Driving Your Accountability

By Jay Gubrud

Have you ever been driving down the highway and someone in the left hand lane moves over three lanes at the last minute? They get in everybody’s way trying to move over, when they should have planned much farther ahead and moved over before the exit.

Or maybe you have seen those folks who are in a left turn lane decide they don’t want to turn left. So they put on their right blinker to signal to get back out into moving traffic. The problem is that moving traffic is going 50 mph! Yet they manage to shove their car into traffic, usually causing a major disturbance.

The other day I saw someone in a right turn lane signaling left to get back in the lane that goes forward. However, they were not able to move out of the right turn lane so others could proceed, which caused a major backup in traffic.

So what do all these scenarios have in common? In my opinion, they involve people who are not accountable for their decisions and actions. By not being accountable, they are forcing others to pay for their poor decisions or change of mind. I believe the drivers in the situations mentioned should follow through with their decisions and pay for their mistakes. The person in the far left lane should take the next exit instead of trying to make the one they want at the last minute. The people in those turn lanes should make the turn and find a way to get back to where they want to go.

These decisions and actions also happen in our professional lives. Our coworkers, team members or leadership decide to make a move that involves many other people and then change their mind. When they do so, they negatively affect every person involved. If you make a bad decision at work, don’t try to backtrack or cover something up if it is going to cause significant difficulty or inconvenience to others. Follow through on your original choice and be willing to pay the price. An important key in life is to learn from your mistakes. Realize that while we all have our individual jobs, responsibilities and initiatives, we are all connected and affected by each other.

We know in our gut when we are trying to make up for a bad decision or choice. The idea is to stop ourselves from trying to cover up the mistake or not taking accountability for it. Acknowledge your error in judgment to those affected by saying you are sorry. Apologies can go a long way in making things better and getting forgiveness. The other idea is to keep track of your errors. We all make errors, but if you find that you are constantly making errors or repeating the same error, you need to seriously address it.

Too often in our world, it is easier to focus on holding other people accountable when the real rewards occur when we hold ourselves accountable!

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The PEI Journal • Fourth Quarter 2007 • Volume 1, No. 4 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
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