Being Accountable and Responsible in 2009

            Another new year has begun. If you are like me, you have no idea what happened to the old year. 2008 moved along at quite a clip, and now we find ourselves again at that time when we think about what we hope to achieve this year. Dozens of articles have been written about why people do not keep New Year’s resolutions. Are you a person who makes a realistic set of goals and then sticks to them? Or are you like the subjects of those articles? We make a start, but can we stick with things for the long haul?

            Every organization—and individual—struggles to gain and maintain alignment with core values, ethics, and principles. Whatever our professed personal and organizational beliefs, we all face restraining forces, opposition, and challenges. These sometimes cause us to do things that are contrary to our stated missions, intentions, and resolutions. We may think that we can change deeply embedded habits and patterns simply by making new resolutions or goals—only to find that old habits die hard and that despite good intentions and promises, familiar patterns carry over from year to year.

A recent study conducted by the Communication Department of West Virginia University concluded that we often make two mistakes with regard to New Year’s resolutions:

            First, we don’t have a clear knowledge of who we are. Hence, our habits become our identity, and resolving to change a habit threatens our security. We fail to see that we are not our habits. We can make and break our habits. We need not be a victim of conditions or conditioning. We can write our own script, choose our course, and control our own destiny.

            Second, we don’t have a clear picture of where we want to go; therefore, our resolves are easily uprooted, and we then get discouraged and give up. Replacing a deeply imbedded bad habit with a good one involves much more than being temporarily “psyched up” over some simplistic success formula, such as “think positively” or “try harder.” It takes deep understanding of self and of the principles and processes of growth and change. These include assessment, commitment, feedback, and follow-through.

            We will soon break our resolutions if we don’t regularly report our progress to somebody and get objective feedback on our performance. Accountability breeds “response-ability.” Commitment and involvement produce change. The best leadership development programs use a step-by-step, natural, progressive, sequential approach to change. In fact, the best programs require leaders to set goals and make commitments up front; teach and apply the material each month; and return and report their progress to each other regularly.

            If you want to overcome the pull of the past—those powerful restraining forces of habit, custom and culture—to bring about desired change, you must count the costs and rally the necessary resources. Consider an image from the space program for a moment as we think about watching one of the space shuttles take off… we see that tremendous thrust is needed to clear the powerful pull of the earth’s gravity. So it is with breaking old habits.

            Breaking deeply imbedded habits—such as procrastinating, criticizing, complaining about things, overeating, and oversleeping—involves more than a little wishing and willpower. Often, our own resolve is not enough. We need reinforcing relationships—people and programs that hold us accountable and responsible. WVU Extension’s Faculty Assignment Documents and Team Assignment Documents are examples of tools used to focus our work and give us something to reflect upon at the end of the year. Staff members should set annual performance goals also. It is when we do this and then add to the mix a few personal resolutions designed to lead us to behave in more effective ways that we see real positive energy all around.

            Remember also: “response-ability” is the ability to choose our response to any circumstance or condition. When we are “response-able,” our commitment becomes more powerful than our moods or circumstances, and we keep the promises and resolutions we make. For example, if we put mind over mattress and arise early in the morning, we will earn our first victory of the day—“the daily private victory” as author Stephen Covey calls it—and gain a certain sense of self-mastery. We can then move on to the more public victories as we achieve and succeed in our professional and public life. And as we deal well with each new challenge, we unleash within ourselves a fresh capacity to soar to new heights. Private victories and public victories combine to make a life for us that are very fulfilling.

            So think hard, reflect a bit, make some solid personal and professional goals, proclaim them, and regularly report your progress to folks who hold you accountable. I guarantee you’ll have quite a year!