Hold Me Accountable, Please!

My friend Stefan was sharing his thoughts on what it takes to achieve process excellence, and he kept coming back to the word accountability. “The key to process excellence,” he said, “is accountability.”

As soon as I heard the word accountability a red flag went up for me. I didn’t want to admit this to Stefan, but accountability has been an elusive concept for me. I’ve struggled for years to make sense of it, to find a crisp, clear, actionable definition for it. Without success.

Years ago I was introduced to the RACI model of standard roles and responsibilities with respect to a process. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. People who like the RACI tool, and there are many, claim that it’s an effective way to clear up confusion about who’s in charge and who is merely involved.

That hasn’t been my experience, because I could never draw a clear distinction between responsibility and accountability. (The other two concepts don’t trouble me. I get that some people might get consulted during a process, even though others get to decide what to do with their inputs and suggestions. I also understand that sometimes there are people who need to be informed when a decision is made, but who won’t have a role in making the decision.)

But what, exactly, is the distinction between being accountable and being responsible? I concluded years ago that there couldn’t be a single “right” answer to this question because these words mean different things to different people. These two words seemed to fall into the category of “words people believe in but cannot explain clearly.” I learned a long time ago to steer clear of words of that sort, because they generate a lot more heat than light.

But now my friend Stefan is insisting that “Accountability is the key to process excellence,” and he won’t let go of the idea. So it seems I have no choice but to try once again to make sense of accountability and responsibility. I tackled the problem by writing about it. I’ve often found that when I try to explain a concept to others, it suddenly becomes clear to me. I wrote several rough drafts, explaining the many ways these concepts confuse me.

Stefan reviewed my drafts, and commented on them, but the ideas still weren’t coming clear. Until one morning I woke up to an email from Stefan that said this:

“I talk about accountability because in my work as a consultant I want to be held accountable.

“I’ve learned from experience that unless I’m willing to let you hold me accountable for something, I probably won’t hold myself rigorously accountable. And if I’m not willing to hold myself accountable, that’s a sure sign that I don’t believe in my own ability and commitment. So I need for you to hold me accountable to bring out the best in me.”

Then Stefan referred me to a blog he’d found, which referred me to another blog, which offered this simple clarification:

I TAKE responsibility and you HOLD me accountable.

Aha! This simple sentence goes right to the heart of the matter. These words – accountability and responsibility – have to do with creating agreements between people. When I accept responsibility for an outcome, I’m telling you that it’s OK with me for you to hold me accountable for my progress, success, or failure. We’re entering into an agreement.

If you tell me I’m responsible for a task, that doesn’t create an agreement. All that’s happened is that you’ve told me what you want. I have to accept responsibility for an agreement to come into being.

Here’s the next question Stefan has offered for me to ponder: What do you want to be held accountable for?