When things don’t go as planned, there is often a tendency not to accept any responsibility for the outcome. Instead of analysing ‘what went wrong,’ it is sometimes easier to simply repeat the same process over and over again – rather than make any changes. You put the blame on to something or someone else.
In many ways you are turning a blind eye to the real reasons why ‘1+1 did not equal 2.’ You then continue the same process only to reach the same conclusion and, before you know it, everything has spiralled out of control and past the point of no return. Your venture has failed, and failed badly.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You have the power to remain in charge of your success story. Yet, to achieve this, you must ‘own’ every decision that you make. The words ‘blame’, ‘excuses’ and ‘denial’ must be banned from your vocabulary, as well as your thought processes – forever. It’s time to face up to your mistakes and responsibilities.
Time to do some soul-searching: Accepting one’s own shortcomings can be an uncomfortable process. This is where ‘blame’ comes in. If you decide that someone else is at fault, this removes your obligation to fix things. Whenever you decide the problem belongs to someone else, you are simply saying that you no longer possess the power to put things right. You are denying yourself a wonderful opportunity.
Then comes your ‘excuses’. An excuse is a reason to justify a bad outcome, and allows you to put the ‘blame’ on to an outside influence. Yet again you are giving yourself a reason not to make any changes. Once again you are relinquishing control over a situation.
When problems start to accumulate, you may discover yourself to be in a state of denial. You are fully aware of your difficulties but prefer not to acknowledge them. Subsequently, you decide not to take any action, which means you are losing control of the situation.
Because of ‘blame’, ‘excuses’ and ‘denial’, you are suddenly in a situation where you are ‘failing to take ownership’, ‘not accepting responsibility’ and opting to ‘avoid accountability.’
However, when you choose to respond to a situation, you are beginning to take responsibility. As an individual, you are responsible for the choices you make. In business, you are responsible for the work you do. By accepting responsibility for the results of your endeavours, you also become accountable for your actions.
While ‘responsibility’ is about how you handle your actions, ‘accountability’ is about how you process and react to the consequences. A manager is responsible for the work they undertake, and accountable for the performances of his or her employees.
When you hold yourself fully responsible and accountable for your decisions and outcomes, you are taking ownership. It is easy to take ownership for the things you are proud of. It becomes much harder to own and accept bad results. We must challenge how we think, so we can challenge the way other people think about their actions. When work gets tough, we don’t seek reasons, we need results.
At ActionCOACH we provide business owners with personal development programmes to help develop a positive mindset, enabling them to take ownership while understanding the importance of accountability and responsibility. Personal development sits neatly alongside business development, which helps both you and your business to grow successfully together.
If you’d like more information about our coaching programmes click here.
This article was brought to you courtesy of ActionCOACH, the world’s No1 business coaching company.
