During a larger group meeting today, I completely forgot that I was supposed to provide training on a core principle of the group. With about 5 seconds to prepare, I selected one of the 6 core values on a whim: Accountability.

What came out of my mouth over the next 90 seconds surprised me. 

That's partly because I didn't realize I had such deep thoughts on the matter, but also because what came out felt very true. So, here's the summary of what I said:

Accountability is critical to business. Without it, you will never likely get to the next level in your business. How can I be so sure? 3 Reasons

1. Let's get our definitions straight.

Accountable: subject to giving an account.

Account: A record of debit and credit, OR a statement explaining one's conduct.

So, accountability is all about being ready to explain at any time what happened, and in one sense, ready to explain the data.

2. Accountability is Ownership.

You might have lived the story where your boss calls you in and demands an explanation for why your numbers/results/report/assignment didn't turn out the way he/she wanted it to. 😳😱

Either you have a reason to justify the underperformance, or you don't. If you don't, that moment sucks! But that moment is crucial.

It's crucial because accountability is taking ownership or, at the very least, stewardship. An owner asks why, and then asks why again, and then asks why again, and keeps asking why until they've found the root core problem ... and then they fix it.

Without full accountability, there's no motivation to go that deep. So, even if you try to change something to fix the problem, it likely will only be a change that treats a symptom of the true problem.

So if you work for a business owner that doesn't hold themselves accountable to anything (especially truth, or at least data), RUN! See my story from yesterday for why.

3. Speak YOUR truth, then speak THE truth.

I wish data were truth, but it's not. Data is noisy, and statistics can be made to lie. True intelligence, however, is the signal from all the noise. It approximates truth if it isn't 100% true. That's why you hire someone like us (which you can do here) to extract the truth from your messy data. But that's a discussion for another blog post.

Here's what happens in a true accountability session:

1. You stand before someone or something else to "give an account."
2. You speak YOUR truth, which is your explanation for what happened.
3. You review the data or, preferably, the intelligence, and are confronted with THE truth.
4. The contrast will scare you 😱, wow you 😮, anger you 😡, sadden or disgust you 😢.

You cannot live or believe a lie and be excellent. Those are mutually exclusive options eventually.

You can only reach your full potential by living in THE truth.

So, if you don't review the truth, see the truth, believe the truth, speak the truth, and act in accordance with the truth, you and your business will either plateau or crash and burn.

That's why I coach businesses through the implementation of what I like to call the "War Room." It's an environment that is saturated with data (or rather, trusted, true intelligence) and accountability: no hiding from the truth.

If you're not doing something like this with your team, you're for sure not rising to your potential.

So, implement your own War Room, or we're happy to coach you through it. Just schedule with us here.

P.S. Data at his War Room station.