Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Anova Consulting believes that one of the keys to success lies in the ability to adapt and learn from the challenges we face. These shared beliefs, essentially our corporate ethos, are values we strive to put into action every day. This is the final in a series of blogs that explore Anova’s values through the lens of people we feel embody them.
It happens a lot: a group or team is in crisis mode. Something negative or adverse happened, and people are wondering, “Why did this happen, and who can we blame?”
Like the very best leaders and teammates, former football pro QB Tom Brady never waited to accept accountability. One game, after turning the ball over four times in a loss, Brady admitted to his teammates and fans, “That was on me. I’ve got to be better for my team, for our organization, for our fans. There are different ways to handle adversity, and my way is to take accountability for my actions.”
“Accountability is a life skill that greatly helps with overall life success,” says Dr. Christopher Stankovich, Ph.D., founder of Advanced Human Performance Systems, an athletic counseling and human performance enhancement center. He sees accountability as a successful contract between manager and employee, coach and athlete, and parent and child. “Whether it’s being accountable for training, studying, or making a meeting on time, accountability helps build trust between individuals, and trust leads to stronger overall relationships,” he says. “People that emphasize accountability generally get things done better and faster than those who do not hold themselves accountable.”
People who are assigned responsibilities are empowered with the trust to adequately handle them. They should also accept that they are accountable for those responsibilities, regardless of what happens. “There are ways you can handle adversity,” says Brady. “One is you point fingers at people, which we don’t do. Another is you quit and that’s not what we do either. The last thing is you point at yourself. That’s accountability. That’s what we do.”
It’s also common practice at Anova. We encourage everyone here to take full responsibility for their actions—good, bad, or somewhere in between. Sharing accountability has strengthened us as a company and has helped us sustain many honest, transparent, and high-performing partnerships.
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