Do what you say you will do. 

I remember 7 years ago I brought my coach in to help run a values exercise for my team. Our outcome was creating our top 5 values our team was going to live by.

During that conversation, we had debated whether accountability was a value. We ended up having it as a process to live up to our values. It was a healthy debate.

What happens if you have not been accountable for a task or situation? Are you not reliable or accountable?

We thought about it in two ways. Do you regularly do what you say you will do?

When you are viewed as an accountable person you warm the waters, like a positive wave washing over all the people around you.  They feel you as trusty worthiness! 

When someone consistently misses or doesn’t DWYSYWD (do what they say they will do), it feels like getting stuck in quicksand towards accomplishing your goal.

When YOU miss on a task or goal – clean it up! You have a very short window to own up and take accountability with the appropriate people to move forward.

Like your favorite store or service, even the best of us will have a miss and need to swing back into accountability. How you take responsibility shows what you are made of.