Innovation in Compliance with Tom Fox Leading with Accountability with Sam Silverstein
What does it mean to be accountable and lead with accountability? Sam Silverstein is a consultant and author whose mission is to empower people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and thrive at extraordinary levels. Join us as we take a deep dive into the subject of accountability and how it can impact the way we live and work.
Accountability vs. transparency
These are two totally different elements.
Transparency is being open and honest: admitting that you have made a mistake and saying you’re on it and fixing it. You’re not trying to hide it or pretend it didn’t happen, you’re just being human. This is critical, and transparency is an element that will help you toward a life of accountability as an individual or as a leader.
But accountability is keeping your commitment to people. We talk about it a lot but many people have yet to figure out what it is. Accountability is not a way of doing, it’s a way of thinking, specifically, how we think about people. It isn’t just keeping your commitments to appointments and deadlines; it goes far deeper, like your commitment to the truth and to your values.
Accountability Index
The Accountability Index is a tool that measures an organization’s culture across 15 different indices. This gathers valuable information that ranges from engagement to an actual accountability score, and, using this data, helps an organization fine-tune their culture so they’re inspiring accountability up and down the organization.
It’s the leadership’s responsibility to be accountable first, and then create that environment that inspires accountability. In a culture like this, accountability isn’t coerced. It’s simply that people want to take it upon themselves to get the job done and do it right.
Culture
Every organization has a culture, either a culture by default, or a culture by design. Most organizations have cultures by default. When leadership takes the time to decide that this is what our culture is going to be, and creates an environment that values people and allows people to feel like they’re a part of the conversation and the solution, then that is a culture that inspires them to want to do their best. That’s the real power of accountability.
The Accountability Movement, The Accountability Roundtable, and The Accountability Community Project
The Accountability Movement is about trying to get people on board with wanting to live a more accountable life individually, as well as being part of a more accountable world.
The Accountability Roundtable is when, for example, clients who have already gotten on board with accountability invite leaders from different segments of the community, and, with Sam, talk about accountability over breakfast or lunch, discussing what it can do for their organizations and how it can impact the community.
The Accountability Community Project is where they work with civic leaders in the community. This is when they roll up their sleeves and make an investment in time and energy resources, helping them put these principles into action to build a more accountable community.
Resources for Sam