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The 12 Week Year — Chapter-08: Accountability as Ownership
- Source: /library/The 12 Week Year/source-file.pdf
- PDF pages: 47–49
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Chapter 8 Accountability as Ownership Accountability is perhaps the most misunderstood concept in business and life. Most people equate it with bad behavior, poor performance, and negative consequences. As an example, when an athlete does something in violation of the league’s conduct policy, the commissioner will state publicly that the league will hold this athlete accountable and then issues a fine or suspension. It’s no wonder that most people want nothing to do with accountability. “Our last free act—after which no further free acts are possible—is to deny that we are free.” —Peter Koestenbaum People often talk about holding others accountable, especially in business situations. Often you’ll hear management say something like, “We need to do a better job of holding people accountable.” I’ve even heard individuals who truly desire to perform better say, “I just need someone to hold me accountable.” These types of statements reflect the mistaken notion that accountability is something that can and must be imposed; that’s not accountability, that’s consequences. In fact, it is impossible to hold someone else accountable. I like to joke that you can hold a baby and you can hold a bag of groceries, but you can’t hold someone accountable. Accountability is not consequences, but ownership. It is a character trait, a life stance, a willingness to own your actions and results regardless of the circumstances. In the book Freedom and Accountability at Work: Applying Philosophic Insight to the Real World, the authors Peter Koestenbaum and Peter Block discuss accountability as follows: We have a small way of thinking about accountability. We think that people want to escape from being accountable. We believe that
accountability is something that must be imposed. We have to hold people accountable, and we devise reward and punishment schemes to do this. These beliefs are so dominant in our culture that they are difficult to question, yet they are the very beliefs that keep us from experiencing what we long for. The very nature of accountability rests in the understanding that each and every one of us has freedom of choice. It is this freedom of choice that is the foundation of accountability. Accountability is the realization that you always have choice; that, in fact, there are no have-to’s in life. Have-to’s are those things we hate to do but do anyway because we have to. The fact is that there are no have-to’s. Everything we do in life is a choice. Even in an environment where there are requirements of you, you still have choice, but there is a big difference when you approach something as a choose-to versus a have-to. When something is a have-to it’s a burden, it’s cumbersome, and, at best, you meet the minimum standards; however, the realization that you ultimately have choice creates a very different scenario. When you choose to do something, you are able to tap your resources and give your best. It is a much more empowering stance. Ultimately, you choose your actions, your results, your consequences. “Accountability is not consequences; it’s ownership.” All of us have a tendency to look outside of ourselves for things to change and improve. We are waiting for the economy to pick up, for the housing market to turn around, or for our company to come up with a new product, more competitive pricing, or better advertising. It’s easy to become a victim to outside circumstances, spending time and energy hoping and imagining what our lives would be like if the world around us were different, believing that these are the keys to improving our results. The truth is you don’t control any of these things. The only things you control are your thinking and your actions. But those are enough if (and it’s a big if) you are willing to own them. Don’t get the wrong impression that somehow accountability as we’ve described it here is passive. It’s quite the contrary. True accountability actively confronts the truth, it confronts with freedom of choice and the
consequences of those choices. In this way accountability is extremely empowering, but you must be willing to confront reality and the truth of your situation. How you view accountability and to what degree you embrace it affects everything you do, from your relationships to your ability to execute effectively. When you understand that true accountability is about choice and taking ownership of your choices, everything changes. You move from resistance to empowerment, from limits to possibilities, and from mediocrity to greatness. At the end of the day, the only accountability that truly exists is self- accountability. The only person who can hold you accountable for anything is you, and to be successful you must develop the mental honesty and courage to own your thinking, actions, and results.