Essential Force 4: Accountability

The fourth Essential Force of Success is Accountability. Read more about it below:

Accountability

Definition (from Dictionary.com): the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.

As stated in my post outlining the 5 Essential Forces of Success, Accountability is taking responsibility for your actions, as well as your lack thereof. Without a sense of accountability, your intentions will always be thwarted by the newest idea that pops into your head, and those closest to you will begin to grow tired of the constant finger pointing. What is worse, a lack of accountability leads to a lack of integrity, causing you to alienate further those around you through lies and deceit.

Accountability is one of the toughest forces to utilize because it requires so much humility and integrity; you must put your pride aside to take responsibility for your actions and accept the consequences for them. As an example, I had a task at work where I was responsible for loading some templates into the system. These templates were to be used to create training and documentation for some valuable processes and vital assets to the organization, so my part was a pretty big deal. Unfortunately, when the template creator handed them off to me via the e-mail, I only saw three templates, missing the fourth and most important template. This costly mistake wasn’t realized until a week after the templates were loaded, causing significant delays.

I realized I had to take responsible for the error, even though I really didn’t want to. So I called an emergency meeting with my manager and informed them of the situation. My manager wasn’t thrilled with the mistake, but I was accountable and quickly outlined a plan to remediate the issue. Leaders do make mistakes, but they are expected to take the actions that I took to ensure a quick recovery from them.

Remember, accountability gets things done, and keeps you honest while doing it. Excuses, self-victimization, and fear all play into lacking this crucial force. Once you rid yourself of these limiting factors, you are free to learn and grow from previous mistakes. More importantly, it has ripple effects on your ambition and drive. Once you begin to hold yourself accountable to the end of an endeavor, you will be more ambitious and motivated to push your limits beyond what anyone (including yourself) believes you can do.