The Price of Non-Accountability

Organizations and their people pay a huge price, whether they know it or not, for non-accountability. Unmet milestones, missed opportunities, and undelivered results often stem from a lack of accountability. The price of non-accountability that people and organizations pay in terms of lost revenue, diminished profits, compromised growth, customer dissatisfaction, and unsuccessful value creation is enormous. And that doesn’t include the personal pain inflicted on others when things go wrong.

A lot has been written about BP and the gulf disaster in the past several weeks. Sadly, BP’s apparent lack of accountability for contingency plans if “worse case” accidents occur seems to be blatantly obvious. And look at the consequences—an environmental and wildlife nightmare, destroyed livelihoods up and down the Gulf Coast, and another blow to a beleaguered petroleum industry.  BP’s stock was the bedrock for pension funds in Britain—millions in market value has been lost.

The price of non-accountability is endless—missed results, tarnished reputations, lost opportunities, innocent victims, emotional turmoil, personal tragedy, unfulfilled expectations, waste, destruction, and untold burdens placed upon future generations. Sounds bleak? That’s because it is. Disasters like BP, in all their various forms, occur more often than we care to admit. And every one of them takes an enormous toll on all of us, individually and collectively.

What is the price you’re paying today for a lack of personal accountability? What about the price your organization is paying for a lack of accountability? What’s the cost, quantitative and qualitative? Think about it. In fact, fret about it until you decide to do something about it. The only way we’re going to create a better future for ourselves, our children, and their children is to become more accountable, one person at a time. And that means starting with you. What can you do right now, to become even  more accountable?

Greater accountability always leads to better results across the board for you, your family, your friends and neighbors, your community, your company, your country, and the world in general. Go to our website, www.partnersinleadership.com, if you’d like to assess your own level of accountability—compare yourself to the average score of the general population. We all need to get better.