{"id":707,"date":"2016-03-16T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/?p=707"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:20:23","slug":"everyone-is-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/everyone-is-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone is accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Accountability.\u00a0 Everybody talks about it, but few really practice it.\u00a0 In its purest form, accountability is a contract to carry out a specific responsibility, and if the responsibility is time-sensitive, to carry it out within a specific time frame.\u00a0 The problem is, for many people, \u00a0accountability isn\u2019t viewed as a contract, but more of a guideline . . . a casual sort of thing.\u00a0 When someone is asked to take on a responsibility, their mindset may be, \u201cI acknowledge what you want and when you want it, but I\u2019ve got a lot of other stuff to do, so no promises. OK?\u201d\u00a0 In other words, in some organizations, holding someone accountable may mean getting their good intentions, not necessarily their full commitment.\u00a0 It\u2019s a cultural thing.\u00a0 If it\u2019s true that \u201cyour culture is defined by what you tolerate,\u201d then what sort of accountability do you tolerate?\u00a0 Real commitments or just good intentions?\u00a0 For more on this, please continue reading below.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone is accountable.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the U.S. Navy, ship captains understand accountability very well because for them, being accountable is absolute.\u00a0 A ship\u2019s captain is fully responsible and accountable for everything that happens on (or to) his ship 24\/7.\u00a0 Whether the captain is on the ship or ashore, awake or asleep, or the victim of an Act of God, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 He is responsible for the well-being and the performance of his ship and crew regardless of the circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t often find civilian organizations that hold accountability to that high a standard, but maybe they should.\u00a0 What would it feel like, for instance, to ask someone on your team to complete a certain task by a certain time and date, and be absolutely 100% confident that it would be done correctly and on time?\u00a0 What if <\/span>everyone<\/span><\/span><\/em> on your team held themselves to that level of accountability?\u00a0 What if everyone in your entire organization practiced that level of accountability, not just between superiors and subordinates, but to one another, to customers, and to suppliers as well \u00a0\u00a0What if it were a cultural norm at your place that when any one of us accepts responsibility for doing something, it\u2019s as good as done.\u00a0 You can take it to the bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how do you infuse that level of accountability into an organization?<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Good communication is a key.\u00a0 People need to understand what being accountable truly means, why it\u2019s important to the organization, and most importantly, what it looks like when it\u2019s being practiced appropriately.<\/li>\n
  2. Consistency is crucial.\u00a0 We can\u2019t hold people accountable one day and give them a pass the following day.\u00a0 And we have to hold people accountable for things big and small . . . not only to bring a big project in on time and on budget, but also to be prepared and on time to the weekly staff meeting.<\/li>\n
  3. Get agreement up front.\u00a0 When you\u2019re asking someone to do something, make sure they agree that they can do what\u2019s being asked.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t, you may have to do a little negotiating \u00a0. . . either reducing the scope of the project, or allowing more time for its completion.<\/li>\n
  4. Make it clear to the person receiving an assignment that you want to operate by the Doctrine of No Surprises.\u00a0 Acknowledge that unforeseen situations can arise that might prevent a task from being completed as planned, and that\u2019s OK as long as the bad news is communicated in a timely manner.\u00a0 What\u2019s not OK is to wait until the project is already late before saying anything about it.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not comfortable with that level of oversight, you can ask for regular progress reports to make sure projects are on track.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We\u2019re all human, so from time-to-time, we may fail in some of our commitments.\u00a0 We\u2019re not suggesting a public flogging every time someone slips up, but nor can we just ignore such lapses.\u00a0 So simply acknowledge the slip up, re-commit to the principles of accountability, and move on.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This may seem like a big undertaking, and it is . . . in the beginning, at least.\u00a0 But in the end, a willingness to hold yourself and others accountable becomes a habit and an intrinsic part of your culture.\u00a0 At that point, it builds tremendous trust throughout the organization and beyond . . . trust that our word is our bond, that we keep our promises, and that we honor our commitments.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Accountability.\u00a0 Everybody talks about it, but few really practice it.\u00a0 In its purest form, accountability is a contract to carry out a specific responsibility, and if the responsibility is time-sensitive, to carry it out within a specific time frame.\u00a0 The problem is, for many people, \u00a0accountability isn\u2019t viewed as a contract, but more of a<\/p>\n

    Read More\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,33,29,27,26,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}