Holding Yourself Accountable

Taking responsibility is more than being responsible for something—it’s also, ultimately, answering to your actions. To hold yourself accountable, you must find the motivation to take on difficult tasks. You need to amplify the urgency of your mission, know why it matters, and understand how taking responsibility helps you become the kind of person you want to be by giving back what you owe.

Why accountability is important

As a professional, accountability will make you more successful by helping you understand what success means to you and keeping you focused on achieving it.

As an employee or entrepreneur, accountability is about holding yourself responsible for your actions and being open to criticism when necessary. It requires taking responsibility—which tends to be rare these days—to improve your work, grow professionally and connect better with team members.

It is more than taking responsibility for something — it’s answerability. You need to find the motivation to do difficult things; you have create a sense of urgency, know why your mission matters and understand how taking responsibility helps you become the kind of person who is trustworthy.

Studies show that people are generally happier at work when they are accountable because they feel like they have integrity and empathy.

1: Having accountability makes people happier at work.

“What ultimately separates top performers across all industries is not higher IQ, access to better education or specific work experience” – it’s accountability.

2: Being accountable can help you achieve your company’s goals.

If you’re not taking accountability for your own actions and following through, how can you be expected to accomplish your goals or the aims of your organization?

Because accountability is related to achieving results and success, holding yourself accountable will make the hard stuff easier—and hopefully less painful—to tackle.

3:Growing accountability in the individual can also build it within an organization.

Accountability is about trust; when someone else holds you responsible, even if it’s difficult, there’s a deeper level of connection between people that brings clarity and understanding to their relationship. When an employee must answer to others at every turn, they must be truthful in order for trust to exist.

4: Being accountable makes you a person others can count on and trust.

When you’re accountable, people respect that. They know where they stand with you, the nature of your work and what you expect from yourself—and them—in the future.

Accountability requires stepping up to any challenge by taking responsibility through action for one’s own successes or failures; accountability gives you purpose and direction while holding you responsible for your actions in how you contribute to a team or organization.

5: Accountability helps ensure high standards are reached at all times

Accountability requires both self-understanding as well as openness to criticism, making it difficult to be successful without doing our best work every day. Holding yourself accountable sets a standard you’re willing to live up to and gives you the motivation—and accountability—to achieve your goals.

6: Accountability makes it easier to accomplish your goals.

It can be difficult to reach goals when accountability is lacking, but holding yourself accountable helps keep things in perspective and will help you achieve what’s important as long as you’re motivated enough.

Accountability goes beyond just being accountable for work-related tasks; it also relates to taking personal responsibility – or being prepared for any situation and ready to take action when the time comes. Understanding how taking responsibility helps us become the kind of person we want to be will ultimately hold us accountable.

7: Holding yourself accountable takes continuous effort.

As an entrepreneur, employee or professional, holding yourself accountable can be hard because there are many moving parts at play. To maintain accountability within an organization, hold everyone accountable for the same thing.

How to hold yourself accountable.

Knowing that accountability is important, simply holding yourself accountable isn’t enough; you have to create accountability in your life. Being accountable involves taking responsibility for yourself and your actions.

1: Hold accountability on a personal level.

People with accountability understand that they are the only person who can make things happen, hold themselves accountable for their work and trust others in return. Holding accountability on a personal level will help you succeed professionally as well as contribute positively to your organization’s culture if practiced throughout the company.

2: Take accountability of small tasks or daily challenges by holding yourself accountable to goals that matter most—whether those are related to work or your personal life.

Whether it’s exercising more, eating healthier or being kinder to people around you, accountability for your actions can help improve the way you think and behave.

3: Hold accountability with your team members or peers.

If accountability is contagious, it’s because holding yourself accountable when working with others inspires them to do the same—and being forthcoming about your own mistakes makes people feel like they can be honest as well.

4: Holding accountability helps bring mindfulness into a room full of people.

Creating accountability within an organization must start at the top if there is any hope for it to continue down throughout the company culture; accountability increases trust on all levels, from the most basic exchanges between employees to their work-related relationships.

Holding yourself accountable in whatever capacity will always inspire commitment in your colleagues, accountability in turn makes team members more willing to work towards the success of your organization.

5.Accountability is the assumption of having complete responsibility for something.

Accountability requires maintaining honesty in communication, being willing to disclose information and answer questions truthfully when they are asked.

There are many ways accountability can be measured including but not limited to: self accountability, team accountability, customer accountability and vendor accountability. It’s important that each one of these areas holds themselves accountable for any mistakes or shortcomings they may have by taking accountability for their actions as well as holding others accountable on individual projects or tasks.

 

Accountability partners – how can they help you reach your goals?

Accountability partners are accountability buddies that we need to help us reach our accountability goals. Accountability partners can be accountability buddies, accountability brothers or accountability sisters; accountability partners help each other to achieve accountability success.

Let’s look at accountability partners more closely. You need someone you can be open and honest with that is going to help you achieve your goals and objectives; the person needs to be there for you when you need them, they are going to help encourage you and support you.

Accountability partners can also be action orientated towards achieving their goals as well as helping others achieve theirs as part of the personal development plan or long term business goal achieved through developing strong relationships.

When building an accountability partner network we need to think about who we want in our lives, friends, family members, work colleagues; what roles do these people have? What skills do they have? What values are shared? Do they live near us? – if that is important.

Accountability Partners – Personal Development Plan

In an ideal world all our actions would be guided by a clear plan – probably written down in some way that we could refer to at any time of the day to check if we’re on track or not. But life isn’t quite like that; things happen unexpectedly as they do every day and sometimes these events have an impact on our plans for the future.

Accountability partners can help with long term projects by providing input throughout the project so it doesn’t stall close to its completion date.

Do you have a very busy lifestyle? Is it hard for you to take the time out of your hectic schedule to sit down and plan out a project? Do you tend towards procrastination?

If so then an accountability partner may be able to help. Accountability partners can help with ideas for projects, tasks that need to be completed; they can also provide guidance on goals/objectives you don’t really know how or where to start from.

Conclusion

Accountability helps us improve, progress and move forward in life. If you want to achieve success, then hold yourself accountable! Hold yourself accountable for all that is great in your life and all you have to look forward to. Accountability builds confidence. Never give up on yourself!


 

Embrace Growth with Accountability Training

Author

  • eSoft Skills Team

    The eSoft Editorial Team, a blend of experienced professionals, leaders, and academics, specializes in soft skills, leadership, management, and personal and professional development. Committed to delivering thoroughly researched, high-quality, and reliable content, they abide by strict editorial guidelines ensuring accuracy and currency. Each article crafted is not merely informative but serves as a catalyst for growth, empowering individuals and organizations. As enablers, their trusted insights shape the leaders and organizations of tomorrow.

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