Leadership & Personal Accountability
June 2, 2009
Leadership is crucial. Make no mistake about it - when we lead, where we lead, who we lead and how we lead has ramifications far beyond what we may think. Therefore we must remain sharp, on point, and competent.
Leaders must always be alert and self-aware. We must know when it’s time to get away from the “urgent” and take time for the “important” - like the sharpening of our saw (mind). Otherwise we grow weary, work harder instead of smarter, get lazy and make decisions that are not always our best. We begin to settle for the old axiom of “good enough”. Slowly we begin to lose a bit of our edge of excellence and enthusiasm we had when we began our leadership journey. To avoid this pitfall we need each other. We need accountability.
We usually associate accountability with personal face to face relationship that may bring up negative or positive emotions depending what our experience has been. Some of us have had the pleasure of being mentored up close and personal by a great leader that possessed all the qualities and characteristics we admire and strive to emulate. Others have experienced let down, frustration and a bitter break in relationship. Nevertheless, whatever the case may be, accountability is still a bedrock principle for competent and long lasting leadership.
For those struggling with past experiences and/or struggling to find “the right” personal mentor, I offer some alternative ways to look at being personally accountable.
Over the years I have studied, read, analyzed and subscribed to numerous books, articles, magazines, video and live presentations. I have watched and learned from some of the “Masters” (as we might refer to them) at the top of the field of leadership past and present. Leaders such as Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Ken Blanchard, Hyrum Smith, Anthony Robbins, Warren Bennis, Daniel Coleman, Napoleon Hill, Peter Drucker and a host of others.
One of the things I observed and thought about was the autonomy, loneliness as it were, of those at the top. After all, who holds the top leader accountable? It seemed that they were all mentors of others, holding others accountable, but what do those at the top do? Some of them refer to their personal mentors, others do not. Still others answer to a Board or advisory council, but that is not always the same thing. Professional accountability is one thing. Personal accountability is another.
Below are some suggestions on how to consider personal accountability from a different, yet practical perspective. As I share my thoughts I hope you will discover, or re-discover, your personal path of accountability.
1. Strangers can help you be accountable - Sometimes it’s those who don’t know us that can give us the insight or correction we need. This happens in a passing comment, situation you observe or a direct comment from the security guy at the airport that delivers the kick in the butt we need.
2. Relatives - Wisdom and accountability can found in the most unlikely places. We may have thought our mom, uncle, aunt, grandma, mother-in-law, etc. were too old, or out of touch and unable to teach us about us. However, unexpectedly it’s at the family reunion, Christmas party or wedding where we reconnect and stumble across old school wisdom that holds us accountable in ways we may have taken for granted and overlooked.
3. Good Books - Many of the people I consider “my personal mentors” are people I have never personally met, but whose books I have not simply read, but studied and consumed once and again. My notes in the margins and highlighted passages - are all dated so when I go back to them I can see how long it’s been and what progress (or not) that I have made regarding the principle I committed to when I first read the book.
4. Media - There’s nothing like a good movie, song or TV show that speaks right to your heart and brings you to that place of brokenness and child likeness again. Media that causes humility and necessary paradigm shifts can hold us accountable to personal goals and values in the most indirect but powerful way.
5. Sermons - For churchgoers sermons can really keep us in check. All of us are bombarded with the thinking of others - the political, social and cultural clashes of the day. You would have to live in a cave not to be. At the end of the day, the nice thing about hearing a good sermon is you get to sit and take in what God’s Word has to say on particular issues from a spiritual perspective. It reminds a leader we are part of something much bigger than our own ambitions.
6. Children - Need I say more? The simple honesty and innocence of children will bring you to accountability quicker than all those high priced leadership seminars we pay to go to. Not that we don’t need the seminars, but in case you can’t afford it in these days of recession, don’t forget that “out of the mouth of babes” comes wisdom and lessons we need and should heed.
7. Spouses - As in the example above, our spouse has a way of bringing us back to reality very quickly. Talk about up close and personal! There’s no escaping this accountability whether we like it or not. Public image is easy, private character is work and no one knows our private character better or is more qualified to call us into accountability than our spouse.
To be sure, I don’t mean to imply that we can be a “Lone Ranger” all the time because we had a bad experience with a past boss, leader or coach. But the bigger point about personal accountability is that even if we do have a mentor, it doesn’t guarantee progress if we don’t receive their guidance. Remember, the key to personal accountability is possessing the personal integrity to receive wisdom in the form of correction. And if we don’t, or can’t, find someone who can directly speak into our lives, I suggest we can find that needed voice of accountability in the many simple, daily things and people around us.
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