Accountability & Responsibility: Lessons to be Learned from BP

I think, like most of us, I’ve been listening and watching the news each day….staying glued to the “hope” that the largest Oil Spill in history will “stop”….A miracle maybe, but have we learned our lessons. I guess we need to learn the “hard way” that greed, deceit, malicious intent, coveting lands and oceans that don’t belong “just to you” is not cool. There is no “easy” fix, there is no “superman” with “super” powers to “fix it”! And yes, just like in the skit that Saturday Night Live put on a few months back, all we really want those accountable and responsible for this disaster to do is FIX IT!

But, what, if anything, out of this environmental and economical catastrophe can we learn. Plenty.

Let’s start with speaking truth. Being truthful about your intentions, what you hope to achieve, how you will approach the job, and why it is the best way to go is critical. People need to be able to rely on your words and your actions need to be consistent with what is coming out of your mouth. If you start to speak untruths, knowingly, early on in any proposal or project, people will sooner or later discover your inconsistencies, your actions will become what we judge you on, and losing credibility and trust is something you may not ever recover from.

Next, let’s look at the role of the leader or leaders. These are the people who set the pace of the project, they have the vision, they inspire others with their vision and their “why” to join them, to follow them. These are the people that understand the importance of communicating their vision in such a way that other’s are willing to start with the end in mind, join hands, work smart, and achieve great results. If the leader is not clear on his/her role as a leader, if they are not able to effectively communicate the end goal, if they are not trustworthy, if their desire for money is greater than their desire to create, build, and empower, then even if they get people to join them, their confusing goals, the groups lack of cohesiveness, their self interest vs. team interest, is likely to be too much for any successful completion and the project will eventually fail or be mediocre at best.

The next behavior is probably one of the most important to any high performing team, and yet we toss it around so flippantly. Accountability. Yes, I know you’ve been hearing this word a lot lately. All the BP exec’s and our government leaders seem to use it. But being accountable is quite different from being responsible. Responsible carries with it “the buck stops here” mentality. When it’s all said and done, this is the person who steps forward and takes the responsibility for the success or failure…the guy with the big shoulders. BUT, what does accountability mean?

Accountability involves the “acceptance” of a role, the acceptance of accomplishing a task. It’s a team member that steps forward and voices to the world that they will take ownership for this project, task, duty to be theirs to complete. Being accountable to your team, your family, your company, your work group means that they can “trust” that you will get the job done…in an ethical, efficient, and effective manner….otherwise, you would never “accept” the role/job.

Now, put Accountability with Responsibility and you’ve got a winner. Now you’ve got someone who is accepting the task, taking ownership for its achievement AND saying that they will take responsibility for its success or failure. This is a powerful combination. But, remember you’ve got to have both…leadership without accountability would be like someone saying they’ll lead, but their heart and soul isn’t really in it. They haven’t embraced being accountable, they haven’t ACCEPTED the roles they will be expected to perform. Without understanding the roles expected of them to perform, how would it be possible for others on the team to successfully perform? You see, when you tell your teammates that you will be accountable to them, to the project, to the task, you are saying you can count on me to perform. The team can then “rely” on every person to do their job, and communicate freely with each other if problems, issues, arise that would prevent them from accomplishing their task.

When each person on the team is accountable to the team, each other, and the successful completion of the project, everyone wins. But more importantly, the customer wins. The customer now has the proof, the trust, the confidence that you will do the right things RIGHT, and achieve their desired results.

Companies that don’t practice these elements, ultimately, fall apart. I know you’ve seen the company that experiences turn over….turn over in their leadership, turnover in their associates, etc. Turnover is a great indication that something “internally” has run amuck. People won’t stay with you, people won’t be there to support the vision, if they sense that there’s no trustworthiness, no leadership, no accountability. People want to work for and with a company that they can respect, that they can be proud of. They want to go to work each day with the thought that they “get to do” something great, something that they can create, build, or empower others to do.

It’s sad, but just listening and watching the response from BP and our own politicians for the last few weeks concerning the Gulf Oil Spill, has given us an amazing education. An education in humanity, in speaking truth, in leadership, in communication, in accountability. Sadly, we are learning these lessons of “what not to do” the hard way. I know we will eventually recover from this horrific disaster, we will move on to another crisis, another urgent need, but, let’s not move on too quickly, let’s learn these lessons, let’s remember these lessons and let’s apply them to our own company’s , our own families, our own work situations.

Lessons learned are only truly learned if they “change” us for the better, if they cause us to pause and reflect before we jump, if they help us grow into better human beings, and better leaders.