Accountability

"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses."

George Washington Carver - American Botanist and Inventor

Is accountability an issue in your business? Do you get frustrated when things don't get done on time or done correctly? Are you tired of the excuses? Accountability is one of the common themes with many of the companies I work with. When it surfaces as an issue I ask my clients how they hold themselves accountable first. The typical response is, "Accountable to what?" to which I expertly reply, "Exactly."

The point is, unless we know what we want from our business, what our purpose is, we have nothing to hold ourselves accountable to. That puts us on really weak footing when trying to hold others accountable.

I'll often ask clients why they do what they do. These are hardworking people with a lot of impressive skills. The answers tend to be around the theme of wanting a better life for themselves, their family, employees, customers etc. As their company grows though they find their responsibilities grow as well. At some point they often realize they're working harder than ever and for some reason a lot of the fun has disappeared. They often have a lot of nice things to show for their hard work but find they have less and less time to enjoy it and the people they care for. I actually had the founder of a 25+ year old very successful company tell me he hated it when he turned the lights on in the morning. His work life balance had turned into a joke and his sense of fulfillment for his original idea nowhere to be found.

There's an old line that speaks to this. It says, "You've changed from a human being to a human doing." Does this sound at all familiar?

If it does, answer the following two simple yet powerful questions:

1. What do I want out of life?

2. Is my business helping me get it or keeping me from it?

In his book, "Accountability", author and businessman Greg Bustin says it's easy to describe what we do. CEO, CFO, GM, Engineer, HR, sales etc. However it's much more difficult to describe what we want to be. So, what do you want to be that causes you to do what you do? Do you do it for the money? Sure, money is important but what drives you? What's your purpose? What fulfills you?

Many times we find we've wrapped ourselves up in a web of responsibilities we don't enjoy doing to the point we've left little time for doing the things that energize us. Which ironically are usually the things we're best at and why we were successful in the first place.

When you think about it though, unless you know what you want and hold yourself accountable to your purpose for doing what you do, it's very hard to hold anyone else accountable.

So how do you get back to a life of fun and fulfillment? First, stop doing the things you don't like doing and get back to doing the things you do. It might be hard at first. Change usually is. We often won't consider changing until the pain of doing the same thing over and over again becomes unbearable. Second, work with people you enjoy working with and create a company that everyone cares about. Both take effort but the results are worth it.

Give some thought to the things you're willing to do, the things you want to do and the things you can do. It's at the intersection of these three things that fulfillment is found.

Hold yourself accountable to yourself. Don't settle for anything less than leading a fulfilling life. Dream big and get back to doing what you love to do!