Everybody seems to believe in accountability.
At least when we’re talking about holding someone else accountable.
It’s easy for a leader to demand results, establish standards, and point out where others have fallen short. It’s considerably harder to look in the mirror when something goes wrong and ask a much more uncomfortable question:
What part of this belongs to me?
That’s where leadership begins.
I’ve watched organizations where accountability flowed in only one direction: downhill. Success belonged to the boss. Failure belonged to somebody farther down the organizational chart.
That may protect a leader’s ego, but it does tremendous damage to an organization.
People notice when the rules change depending on where you sit. They notice when a leader demands punctuality but routinely arrives late. They notice when employees are expected to admit mistakes while the person in charge explains his own failures away.
And they adjust accordingly.
If the boss won’t accept responsibility, why should anyone else?
Real accountability doesn’t mean a leader accepts blame for every mistake someone on the team makes. People must be responsible for their own decisions and performance. There are times when a leader has to look someone in the eye and say, “You didn’t meet the standard.”
But that conversation carries considerably more weight when the leader holds himself to that same standard.
Leadership isn’t about avoiding responsibility. It’s about accepting more of it.
When something goes wrong, good leaders don’t begin by asking, “Who can I blame?” They ask what happened, why it happened, what needs to change and whether something they did or failed to do contributed to the problem.
Maybe the expectations weren’t clear. Maybe the resources weren’t there. Maybe someone raised a concern that wasn’t taken seriously. Or maybe the leader simply made the wrong decision.
If so, say it.
“I was wrong.”
Those may be three of the hardest words for some leaders to speak. Yet admitting a mistake doesn’t make a strong leader look weak. Quite often, it does exactly the opposite.
It tells people that accountability isn’t merely something the boss demands from everyone else. It’s something the boss practices himself.
We hear a great deal today about holding people accountable in business, government, the military, and nearly every institution in American life.
That’s good.
But if we really want cultures of accountability, we’d better remember where they begin.
Accountability starts at the top – or it doesn’t start at all.
Dean Gemberling is the author of Servant Leadership Made Simple, a practical guide to building trust, developing people, and leading through service rather than position. Learn more about the book and Dean’s leadership writing at deangemberling.com.
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