7 Truths about Accountability You Must Know

Picture of By Darren Finkelstein
By Darren Finkelstein

The Accountability Guy®

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7 Accountability Truths

Accountability is taking ownership of your actions and ensuring you get things done. It is key to achieving your organizational goals, dreams, and aspiration. Only when you are accountable to yourself and someone else will you be motivated to achieve your goals timely.

The accountability culture is based on creating plans, deciding to act on them, implementing and executing the plans. It is a culture wherein you avoid the blame game and excuses. While on the path to achieving your goals and accountability, there are 7 truths about accountability that you need to know.

This blog will tell you the 7 truths you need to know about accountability. So, read on.

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7 Truths about Accountability

To increase accountability in your organization and understand it better, you need to know 7 truths about accountability. As you read on, you will know the seven truths that will help you implement accountability in your organization:

Accountability Starts with You

One of the most important truths of accountability is that it starts with you. If you want to create a culture of accountability in your organization, it needs to start with you. You need to start modelling the behaviours that you want to see in your organization.

Start by taking ownership of your actions and ensuring you meet your commitments. Essentially you need to walk on the path that you want others to tread on. Only if you start holding yourself accountable will your team do so.

You Need to be Accountable

Accountability starts with you, and you need to be accountable. If you are the leader of your organization, you need to take ownership of all the actions that take place in the organization. You need to hold yourself accountable for your organization’s successes and failures.

In fact, accountability is a part of your job description when you are the leader of your organization. If you duck it, you will negatively impact the current accountability levels in your organization.

You Have to Hold People Accountable

You cannot merely tell people they are accountable for something and let go. You need to hold them accountable. You need to have progress reviews and regular check-ins on the process.

For instance, if you have set a goal and delegated a task to someone, you need to check the progress on the task and measure its efficacy in achieving your overall organizational goal.

You need to hold people accountable in such a way they know that they will be held accountable for certain tasks. You also need to ensure you are available to the people to provide support if things go wrong. Plus, if the people you hold accountable succeed, you can offer them praise. You can do this only if you keep track of their progress.

It is Not a One-Time Thing

Accountability cannot be and is not a one-time thing. It is an all-time thing. You cannot abandon accountability at any time.  You need to showcase accountability always and ensure you follow through on your commitments.

If you skip accountability at any moment, you will give people a chance to slip through the gaps. You will provide people with a gap to be accountable whenever they see fit.

You Cannot Delegate Accountability

Accountability is not something you can delegate like a task or responsibility. It is something that needs to be accepted for people to feel accountable. You need to ensure you set up the person for success; only then will they accept accountability. No one is going to take accountability for something that they believe will fail.

Ensure the person you want to hold accountable has everything they need to succeed. If they don’t, you need to provide them with the necessary training and more; otherwise, they will not accept the accountability.

Accountability Applies to Everyone

Accountability applies to everyone. Every person in your organization needs to be held accountable for something. You cannot play favourites. You need to request accountability from everyone consistently.

Suppose you choose to let even a single person slide from their accountabilities. Others will slide too.

Accountability is the Difference Between Success and Failure

Accountability is what defines whether you will fail or succeed. If people don’t take accountability seriously, things will start to go awry, and no one will take ownership of their actions. Your team will start playing the blame game, and it will lead to your organization’s doom.

So, ensure you foster accountability and hold people accountable so that your organization succeeds.

Endnotes

Accountability ensures you get things done in a timely manner. It provides you stay on track to achieving your goals and dreams. When you are on the path to achieving accountability and your organizational dreams and aspirations, you need to certain truths about accountability.

You need to know that accountability starts with you; it’s not a one-time thing; you cannot delegate accountability; it is the difference between success and failure. Plus, you need to hold people accountable and know that accountability applies to everyone.

To know more about accountability and find an accountability coach, you can consult TickThoseBoxes. They will enlighten you about the truths of accountability and ensure you get access to accountability coaches.