Proof of Accountability Lies in the Results

In the end, personal and organizational accountability means accepting full responsibility to achieve results, i.e., Do It.^® If you don’t Do It, you will never reap the most valuable benefit of full accountability: Overcoming your circumstances and achieving the results you want. Irrespective of the many benefits that accrue from applying the other three steps—See It,^® Own It,^® and Solve It^®—results only come when you put all four steps together and passionately, proactively, and persistently Do It!

Recently, the senior leadership team of a midsize manufacturing company started questioning whether they would be able to achieve the Key Results they’d committed to achieve six months earlier. Specifically, they believed they could achieve their profit goal because of a spike in sales at the beginning of the year, but they had serious doubts about achieving their operating expense goal. Revenues had declined steadily since the first of the year, while operating expenses had increased in response to the revenue erosion. After much debate about whether operating expenses should be cut to meet the goal or allowed to increase to preserve the company’s future, the COO and CFO took a hard stand. Echoing each other’s words, “If we “cave-in” on our Key Results now, when times are tough, we’ll never build the Culture of Accountability^® we really want and need. Not meeting our operating expense goal is not an option. We have to make the hard choices about what to spend and what to cut. Our Key Results matter—we have to keep asking ‘what else can we do?’ in order to achieve them.” The debate was over. Members of the senior leadership team conceded to do what was necessary to meet their operating expense goal for the year.

That’s right, Do It means embracing full responsibility for results and remaining answerable for progress toward those results, regardless of your prevailing circumstances. Sometimes, hard choices have to be made to achieve results. Remember, the proof of accountability lies in the achievement of results, short-term and long-term. To learn more about how the four Steps to Accountability^® can help you and your organization achieve greater results, go to www.partnersinleadership.com.