Accountability

This is one of the tools that makes up the Center for Positive Leadership’s “Virtues and Vices” series of instructional tools. It contains four stories of accountability, irresponsibility, or obsessiveness. A tool with multiple stories enables students to examine what is required to exhibit ideal accountability across different settings, and to account for the differing perspectives of multiple stakeholders. Each story includes carefully-crafted reflection questions to provoke the students’ learning, to prepare them for class, to prepare themselves to practice accountability, and to motivate them to be more mindful about their approach to leadership. The teaching note is included.

The job design interview protocol is an interactive learning tool for learning accountability and job design.  We recommend using this activity after a broader discussion about accountability, such as that provided by the “Irresponsibility, Accountability, and Obsessiveness Stories” tool:  CPL-2020-001-Accountability-Stories.pdf

There are incredible parallels between running a marathon and leadership. Like a marathon, leadership can be exhausting, but can also be highly rewarding. Race times vary widely in marathons, sometimes with hours between the first and last place runners. Similarly, there is often significant variance in leadership performance. Perhaps the most important parallel is that you cannot train for a marathon in a day and shortcuts will only come back to hurt you. The same is true for leadership – you certainly didn’t become a leader in a day, and it doesn’t happen by accident. Performance in a marathon depends in large part on the months that precede the actual race. Similarly, the attention you give to your development as a leader often determines your performance in the long term. In other words, training for a marathon and becoming a leader takes time, patience, and planning.