Accountability Doesn’t Happen by Accident

​I have a lot on my mental plate today. No, not in a cute metaphorical way. In the way that a dozen responsibilities, many not even related, are bouncing around while two or three are definitely trying to hide under the couch with the dust bunnies.
On days like this, I feel my mental control slipping when it comes to wrangling and tracking all of these tasks.
That’s why I have certain “checks and balances” in place to help not only myself, but those around me, stay accountable. It could be as simple as a shared calendar, a scheduled email, a checklist in my planner, asking for a second set of eyes to look over something before I send it, or even a self-inflicted reminder alarm to remember to follow up on something later. All of these are things I try to regularly do to help keep the important things from disappearing into the gap between “someone knows about it” and “someone actually did it.”
These systems aren’t necessarily signs of distrust or a lack of faith in anyone’s competence. They’re simply an acknowledgment that people, myself included, are human. We get busy. We misunderstand each other. We assume someone else has something taken care of. Sometimes we fully intend to do something, only to have five other things stack on top of it.
Ever hear the phrase, “It takes a village”? Accountability definitely takes a village. If something matters, there should be a clear way to know who is responsible for it, what needs to happen next, and whether it’s actually been completed. Otherwise, everyone can walk away believing someone else has it handled while the task quietly falls through the cracks.
That means it’s extra important that the system itself doesn’t become another overwhelming thing to maintain. The best checks and balances are often small and boring: a checkbox, a calendar reminder, a quick follow-up, or one clearly designated person responsible for closing the loop.
The goal of accountability isn’t to control every moving part. It’s to create fewer preventable surprises by giving important things somewhere to live besides inside an already overcrowded brain. On days like today, I’m especially grateful that I don’t have to rely on that brain alone.