Facing the facts: Accountability can be painful, necessary

Bad decisions, poor work, bad results  — That is the painful side of the picture we all want: Great decisions, great work and, of course, great results.

Problem is that people have to be completely accountable for the bad before they can be successful, says leadership expert Joseph Folkman.

That accountability requires hard-core integrity and ownership. No finger pointing, no avoidance, no hiding. And that’s not easy, especially under stress when it would be easier to play a computer game instead of calculating how deep in debt you are.

In business or personal life, sometimes you need someone to hold you accountable. Entrepreneur Magazine suggests that finding an accountability partner can help with what can be a painful task. Meeting with this person once a week to discuss challenges and successes is a great way to avoid excuses. A good partner will see right past a weak rationalization or lie and keep future success the number one priority.

It might not be pleasant.

Forbes Magazine says that taking ownership means that there will be honest assessments along the way about how things are going.  Everyone is tempted to paint a deceptive picture of progress, but this will backfire in the long run. Accountability means facing hard facts and that can be painful.

Failure is rarely fun, especially when someone holds you personally responsible. But sometimes that is what it takes. If an idea is not working or a mistake compromises the quality of a project, then the only way to reverse course is to own the problem and make changes.

In order for this to happen, a person needs to understand that failures are okay, and often expected, on the way to a positive outcome.