The Subtle - Yet Crucial - Power of Good Accountability Culture
The Subtle - Yet Crucial - Power of Good Accountability Culture
For roughly two decades (mid ‘80s to mid-00s) I worked around the world with women’s and other civic groups that were trying to build up community/civic action to help their countries transition from authoritarianism to democracy. For me, this work was a major life changer as you might imagine.
“When the world around us feels increasingly unstable and we cannot really depend on “autopilot” for much of anything we need to cultivate our instincts for attentive and shared leadership and followership. We need to be self-aware and mindful of how we practice accountability. ”
One of the things that has continued to fascinate me is how the concept of accountability both challenged and transformed that work on democracy and how public/political democracy intertwines with democratic processes in everyday activities and in community/social change organizations. One complexity we encountered, for example, is that in most languages--from Latin America to Eastern Europe--there often was no word that carried the meaning of accountability as we know it. For some it was only an accounting practice (making sure the accounts balance and why is that relevant to democratic practice?). For some there were only transactional meanings for accountability (a “trade” of ideas or favors--I will do this if you’ll do that). Eastern Europeans turned to the word “transparency” to try to capture the deeper meaning of accountability, seeing it mostly in terms of the openness required in democratic process. Intuitively, though, people began to grasp that a lively, effective community or network requires accountability as a way of life...accountability as a cycle of shared information, trust, and co-creation of ideas and strategies.
Though the days of that widespread work on democracy can seem somewhat dated, I’m now thinking that between our current political divisions and the destabilizing forces of the pandemic that the idea of accountability needs to be refreshed in our organizations and in our work. Culturally the concept of accountability is “baked in” for most North Americans. We “know” what it means, and we realize that it is a multi-dimensional idea. It is lively not static; it is transformative not transactional; it is developmental not controlling. When we say we are accountable we mean that we “owe” somebody else results, action, insight, knowledge. But we also realize that this “owing” is a back and forth, interdependent action. It is the glue that holds us together as leaders and followers...with most of us playing both roles almost all the time in different settings and sometimes in the same setting!
“Between our current political divisions and the destabilizing forces of the pandemic that the idea of accountability needs to be refreshed in our organizations and in our work. ”
Therefore, it occurs to me that when the world around us feels increasingly unstable and we cannot really depend on “autopilot” for much of anything we need to cultivate our instincts for attentive and shared leadership and followership. We need to be self-aware and mindful of how we practice accountability. In a single organization this is important but, in a network, this is essential...a matter of survival.
We cannot depend only on intuition and culture to provide us with the ability to practice accountability well. The mindful and effective practice of accountability requires a variety of skills and competencies. Some of these include:
TRUST--norms, relationships, policies, and practices need to be trusting. This can be achieved by building trust practices but also through the use of forthright and accountable information shared among people with good and strategic intentions.
COMMUNICATIONS--all players in a team, the organization and/or the network need to know how and when to share information, how and when to anticipate the need for information.
CLEAR ROLES and RESPONSIBILITES--what is mine and what is yours may sound too possessive, but it is actually one of the best ways to clarify expectations, boundaries, and interrelationships. This clarity is the source of trust.
DECISION MAKING MODELS/SYSTEMS--Who has input, who decides, who needs to know. These basics of decision making are fundamental to accountability.
SWIM consultants regularly assist organizations and large networks to intensify their capacity for accountability by helping them to solve other problems or develop other ideas that are not directly called “accountability” but require accountability in order to work. To do this work SWIM consultants have developed or adapted a variety of tools that you can use directly...or hire a SWIM consultant to work with you.
Some of the essentials include:
Moving from Theory to Action: Six Practices of Effective Network Leadership
Effective Meetings in Uncertain Times: A Self-Guided Course
Understanding and Activating our Values
Planning During Disruption 2.0
Follow the links to the SWIM Store on our website or book a time to speak with a See What I Mean Consultant in a complimentary Discovery Session.
Author: Stephanie Clohsey