Accountability is a Skill Not A Weapon

No one can ever hold someone else accountable. It's not possible because accountability is a personal standard. 100% of the time you are either being accountable or not. 

There isn't a human being in the world that can "make" you accountable; other than yourself.

Accountability is poorly define and rarely understood in it's correct form.

The best definition I have ever heard about accountability was one simple word: responsible

But where do they teach this? It's one of the biggest keys to success in sales and business. However, no school, institution or organization that you can get a "business degree" from(that I am aware of) teaches it.

Holding yourself personally responsible for whatever happens to you, is being fully accountable to yourself. 

The best mangers and leaders develop their people's ability to be accountable. The never "make" people accountable to them.

The challenge that I see is people have made it acceptable for themselves or others, to use excuses and push off responsibility. It's way easier to give a lame or false excuse vs. looking inward and saying, "what role did I and/or my choices play into the outcome?"

We tend do blame other people, situations or circumstances to rationalize results vs. taking an honest inventory of what happened. The scariest and strangest thing that I am noticing, is the people who can be defined as "accountable" show up as unique or "rare" in the world.

Isn't this kind of backwards?

Common people look around them and wonder who is accountable for the things that happen to them. Accountability, to them, is always "out there" or somewhere else that isn't attached to them.

The highest performers in business begin to realize accountability is an INNER game and not an game of things OUTSIDE of them. In observing people who embody accountability AND success, I noticed they have these qualities:

• 100% Honest with themselves - They realize that if the lie to themselves all they are doing is holding themselves back. They seek the truth whether they like it or not. Honesty with themselves breeds success even if it's uncomfortable.
• Transparent with others - Being able to share truths about themselves leads to vulnerability and that builds trust in others. They use this transparency to get feedback from others which allows them to improve. They realize the more they "hide" the less help or respect they can receive. 
• Have a learning mindset vs fixed mindset - They are lifelong learners and they realize they will never stop that process. They have open minds that are always looking to improve if data shows up make things better. They never say "this is just the way things are" 
• Open to constructive criticism - They realize they can't see what they can't see. They seek out people who are really good at observing them objectively and listen to feedback. Action on the feedback isn't always taken and listening to it is always welcomed
• Take ownership of EVERYTHING they do; good or bad - If it happened to you, you played a part in it. So, the question that is asked, on a frequent basis is: "what role did I play in this?"
• Develop & maintain people's trust in them - People being able to "count on them" is a high priority for them. They make sure they only commit to promises they can keep. When they get off track to those promises they bring it up and renegotiate the promise to get back on track
• Identify any "breakdowns" & fix them as fast as possible - the honesty they have with themselves allows them to be self aware of what's happening to cause breakdowns. This allows them to go directly to the problem without wasting times on fixing symptoms of problems. The constant level of awareness helps them notice breakdowns faster which allows them to get back on track faster.
• Care more about character and integrity than being "right" - They do what the right thing to do when no one is looking. When people are looking, they don't change the facts to make themselves look "right" or look "good"

I am curious to learn more about what other people think about these traits and the topic of Accountability. I invite you to comment and share your thoughts on what you see in accountable people or have developed accountability within yourself?