The new year has arrived and with it has come more uncertainty about the future. As the job market continues to ebb and flow, people in leadership positions have been forced to pivot on many different levels. However, one facet of business remains paramount: accountability.
Whether you are dealing with a skeleton crew of your former team or working on onboarding new employees, accountability is the glue that holds the business together. While we want to relish in all of our success, we must also find a way to accept our defeat.
Only when we are willing to take a deeper look at our impact on the business and accept where we have failed are we able to truly grow. Long term projections for success are useless if leaders are unwilling to look back at what has worked in the past and what has not.
Over the past year, many individuals in leadership were required to make unprecedented decisions in favor of the health and safety of their employees. To do that, we have had to evaluate what was manageable for the business. As we round out almost a full year from the time these changes were made, we are going to have to take a closer look at what worked and what did not.
Perhaps, our greatest successes lie in our greatest mistakes. Only we, as leaders, can create a future better than what we have experienced. We do this by being accountable for what we have done correctly, but moreover, what we have done wrong and how we have learned from that experience.
You hold the power in your hands to be successful. This is only accomplished by admitting your imperfection and holding yourself to the same standards. A true leader understands when to admit defeat and when to celebrate. Accountability is paramount in defining those moments.