On May 6th I will attempt the Cocodona 250, a 250-mile footrace through the Arizona backcountry, traversing deserts, canyons, mountains, and old mining towns with ~40,000’ of climbing and 36,000’ of descent. I’m excited and nervous. Can I finish this beast? I've made it public, so you're all holding me accountable.
Accountability vs Responsibility
Google teaches us that Responsibility is task-oriented and speaks to what you contributed toward a given outcome, what were you responsible for?
Responsibility is task-oriented. Every person on a team may be responsible for a given task that is required to complete a massive project. Accountability is what happens after a situation has occurred. It is how you respond and take ownership of the results.
Accountability speaks more to the actual Outcome and your Ownership thereof. It's about owning the outcomes of your actions and decisions, for better or worse and it’s a cornerstone for effective leadership, team cohesion, and personal development.
Sh1t runs downhill
I tell my team “The successes are yours, but the failures are mine”. I’m accountable for their outcomes. The mental image is an inverse pyramid and I’m at the bottom. I resist terms like terms like “Cascade” and “Manage down” as my job is to elevate and support the team.
How does this manifest day-to-day? I work a lot on planning/forward thinking but I’m still on call like everyone else. The teams have a Pager Duty and on-call rotation but I am ALWAYS on pager duty. I join as many retros and incident bridges as possible. When the outages are serious (rare) I update the stakeholders as if it’s my name on the door (because it is). It’s important to own the failures so the team can focus on delivery and racking up the wins.
Embracing the Suck
An ultramarathon is any distance greater than a marathon (26 miles). Signing up for that kind of race can be intimidating. Many folks will bring a crew and a set of pacers and I respect that. Ultras can be incredible experiences that you want to share with others…but ultimately…it’s your name on the bib.
When you’re out on the trail, in the middle of the night, with no one around you for miles and miles, you’re going to face some hard truths. No one is coming to save you. No one is going to run the next 5, 10, 50 miles for you. No one is going to fix this. There’s no one to blame if you fail. Just you. How are you going to react in that situation?
You don’t have to run an ultra to join this conversation. Maybe you’ve sat in the quiet of your house/apartment late at night, contemplating a tough meeting or an event the next day. Maybe you’re hosting a town hall or Q&A? Maybe you’ve had an outage and you need to regroup? In times like these you’ll make a decision; will I “embrace the suck” or will I deflect and look for an excuse? Will I lean in and own the outcome? Will I take the lumps and learn from it? or will I gloss over it and move on down the road? Another bullet dodged?
Tricking your Tricky Mind
The mind’s a slippery thing - it will look for ways to save face, protect the ego, and avoid the hard truths. At least mine will. To prevent that I play little tricks with myself. Here are some tips I use to maximize my potential for accountability:
Burn the Boats: Give yourself no option but to succeed. Remove all scenarios that would allow you to quit. For me, this translates into an accountability post like this one. If I don’t finish I’ll have a lot of humble pie and months of explaining to do. I will try to complete Cocodona…because I have no other option.
Fully Commit - you can’t half-ring a bell. Either ring that sucker or don’t. Go all-in. Commit to what you’re going to do and then do it. Fully.
Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals - Specific and Measurable are the keywords here. If the goal is fuzzy it’s going to be easy to weasel out of it. Time Bound is also important. Don’t worry about the “Achievable” or “Relevant” - to me these are less important because the goals I get most excited about are where “Achievable” is an unknown.
Introspection - take the time to reflect and have a frank conversation with yourself. What did you do well? What went wrong? What could be improved? and how you can make those improvements. Don’t fall into the Excellence Paradox!
Get Comfortable with being Uncomfortable
We can’t exceed previous high watermarks without accepting that Failure is a very real possibility. In some cases, it’s more likely than success. For Cocodona it’s going to be 250miles in the desert and mountains on a course I’ve never seen with no crew and no pacers. A lot can happen—mechanical injury, blisters, nausea, nutrition, salt imbalance, exhaustion, emotional and mental stress. Failure is a very real possibility but I’m excited to experience it all.
Accountability and the Team Dynamic
Accountability is contagious. When you see someone transparently sharing progress and setbacks or speaking openly about something they’re struggling with it permits you to push your own boundaries. Over time you attack larger and larger goals both personally and as a team. When failure is no longer something to be feared the team can be more ambitious. The psychological benefits, including increased commitment and motivation, are profound, fostering a culture where innovation thrives.
Career Progression
Being accountable can significantly impact your career trajectory. Delivery especially at scale is often long and complex. How you show up signals to leaders and peers alike that you are reliable, capable of learning from setbacks, and determined to cross the finish line, no matter the obstacles.
”Superpowers”
When we see others succeed it’s easy to think “If only I was graced with their gifts” - to me, this is a form of excuse. I’ve been writing about these superpowers; “Resiliency”, “Introspection”, “Gratitude” and now “Accountability” not because they’re reserved for the super-human but because they can unlock super-results. They exist in all of us and can unlock incredible outcomes.
Call to Action
What has your experience been? Think about your last setback. How did it play out and how did you show up? Consider setting a goal, ideally something that scares you. Something where failure is not just possible but more likely than success. Then share it with someone. Swing for the fences.
You will be AMAZED at the results.