Parnell: Accountability: The Wake-Up Call Leadership Can’t Keep Snoozing

Accountability makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Even leaders. Especially leaders.
We tend to associate accountability with being called out, corrected, or exposed. We brace ourselves for conflict, defensiveness, or tension. Somewhere along the way, accountability picked up a bad reputation, as if it’s something punitive instead of something productive. But accountability shouldn’t be a bad thing. In fact, when done well, it is one of the most powerful tools a leader has.

Accountability isn’t about calling people out. It’s about calling people up.

Yet many of us avoid it. We procrastinate. We delay difficult conversations. We hope problems resolve themselves. We take things personally instead of professionally. And when discomfort shows up, we reach for the snooze button.

How many of us are hitting snooze on 1-on-1s? On team huddles? On follow-ups, expectations, and conversations that matter?

Every time we hit snooze, we’re not buying rest. We’re delaying responsibility. And leadership doesn’t work that way.

Developing Healthy Habits

Here’s the wake-up call many of us aren’t ready for: leadership isn’t a one-time decision. It’s a continued direction. You don’t decide once that you’re a leader and coast from there. Leadership requires daily ownership, especially when it’s inconvenient.

When someone is coaching us or holding us accountable, we have a choice in how we receive it. We can interpret it as criticism, condemnation, and judgment, or we can receive it as feedback. That choice determines whether we grow or become guarded.

Correction is for our protection, not our rejection.

That’s a hard truth, but a necessary one. Accountability isn’t meant to diminish us. It’s meant to develop us. The problem is that many of us were corrected poorly in the past, without clarity, care, or context, so we carry that baggage into present conversations. As leaders, we have to unlearn the idea that accountability equals punishment.

In reality, accountability is an act of care. It is saying, “I care too much about you, the team, and the outcome to let this slide.”

Before we even talk about holding others accountable, we need to look in the mirror. Teams don’t rise to what we expect. They fall to what we tolerate. If standards are slipping, conversations are being avoided, or performance is inconsistent, it’s worth asking: Where am I not holding myself accountable as a leader?

Be Mindful of Perspective

Often, what we call an accountability problem is actually a clarity problem. We can’t hold someone accountable for expectations we were never clear about. Were responsibilities defined? Were timelines agreed upon? Was success clearly communicated? Accountability without clarity creates frustration on both sides.

This brings us to one of the most misunderstood leadership dynamics: reasons versus excuses.

Think about it. A leader holds someone accountable to their obligations, responsibilities, and desired outcomes. Something doesn’t get done. The team member begins explaining why it didn’t happen. To them, they’re giving reasons, context, obstacles, and realities. To the leader, those same explanations are often received as excuses.

What’s the difference?

Perspective.

To the person responsible for the outcome, reasons can feel like avoidance. To the person living in the situation, excuses feel justified. Accountability doesn’t dismiss reality. It prioritizes responsibility within reality. Leaders live on the results side of that equation.

And here’s where many leaders get stuck. Avoiding accountability doesn’t preserve peace. It compounds frustration. What isn’t addressed today becomes dysfunction tomorrow. Over time, delayed conversations turn into resentment, confusion, burnout, and declining standards. High performers notice. Low standards quietly become culture.

When done well, accountability actually creates safety. It builds trust. It reinforces standards. It reminds people of what they committed to and who they said they wanted to become. That’s what it means to call someone up. Not to shame them for falling short, but to point them back to the standard they agreed to.

Leadership will always involve tension. The question is whether you are willing to choose productive tension now or destructive tension later.

Accountability isn’t about perfection. It’s about direction. So, the real question isn’t whether you’re ready to lead. It’s whether you’re willing to lead today, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it would be easier to hit snooze.

Because accountability isn’t the problem. Avoiding it is.