Your level of accountability to yourself will determine the level of success you reach in life. You will be unable to succeed without the ability to accept ownership in the actions and the outcomes of your decisions.
Over the past few years, I have met hundreds of top-producing sales reps, entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors. Those who are successful are the most accountable. They’ve accepted that their success depends on their ability to show up for themselves. By showing up for themselves, they can deliver on their word. After all, our word is one of the most valuable assets we have.
If we want to prove ourselves to the marketplace, we must first walk, talk, and act exactly how we say we will.
Accountability isn’t just a sometimes thing. It’s not something that we do once in a while and call it enough. To be a leader in your industry and marketplace, you must create a culture of accountability. That culture starts with you.
If you want your team to operate a certain way, then you must show them exactly how that looks. You can’t set a precedent with your employees about punctuality and then consistently be late to meetings.
Doing so would show your staff that even though you are asking them do be accountable to the time, you cannot do so for yourself. Being late would set a bad example and lead to other members of your team, believing it was ok to be late as well.
You cannot delegate accountability; to feel the pride of accomplishment or the shame of failure, you must accept responsibility. You hold power over your actions and decisions. Taking this responsibility also goes for those under your guidance.
Can You Count On Yourself To Be Accountable?
The best way to help your people hold themselves accountable is to set them up for success. To set your team up for success means being a leader. A leader is someone you can count on to take charge of any situation. When your team can count on you to get the job done, they will trust you when you explain the way you are going to set them up for success.
When you have set clear expectations, you can ask your team if they have everything they need to be successful. If they answer yes, you know they have made their first step towards personal accountability. If no, then you will have some additional guidance to provide or, they will have an excuse at the ready to prevent themselves from being held accountable when things fail.
If you’ve allowed them to have a reason for failure from the beginning, you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The difference between someone who goes on to be successful, and someone who fails is their ability to accept accountability.
When someone is unable to accept accountability, the moment things get a little bit off course, they will begin thinking about the excuses for failure rather than focusing on the solution to the problem. If someone on your team becomes known for their lack of accountability, it will begin to reduce the company morale and could even lead to more significant problems in the workplace. What if that someone was you, and you didn’t realize it?
Do you trust the people around you to hold you accountable?
When it comes to being accountable to yourself, it helps to have a group of people around you who will push you to stay that way. This group could be your spouse, your children, business partners, or staff; it could even be a network of individuals who all share the same drive and passion for success as you. Typically the last group is the group who will push you to become the most elite version of yourself.
If you think it’s time to surround yourself with the group mentioned above of success-driven individuals, it’s time to submit your application to become APEX.
Do so by visiting www.JoinTheApex.com to get started.
