Accountability is a word that gets thrown around a lot. What does it really mean? In essence, being accountable means doing what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. Accountability begins with a commitment.
Often, people are really good at taking on commitments. Which is to say, it’s very easy to say ‘yes’ when opportunity rolls around. Unfortunately, ‘yes’ is often the answer because ‘no’ is an uncomfortable or unacceptable response. Enough yeses and too few no’s, and you wind up overcommitted. That creates stress while you run around trying to keep up or worse, you stop meeting the commitments you’ve made which creates its own set of problems.
The key to making and keeping commitments is actually pretty simple. First, you recognize requests or interactions that generate actions. Then you decide what to do with those possible actions. If there is a person behind the request, you’ve got several choices: yes, no, counter-offer are three popular ones. But you can also ask for time to think or give a response based on contingency (yes, if…). It’s useful to remember that many (most?) requests don’t show up explicitly as such–they show up as hints, asides, or unvoiced expectations. Knowing a request when you see one is an important skill to cultivate. When in doubt, ask if there’s an underlying request on the table.
When it comes to working with others, most of us are too good at making commitments and pretty good at keeping them. The place where people tend to fall down is making and keeping commitments to themselves. This is where accountability can go from a buzzword to a powerful tool.
If you’ve ever had a coach, you know that accountability is at the heart of coaching. It’s the fuel that keeps the fire under the client’s butt to keep them in action. That’s because when a commitment is made to a witness, follow through becomes more likely. Being accountable to someone else is easy, natural. The obstacle a lot of people face is being accountable to themselves.
There are several ways around the tendency to let yourself down. You can find someone with whom to keep track of your personal commitments (a coach, a friend, your spouse). Another possibility, and one of my person favorites, is a checklist. I’m a fan of printing handy checklists on labels for my paper-based calendar. My daily tracking list includes keeping an eye on my weight, exercise, and walking the dog (who despite his deep desire, still has not learned to mind-meld with me). Just seeing those blanks on my daily checklist makes me want to keep my promises so I can check stuff off. Strength training? Check. Aerobic exercise: check. Walk the dog: check.
If you want to cultivate trust and build a reputation for great follow through, you’ll need to get good at recognizing requests, develop a ninja-like flexibility for responding to demands, and create a simple but powerful way to keep up with what you’ve said you’ll do and by when. If you want to get good at making and commitments to yourself, you’ll need to create accountability in a way that is as natural as falling off a log and as gentle as the nudge on my elbow when it’s time to get the leash.
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