Accountability and Fatal Flaws

During Mid-Year conversations, there are always one or two questions about accountability and fatal flaws, so this week I thought I would address them here.

Accountability is the choice to take responsibility for your actions and your situation. Interesting Foster, Hicks & Associates describes Accountability this way: 

“Accountability is the choice to take responsibility for your actions and your situation without blaming others or feeling like a victim of circumstance.  The focus is on taking ownership by acting on what you can control and recognizing what you cannot.  It is also about being truly proactive, rather than waiting for others to act, or hiding behind your defense mechanisms.”

Accountability is good for the soul.  😊   

Foster & Hicks say this:  “The alternative to accountability is blame and with blame, one gives away all their power.  It is virtually impossible to feel invigorated, competent, or happy and be stuck in resentment.  Studies show that when we are accountable and believe we have some control over our lives, we live longer, manage stress more effectively, and have higher levels of perceived quality of life and emotional capability.”

This is important because high performers are those who take ownership to make things better.  As such, they are viewed as reliable and trustworthy.  

When you are accountable, you go beyond responsibility (just doing the tasks assigned to you) and look for ways to make contributions above and beyond.  In Mid-Year conversations, when the topic has been your accountability use the above to reset expectations and to rethink what accountability means to you.

The other question that comes around frequently is about “fatal flaws”.

Fatal Flaw is a term used to describe a limitation that a person puts on themselves and if not addressed can lead to problems that affect that person's actions or abilities and their reputation.  Think of it as a weak spot, but one that can really hurt your career.  When we talk about fatal flaws at work, it is complex because humans are complex.  However, understanding what fatal flaws are and recognizing if you have them is step one. 

Some examples of fatal flaws include:

• Perfectionism
• Lack of openness to new or different ideas
• Lack of accountability
• Procrastination
• Time Management
• Inability to learn from mistakes

As I have resolved my own issues with perfectionism I have recognized that really it is just a pattern of inactivity.  Not that I am doing too much, but rather I am not moving the item forward because it isn’t good enough, and if I just had more time.  Truthfully, when I do recite “perfection is the enemy of good enough” and submit whatever I am working on the majority of times it is just what was needed. 

It is important to know your strengths and it is equally important to know where you have areas that need focus.  I challenge you to reflect on areas where you need to focus and determine why you do them, and how you are going to focus on them so that you can address and get better.

With that, I am out.  Hope you all stay cool (it's raining where I am going) and I will see you all on August 9. 

Happy Thursday!

-srt

How do you receive Feedback?

How do you receive Feedback?

Every day, not just at Mid-Year, we receive feedback from the people around us.  This might be your manager, peers, direct reports and even family and friends.  It is how we take in the feedback and what we do with the feedback that matters. 

A great #careerhack that I learned some 20+ years ago, was to always receive feedback like a gift.  To do this, you have to believe the person giving the feedback has the best intentions for you and your development.   

After framing your mind with that positivity (“good intentions”), here are five steps that Hays Consulting recommends you take to receive feedback like a pro:

Actively engage with what you are hearing.  Ask yourself, “What is the key message being delivered?”

Pay attention to the feedback givers emotions and body language.  Those will help you understand how the feedback giver is feeling giving you the feedback and in turn helps you adjust to how you respond to them.  For example, in really difficult conversations the feedback giver may tense up or use a lot of words in giving the feedback.  This is especially important when receiving feedback from family and/or friends.

Convey what you have understood from the feedback.  Understanding the feedback (not defending or apologizing or describing how you will rectify it) and conveying it back concisely shows the feedback giver that you heard.  NOTE:  I recommend scheduling follow-up conversations with the individual with some time between to share what you will do with the information. 

Thank the feedback giver for the feedback.   It is amazing how a simple thank you can open the doors for future feedback. 

Throughout the feedback session, I will always ask permission before asking questions.  The simple phrase, “do you mind if I ask a question about x?” Can go a long way to ensure the conversation is two-way and that you walk away fully understanding.

I recommend scheduling follow-up conversations with the individual with some time between to share what you will do with the information.   For the duration of my career, I have always sent a follow-up to my performance feedback thanking my manager for the investment of time with the items that I am going to focus on and describing to him/her how I was going to take action.   Overkill?  Maybe, but my management knows that I heard them and that I am committed to focusing on the behavior or initiative with some high-level action bullets of how. 

Happy Thursday!

-srt