
After
this person took the survey and asked where the report
was, I explained the survey is for an organization.
We needed more people for an analysis.
Most
people would simply have said, 'Thanks for nothing',
but this person made the decision to hold themselves
accountable and make something happen.
Email
was very difficult in their organization, so they
printed the survey, made copies, distributed them,
collected them and them inputted ALL the data from
each survey by hand. At last count they were up to
46 surveys with each survey
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having
51 multiple choice answers and four open-ended questions.
46 surveys, all by hand. She even typed in
all of the comments in the open-ended questions. Do
you realize the work involved with that?
This
person is the epitome of personal accountability and
the antithesis of apathy. At some point they made
the decision to be 'part of the solution' and has
put in huge amounts of work on their own time to help
improve the work environment for themselves, their
colleagues and their company. You know who you are
and I hope you are as proud of yourself as we are.
It
is the aware person who will recognize when personal
accountability is lacking in his or her own life.
The wise person who will listen to feedback openly.
And the brave person who will say "Okay, I'll
do what it takes to change and improve my own life."
Let's
challenge ourselves and try to be all three -- aware,
wise and brave. Accountability starts with me!
P.S.
In a recent update from the employee above who remained
anonymous to her company out of fear of retribution,
the company (large, multi-billion dollar international
service organization) has made a number of company-wide
changes recently that were directly related to many
of the comments and results from the organizational
assessment. Who ever said that one person does not
make a difference?
Want
to do your own organizational culture assessment in
your organization? See here: http://www.employeedevelopmentsolutions.com/cultureassess.htm
Contact
us to bring a specialist in personal accountability
into your organization. Contact us at 925-264-4426.
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