Posts tagged accountability

February 9, 2010

Random Thoughts on Accountability

 I was sharing with a colleague earlier today about my 25 years in Corporate America and the number of times a well intended executive came up with an "Accountability Program". It usually included a slogan, some internal marketing collateral and many PowerPoint presentation water-falled through the organization. Inevitably the masses would roll there eyes, say "here we go again" it's the "A" word and go back to doing what they had always done in the way they had always done it. It made me think about why the well-intended programs failed time and again.

 

And then it came to me. Accountability isn't something you tell someone else to be. Accountability is the measure of how aligned you are to your own integrity. For example: I woke up this morning feeling out of sorts, like something wasn't quite right. I was tired, kranky, unmotivated and scenarios of the week's events kept playing in my head, many of them representing unfinished business. So I asked myself: "On a scale of 1-10 (1 low, 10 high) what is my satisfaction level with how I am aligned to my own integrity right now?" and the number that came up was "2". Well that explained everything for me. So, I took 5 actions steps to clean up the unfinished business. I felt the dark cloud drift away, my energy began to return and where there was doubt there was now faith that I could do what needed to be done. Voila! by being accountable and completing unfinshed business, my integrity score bumped up to a 6 and freed me up to look at what else I needed to take care of. And that's just the beginning. . .

Posted by Nancy Ballinger at 9:46 am
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June 30, 2010

A Slightly Different View of Leadership

It seems like too much is made of the concept of leadership.  Are leaders born or made?  To be a great leader you must . . . Great leaders do blah, blah, blah.  Leaders are idolized, demonized, dehumanized and fantasized.  The idea of a leader makes the human being almost non-existent or at a minimum unreachable. 

 

So here's the thing.  I'm for looking at leadership in a new way.  Leadership is simply taking responsibility for the choices you make in any given moment.  Do I complete the task I said I would or do I check out that new blog post?  Do I stop for a moment each day and acknowlege the things that went right or do I complain about everything that is going wrong?  Do I say what I believe even though it is unpopular or may offend someone, or do I keep my opinions to my self to avoid conflict?

 

It is the little decisions we make that add up to our reputation as a leader.  When it comes down to a choice between a low profile or tapping into your personal power, where do you land as a leader?

Posted by Nancy Ballinger at 5:43 pm
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