"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it." ~ Lou Holtz
So we have been working on accountability at our house lately and I must say that Maleigha may be my downfall. She has a very creative way of interpreting direct orders and is very willing to test out the ramifications of not following through with what she is told to do. We have been in an on-going battle for cleaning her room for about two weeks. Last Friday they had the day off of school so I told her when I left for work that her room needed to be clean by the time I got home or everything that was on the floor was going in the garbage. So, when I got home I asked her if she had picked up her room. She replied “I did, I picked up everything I wanted and you can throw the rest away.” Nice interpretation of my directive, but not exactly what I had in mind. So, needless to say this weekend she finally completed the assigned task.
Accountability is hard whether it is with your kids or your co-workers. I believe this stems from the different interpretations or filters that we each bring to a situation. We see this in all teams that we work on. There are always differing views on what needs to be done and what are the priorities. As I am sure you have all come to realize the only thing we can control is ourselves. Real accountability happens when we take personal responsibility and do our best. This is when success happens and teamwork thrives. This is a lesson that I will continue to try to teach to Maleigha and hopefully someday it will stick. For this next week, think about your teams. Are there things you could take responsibility for and step up and just get done? What impact would that have on your team or co-workers?
"Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions." ~ John Di Lemme
