Accountability is a very old fashioned word in today’s world. It’s said that we live in the most unaccountable generation ever. Have you noticed how, despite the evidence against them, no-one ever considers themselves to be guilty of anything? Politicians accused of corruption are not at all guilty (in their own eyes). They attribute the allegations to the crooked agendas of rivals – it’s all a plot on the part of their political opponents.

According to their own world view, those in the public and private sectors accused of corruption have done nothing wrong. In fact, many of them resort to regular prayer meetings where they call for divine retribution on their accusers.

Accountability is therefore regarded by some as simply old fashioned, outdated and rather stupid – smart people don’t do that!

In fact, some, like Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sex trafficking young girls, are prepared to die rather than be held accountable.

Then, again, regardless of who’s done what to whom in the past three decades, there is no way any sane and rational person can defend or justify the killing of Ukrainian mothers giving birth in a maternity hospital or the unprovoked killing of civilians for that matter.

A few years ago, while driving in to Durban from King Shaka Airport early one morning, I had the radio tuned in to one of the local radio stations. A caller phoned in on the topic of accountability and made what I thought was a very interesting point. He asked, while everyone has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, if an accused pleaded, “Not guilty,” in court and was found, on the basis of the evidence presented to the court to in fact be found guilty, shouldn’t they then face a charge of perjury in that they were intentionally lying to the court?

While I am not at all qualified to argue the merits of such a view, I thought it provided an interesting perspective on the whole topic of accountability!

But accountability is not simply about criminal actions. What about people refusing to take accountability for poor or under performance? Should they be allowed to go through their working careers getting away with accepting good money for a mediocre performance?

It may, therefore, be a good exercise to examine our own level of accountability.

You can assess your own accountability by how you have taken (or not taken) responsibility for your own actions. It might range from seemingly minor matters like trying to wriggle out of paying a speeding ticket to refusing to take responsibility for the breakdown of a relationship or a failure to deliver at work.

If you have tried to blame someone else for your actions or lack of actions, you may be refusing to accept responsibility and accountability. To give you an idea of how rare it is to find someone who is prepared to be held accountable, ask yourself when last you heard someone say, “I did it. It’s my fault.”

Mmmm … Thought not!

The problem few leaders realise they create for themselves is that one can’t expect accountability from anyone else until one is prepared to hold oneself accountable for one’s own actions and statements. This applies to our work and our family life. If you’re not prepared to be accountable at work, you’re not going to be able to hold your staff accountable. And they’re going to sense this and will become a law unto themselves when they realise you will never confront them because you are afraid to be confronted yourself.

Of course, when you hold yourself accountable, you have nothing to fear and will be quite happy to hold those who report to you accountable for their actions.

If you’re not prepared to be accountable for your actions in your home, you’re not going to be able to hold your children accountable for their actions. You can try, and you may well think you’re getting it right simply because you’re the adult and they’re the child, but when that child grows into adulthood, the chickens come home to roost and you can’t understand why your adult child is evasive, deceitful and such a loser because s/he never wants to be accountable for anything.

Managers and parents have failed to understand this basic of the most basic principles of accountability. Accountability all starts with you. You can’t think it should apply to others but not you – that you’re somehow exempt from being held accountable. When you start to be accountable yourself, you acquire moral authority and can then insist on things being done properly.

I urge you to look at your own level of accountability and, if you think it needs to be improved, have the courage to do the necessary. Once you stop blaming others for your failure to deliver and take responsibility for your oiwn actions or lack thereof, you will be able to hold accountable those who report to you. We really need more people who hold themselves and others accountable. Please be one of them!

Alan Hosking is the Publisher of HR Future magazine, www.hrfuture.net and @HRFuturemag. He is an internationally recognised authority on leadership competencies for the future and teaches experienced and younger business leaders how to lead with empathy, compassion, integrity, purpose and agility. In 2018, he was named by US-based web site Disruptordaily.com as one of the “Top 25 Future of Work Influencers to Follow on Twitter“. In 2020, he was named one of the “Top 200 Global Power Thought Leaders to watch in 2021” by peopleHum in India. In 2022, he has been named on the Power List of the “Top 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2022” by LeaderHum.