Who’s accountable?

Yesterday Richard Branson tweeted: “Building a business is not rocket science; it’s about having a great idea and seeing it through”

He makes it sound so simple, doesn’t he?  I’m sure the comment wasn’t flippant in any way.  The process must get easier if you keep on repeating it the way he and his team do.

One of the things that Sir Richard and his team do brilliantly is to assume personal accountability.  The man is never one to point fingers or to lay the blame elsewhere. 

What is accountability?
Accountability is the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner – www.businesdictionary.com

The words responsibility and accountability are often used interchangeably but there is a distinct difference between the two.  Simply put, responsibility is given and accountability is taken.

Accountability is often negatively associated with blame, being responsible or being wrong.  This brings out the deflecting blame skills we as humans seem to have no problem developing!  It was his/her fault.  The government did it to us.  The devil made me do it.  I bet you heard some good ones too.

It’s just so much easier to be the victim than to be accountable.  Playing the victim has become popular.  It seems you have to be a victim to be part of the group/crowd these days.   It makes you belong, it builds camaraderie.  Remember my piece about associating with negative people?  This is a similar situation.  Move away from the victim mode and towards accountability.
                                  
Who’s accountable?
We are easily duped into the idea that someone else is running the show.  That we are just here to do our job and that “they” are accountable for our progress.  Wrong - you are accountable!

You are accountable in your personal life and your professional life.  In fact, the only person you can really hold accountable, for anything, is yourself.  Do what you say you are going to do.  Don’t slip into victim mode.  And watch the effort, loyalty, passion, pride and innovation grow.  

Being accountable goes hand in hand with telling the truth – to yourself and to others.  It’s impossible to separate the two.   It may seem silly to talk about honesty and truth here because it is implied.  The truth is, we battle with the truth.  We battle to be honest with ourselves and we battle even more to be honest at work.

We need a culture of accountability in our business.  We need a habit of accountability in our personal lives.  Take control, take action and bring about change.  Accountability is something you do to yourself, not something that someone does to you.