I had an opportunity to work with a large group of leaders from a very successful company and was astonished at the overall uneasiness when we came to the subject of accountability.
What was so surprising with this particular group was the fact that they were a highly accomplished group, yet still the very idea of accountability brought up a whole myriad of negative self-talk, anxiety and general apprehension.
As we drilled further, we realized personal accountability strikes at the very core of people’s self-view, past history, perceived value or esteem amongst team members. At the end of the day everyone knew accountability was important and that they had to work on being able to hold each other accountable and learn to practice accountability in objective and supportive ways that don’t make it feel so personal and damaging to each other.
The group talked about the fact that team accountability starts at a personal accountability level. They realized they all had to build the muscle of being able to give each other feedback and take the feedback, yet still be a strong and collaborative team.
As a coach it’s my job to help players (business professionals) learn to embrace feedback and use it as a positive building block to higher levels of performance. I teach people how to be mindful of their internal reactions and to stop and take a breath and realize in doing so it will allow them to be better recipients of the important information that comes along with being held accountable.
Lean into personal accountability and you’ll have a stronger more successful team!
