While I touched on the topic within my ABCs in last week’s blog post, I thought I’d go deeper this week into one letter: A, which we can associate with accountability. Here’s how accountability was defined as the “A” in our leadership ABCs:
[Accountability] is the backbone of effective leadership.
Holding people accountable is key to creating a system of execution that simply works every time.
If you’ve been reading my blog for some time now, you’d know accountability is a recurring theme. It’s a critical component to leadership, teamwork and success. But instead of putting down my own thoughts on the subject, I’d like to share 10 of my favorite quotes about accountability to inspire you to think about how you and your team can become even more accountable to the execution of your goals:
- “Great teams operate with a high level of accountability. Without it, team members go off in all directions with each doing what he/she thinks is most important. Under this approach, the whirlwind soon takes over.” – “The Four Disciplines of Execution”
- “There’s [a] significant contributor to collaboration…personal accountability and responsibility. In enabling others to act, leaders have to skillfully balance creating a climate of teamwork and trust while holding each single person accountable for his or her actions. A leader must build and sustain a culture in which people know and believe that “We have to do our part—and do it very well.” – “The Leadership Challenge”
- “Accountability breeds response-ability.” – Stephen Covey, Best-Selling Author and Speaker
- “Accountability. It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” – Molière, Playwright, Actor and Poet
- “The most important quality I look for in a player is accountability. You’ve got to be accountable for who you are. It’s too easy to blame things on someone else.” – Lenny Wilkens, Former NBA Coach
- “Accountability is essential to personal growth, as well as team growth. How can you improve if you’re never wrong? If you don’t admit a mistake and take responsibility for it, you’re bound to make the same one again.” – Pat Summitt, Former Tennessee Women’s Basketball Coach
- “Give someone responsibility and they will do their best. Make them accountable and they will do even better.” – Simon Sinek, Speaker and Author
- “Accountability inspires action. Find a friend who’s in the same boat as you and check in with each other regularly.” – Jim Rohn, Speaker and Best-Selling Author (Also a personal mentor of mine.)
- “Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result.” – Bob Proctor, Motivational Speaker
- “On good teams, coaches hold players accountable, on great teams, players hold players accountable.” – Joe Dumars, Former NBAPplayer
So, what’s the message? There’s a reason accountability is the very first term in our leadership ABCs. Without accountability, you don’t have a strong foundation for leadership. But with accountability, you can accomplish anything.
This article is adapted from Blefari’s weekly, company-wide “Thoughts on Leadership” column from HomeServices of America.
