How to Practice Personal Accountability
accountability action growth mindset mindset personal accountability volunteeringThe Answer to the Question is: "Me!"
The answer to the question should always be: “ME, I’ll do it”! And to explain exactly what I mean, let's start by describing what personal accountability is and is not.
Personal accountability is:
- Correcting issues without assigning blame.
- Taking action even when it is someone else’s responsibility.
- Volunteering instead of complaining.
- Stepping-up to challenges instead of watching challenges zip by and go onto someone else’s shoulders.
- Something that requires managerial courage instead of passive observation.
Personal Accountability is not:
- Playing victim to our situations.
- Deflecting responsibility and pointing to others, saying: “That’s not my job”.
- Looking for excuses and covering our tracks.
- Backstabbing others to make ourselves look better.
- Walking away when someone needs our help.
I’ve been in manufacturing for 40 years and I have to confess that I have been part of many complaint sessions over the years. Many of these negative conversations were with my coworkers as we discussed bad bosses, bad decisions, failed corporate plans and unfavorable policies. I’ve also had many teeth grinding thoughts during my daily commutes as negativity just swirled in my head.
Complaining about bad situations is just human nature perhaps, but I came to realize that not everyone engages in it. The most successful people I know actually don’t engage in it. And when I define success, I’m not talking about someone's ascent up the corporate ladder, but rather their ascent into a happier and more impactful life experience. The type of people I described as being value driven.
How Do We Practice Personal Accountability?
As a leader, this concept of personal accountability doesn’t mean you need to personally tackle every problem that comes your way. What it does mean, is that you evaluate the current state condition and you decide if it is acceptable the way it is or not. And if you decide that it is acceptable, then you accept it - in which case you no longer have any reason to complain. 
However, if you decide that the current state condition is unacceptable, then you decide to either fix it or ignore it. Either way you are in control of your own decision and circumstance. It is not someone else that is doing it to you. You are deciding to address it or not to address it. If you decide not to address an unacceptable situation, then you lose the right to complain about it.
If a current situation is unacceptable and you decide to work on a fix, you don’t need to fix it all on your own. As a leader, remember that you have positional power - which means that you can delegate some tasks. You also have influential power - which means you can influence others to help you on your quest for a solution. For example, you can influence your manager to spend money for a solution, or you can influence your team to help you jumpstart a new project.
Whatever issues you’re having - whether it is a lack of support or a broken system, too much paperwork or an unsupportive boss - just make the decision to not complain. Instead, decide if you can accept it as is or not. And if not, then identify an appropriate course of action. You’re in control of your own decisions.
Some people search for every small injustice so they can play victim to their circumstances. But we as leaders need to have a growth mindset and avoid victim mentality. We need to convert our complaints into decisions and actions. When we practice personal accountability we become the CEO of our own life, and life gets exponentially better.
Stay connected with news and updates!
If you want some weekly T4T wisdom coming straight to your inbox for your reading pleasure - look no further! Join our mailing list to receive the latest blogs and updates.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
CATEGORIES
All Categories 5 whys 5s 5s standardize 5s sustain 6m's ability accomplishment accomplishments accountability accuracy action action plans actions ada addiction addiction help admiration adverserial aerospace affordable agenda agriculture ai alcohol alcoholism amazon american disabilities act anderson-darling appreciation approachability approval art artificial intelligence artisan assembly assembly line assessment assignments attention to details attribute gage r&r auto industry auto manufacturing auto production automobile manufacturing average avoidance best practices big bend black belt boss boulder city bourbon trail breakdown budget business business case business model business proposals candidate experience candidates capability capability study cape fear capital career cargo cash flow cell design cememt central limit theorem central tendancy ceo certification certification training challenges change change management changeover reduction chaos chemical child labor ci cnc cnc programming cogs communication communitiy company compassion compitition concrete conducting interviews conflict conflict management consistency constraints construction consumption continuous improvement corrective action correlation analysis cost savings costs course cp cp and cpk cpk cross-functional cross-training cross-training matrix crude culture current state current state map customer customer satisfaction customer service customer value customers cv daily goals dallas dam dashboard data data collection data transformation debt-free decision maker defects deliverables demand department design design of experiment design review design reviews develop development dfm diet difficulties direct labor discussion discussions diversity document documentation doe drilling driving results drug use duluth dumping e learn e-learning eap ebit education effective effectiveness effectivity effects of change efficiency effort email empathy empirical rule employee employee assistance program employee development employee engagement employee recgonition employees encourage encouragement enforcement engagement engineer engineering equipment error proof excellence exercise expectations expertise experts facilitate facilitator factories factory family life farming feedback financial financials fishing fixed mindset flexibility flexible follow-up foolproof ford forecast fossil fuels fred jones freightliners friendships frontline leaders fun gage r&r gages gasoline gemba general motors goal alignment goals gold gold rush goldrush good conflict graphs great lakes great teams gross margins gross profits growth growth mindset guidance habits health healthy heavy equipment henry ford heritage hiring histogram history hoover dam housekeeping how to be a great teammate how to thrill customer human relations human resources hydro-electric hydro-electric power hypothesis testing ice breaker illinios river valley illinois illinois river immersion importing improve improvement industiral industrial industrial engineering industrial heritage industrial heritgage industrial history industry industry 4.0 inequity injury prevention innovation inspection instructions integrity internal promotion interview questions interview skills interview tips interviewing inventory investment iowa irresponsible jack daniels distillery tour job diversity job shop job shops jobs john deere kaizen kanban kappa kentucky knowledge lead leader leaders leadership leadership development leadership skills leading lean lean champion lean culture lean implementation lean journey lean kickoff lean launch lean manufacturing lean pilot project lean six sigma lean strategy lean tools lean vision learn learning leisure letter of commendation lifestyle logging logistics louisiana low prices lumber machine machine guarding machine speed machines maintenance making a pitch management management by walking around manager managers managing managing conflict managing the floor manpower manufactuing manufacturing manufacturing leaders manufacturing leadership manufacturing plants manufacturing results manufacturing supervisor manufacturing supervisor leadership manufacturing traning mardi gras marfa material mbwa mean measurement meditation meeting meetings mental health mental tension mentee mentor mentoring mentorship metallurgy methods metrics midland milestones milk run mindset mininig minnesota mississippi river model-t morale mother nature motivation muda multivariant analysis museum national park nature new hires new orleans new products night shift nimble business normal distribution normality test north carolina objectives office oil ojt okc oklahoma on line courses on time delivery on-site factories on-time delivery onboarding one-on-one online open-door operational excellence operator operators opex ore organization otd output overhead ownership p&l p-value packaging packaging material partner partnering partnership partnerships pdca pdca cycle peers performance performance management performance patterns performance review performance reviews perimian basis personal accountability personal growth personal grwoth personality petroleum pharmaceuticals pikes place pitch plan planner planning plant plant costs plastics point of use poka yoke poka-yoke policy port portland cement positive feedback positive interactions pou power plant pp ppk praise predictive maintenance presentation presentation anxiety presentations preventative maintenance prices prime costs principles printing private label problem solving problem statement problems procedure procedures process process capability process center process controls process engineer process management process variation product development product testing production production flow production supervisor productive conflict productivity products professionalism profit profits profressional development progress project project assumptions project charter project justification project management project objectives project timing projections projects promoted props provide qualifies quality quality control quality tool quick changeover r&d range rapid changeover recognition recognize recruiting recycling red tag referals refinery relationship reliability reputation resolving conflict resources respect responsibility responsible restore results resume resume screening resumes revenue rewards rigs risk management roi rolling-5 rolling-5 action plans root cause roots routine safety safety incentives sales sales tips sales volume salesperson sampling science scope screening screening applicants sculptures seattle self-promotion selling service set in order set up times set-in-order set-up reduction shadow board shadowing share shareholder shine shipbuilding shipping shopfloor single minute of exchange of die single-piece six-sigma skill development skills sleep slideshow smart goals sme smed social life solutions sort specifications specs speed to market staffing staffing model standard cost standard deviation standardize starved rock state-of-the-art statistics stats staycation steamship steel steel fabrication steel industry strategy stress stress management strong leader structure subject matter expert success sugar mill supervision supervisor supervisor development supervisor leadership supervisors supervsior supplier supply chain support support resources sustain systems t-test tactical takt tariffs teach teaching team team work team-based teammate teams teamwork technical tennesse whiskey tennessee texas the great depression the hoover dam the normal distribution curve timber time management time-series tools tourism toyota production system tpm tps training training methods travel troubleshooting trust turn around two sample t-test types of change understanding us manufacturing vacation validation value value stream value stream map value-driven values variance variances variation velocity vendor managed inventory video violations visual factory vmi voc volunteering vsm war on waste washington waste waste reduction waterway wellbeing wilmington nc work instructions work rules workforce workplace workplace conflict