Accountability Leads to Greater Influence

Most people define the various facets of their circumstances as either within or outside their control. In fact, many people feel victimized when they are held accountable for things they perceive as outside their control—i.e., things they cannot change. However, in our experience, people who demonstrate high levels of accountability tend to define more of their circumstantial facets as “within” rather than “outside” their control. Would it surprise you if we said, “There are very few things that are entirely outside your control, especially if you think in terms of “influence” rather than “control?”

The process of taking greater accountability includes transferring the elements of our circumstances from “outside our control” to “within our ability to influence.” This is the very same process whereby companies create competitive advantage and people create opportunity—by beginning to influence the things they previously viewed as entirely outside their control. Nestle Purina illustrates this process nicely. A few years ago, the company began planning the systematic introduction of an easy-to-open dog food can, until preliminary market tests convinced the marketing department to attempt a dramatic acceleration of the new product’s introduction. So the Alpo EZ-Open Can team went to work, continually asking, “What else can we do to get the results we want?” They coordinated the activities at three different plant locations and assembled people from across several functions to accomplish the impossible. They cut market introduction by more than a year, something that had, at first, seemed impossible.

The way people take greater accountability for their circumstances and exert more influence is by asking the question, “What else can I do?” The repeated asking of this question makes it possible for people to formulate new and creative solutions that make progress possible. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.” And stay engaged. When pesky problems persist, don’t give up and stop trying—or wait and see if things will get better on their own. You will never make progress by focusing on what can’t be done. Think differently, as Albert Einstein advised, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Always solicit and strive to understand perspectives other than your own.

Yes, taking greater accountability to redefine the “uncontrollables” and exercise more influence upon the factors that affect your ability to succeed requires personal stretching and a willingness to see reality. But the benefits are more than worth it. To assess your own level of personal accountability, go to https://www.partnersinleadership.com/ and click on “Individual and Team Assessments.”