Being acountable means being able to answer for your actions, but not necessarily being responsible for them. Similarly, accountability is something you hold a person to only AFTER a task is or isn’t done. Responsibility occurs before and/or after a task, and is ongoing. Responsibility can also be shared while accountability cannot. The many experiences throughout my career continue to influence my ability to respond to and account for my actions and allow me to integrate both concepts of responsibility and accountability.

The success of my job depends on my ability to merge both accountability and responsibility, to shape and establish a firm confidence and understanding of the expectations of my profession, and to deliver exceptional service to those that need it.  The following are some thoughts about how and why this came to be.

My Work: In my profession, we are consistently asking for people to “take ownership” of their work. As a design professional, this prescribes significant commitment to and cultivation of our work product. You become accountable for every line that’s drawn, every word that written. Thus, you must know exactly what it means and why you did it.

My Actions: Accountability can most precisely be defined as answerability. Being accountable is an expectation to explain one’s actions for whatever they are. An easy way to think about being accountable is – literally, whatever the results of my actions, I must be able to give an account of what happened, why it happened, and how.

My Process: I can do a fantastic job or a terrible job, allow good or bad things to happen, and make smart or terrible decisions and not actually be responsible – but I am accountable by being able to explain what happened, how it happened, and why. Accountability, doesn’t lay blame for or pin success on me, it only describes me as being able to explain my actions or the actions of a group or business.

The Distinction: So why is it important to be both responsible and accountable? In order for me to develop, grow, and thrive as a professional, I need to know what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and how I can get it done. I may do it myself, or enlist the aid of my colleagues. But for this thing I’m doing to have any value I need to be fully engaged in the making of it. That means knowing what the heck is going on AND making sure it’s successful.

The Results: Can you imagine being completely in charge of something – the root cause behind whether that thing succeeds or fails – but not able to explain how or why? In contradistinction, can you imagine being accountable for how or why something is fantastically prosperous but not being responsible for it?

These two concepts being separate or distinctly different make for a terrible work environment and just don’t sound good at all. When I was first introduced to “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Dr. Stephen Covey, I was deeply impressed with his definition of “responsible” as being “able to respond” or my ability to respond to things around me. I have better things to do than claim someone else is responsible for my actions or success, or living the hollow role of being responsible for actions that are out of my control or understanding. Having the combined knowledge of doing a task well and being the ultimate owner of it – merging accountability with responsibility – has heightened my sense of how to do things better, and also answers why I should be doing better things.

Check out part one of this series on professionalism here.

When in need of a licensed professional, you seek out those on whom you can implicitly rely, that have the requisite experience and expertise, as well as references, to help you resolve your current challenge. Looking for a “subject matter” expert means searching for someone who is at the top of their game. Through a short series of posts, I’ll share some of my ideas on what it’s like being a professional, and how the concepts of being “Thorough, Accountable and Reliable” factor into what professionalism can and should be.

• Observe & Learn – Knowing what the priorities are and understanding differences between time-wasting procedures and truly important work is part of what makes you become thorough. Committing the requisite time needed right from the start may seem laborious or counterproductive, but it’s not until you understand this concept that your foundation for thoroughness will become strong.
• Technology – Smartphone apps, trending business techniques, and computer programs are frequently developed promising better organization and productivity. However, our reliance on them can lead to losing our focus, giving us a false sense of being productive. How often have we been more impressed with obtaining a newer or updated app or software tool than actually rolling up our sleeves and tackling the issue we were hired to resolve?
• Be Open to Change – (and to changing yourself) It’s okay to pursue known paths for your knowledge-base; but some of the best learned things happen by pushing yourself to figure out what you’re passionate about, and shifting your career closer to those things.
• Become a Learner – There are so many professionals I know who have just stop trying new things. Or those that preach about how things have always been done for the last umpteen years and don’t need to change. Broaden your horizons.
• Build a Strong Network – Congrats to you if you have a robust network within your firm; but you’d do well to also have a large, diverse and strong network outside of your firm. There’s always something more urgent to do than developing this; but having another outlet to tap into when questions arise that you don’t know the answer is a tremendous asset.
• Checks and Balances – Thoroughness involves others – like having a second or third set of eyes review your information. Also, consider how other team members may be affected by the decisions you will be making. Gathering all of this input will provide much clearer information with which to make intelligent decisions.
• Keep Skills Current – Learn to expand your vocabulary of skills, keep marketing abilities up-to-date by volunteering time at a non-profit. Recognize, measure and identify what technical expertise you are lacking and discover simple ways to acquire them.
• Confront Mistakes – We all make mistakes; no one is perfect. We want to do our very best, but everyone falls short at times. These are just the facts of life and we should understand and be okay with that. What’s more important is how you deal with your mistakes. Be upfront and address problems right away. Be flexible and nimble enough to know what you don’t know and admit it. Your clients would rather hear honesty than excuses.
• And finally, Take Responsibility – Own up to mistakes and make them right. Then, figure out what happened so it can be prevented in the future. This idea of responsibility, or accountability, is something that will be discussed in the next post of this series.

The following are words of wisdom my father-in-law instilled in me: “A Job Well Begun is a Job Half Done”.  Spending the requisite time being thorough from the start provides you more time during your productivity. If you know you’ve conducted the right research and asked the right questions, then you won’t flounder during the actual work or have to circle back to re-do what you’ve already done, because you didn’t have all the facts. Your thoroughness, and thus your professionalism, imbues a level of trust and confidence in others. Like an attorney trying a case, you must meticulously research and gather all the evidence needed to make your argument – before going to court and winning!