“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.”  ~Moliere

Recently, I attended an HOA meeting to discuss increasing the monthly fee by 10% for 3 years to make up for a shortfall in the Capital Reserve Funds. I was struck by the boards inability to use the word mis-management towards previous boards who failed to address the shortfall over the course of the last decade. Instead, they pointed towards Covid and inflation, even though there were multiple years where the Capital Reserve Balance did not meet the basic recommended percentages and where they failed to increase the monthly assessment or address the issue.

When I got up to speak to voice my opinion, it was met by a Board Member who was a past President saying they were appalled by my comments. Another board member said we’re not about pointing fingers and basically, “So what, we’re here at this point now.”

I believe there is a distinct difference between pointing fingers and blaming versus taking accountability and ownership for mishandling a situation. So I decided to look into the differences and here’s what I found:

1. blame – [bleym]/ bleɪm / from Late Latin blasphemare to blaspheme. Basically to blaspheme which means to speak of or address with irreverence. to speak of or talk to with disrespect
2. accountability – ac·count·a·bil·i·ty / əˌkoun(t)əˈbilədē / meaning to be answerable. the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions and their outcomes. Basically to be able to account for.

Taking Ownership

I understand the reason to not turn a meeting into a b**** session. That said, I think most people would have appreciated the admittance of the fact that previous boards, while trying to do the right thing, made some poor calls when it came to managing the finances. Not out of intention, just out of some poor decisions that were made and  now we need to move forward. In other words take ownership and accountability for the not-so great decisions that were made in the past.

Had that been the case, I believe myself and a lot more folks might be able to swallow the increase a bit easier instead of saying “So what, here’s where we are now! or I don’t want to use the term mismanaged.”

Accountability, Ownership & You?

So what does this have to do with Leadership? Everything!

If you are a leader who looks to blame folks for their missteps, it is a form of irreverence and/or disrespect. It includes belittling, abusive language, and is it is usually intended to shame or guilt. It is the conversation that is about pointing fingers, shooting the messenger, include phrases like: you always, you never, etc.

Approaching others with the idea of holding them accountable and taking ownership is a Coaching question that is rooted in the leader asking questions to better understand what the person believes about or how they think about the situation or issue at hand. To understand this at a deeper level please read, The Art of Leading Coaching & Influencing Others: Accountability, Ownership, & Impact?

Accountability, Ownership & Your Culture?

Robert Westrum is a sociologist who speaks to this very topic when it comes to organizational cultures. He states that you can determine one of 3 types of cultures based on how information flows through and organization. He defines these 3 types of cultures as either being; Pathological, Hierarchical, or Generative. The ideal culture is  generative because that is the performance-based culture while the others are power-oriented or rule-oriented.

Key Points:

• Pathological Model – the messenger is shot and there is a total lack of accountability and ownership.
• Bureaucratic Model – the messenger is neglected and accountability and ownership are departmentalized.
• Generative Model – the messenger is rewarded and trained and accountability and ownership is shared by the big – WE.

For more information please watch Westrum’s Cultures – Part 1

What About You & Your Leadership Culture?

Your leadership culture sets the tone and the level of success you will achieve. Becoming aware of the impact your leaders are having on your organization is imperative if you want to achieve Extraordinary Results.

So where does your culture fall when it comes to blame versus accountability and ownership? What would your employees say about how information flows through your organization? Would they say we are one team – the big WE?

Maybe this would be a great time to ask them?

Need a little help?

If you are looking to transform your culture to a be an even more collaborative, performance-based culture let us help! Please feel free to reach out by clicking here!

Till next time…