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September 27, 2004
Accountability
I have always considered myself proactive—that is, I believe I rapidly identify problems in my life and deal with them effectively. (At least most of the time) I take the attitude that "I can't control what people do, I can only control my responses to them".
I try to acknowledge the boundary of my accountability. When I identify a problem within that boundary, I decide on a course of action and rapidly execute decisions to bring me in line with my plan (e.g. my decision to move to Sweden). Conversely, I try to "let go" of issues beyond my realm of responsibility. Of course, whether or not this is a consistently implemented process is open to debate.
My personal mantra is "no drama"—I have to constantly remind myself that the drama and stress I endure is usually of my own making. Whenever it occurs to me, I consciously abandon my stake in drama, especially when it's there for its own sake.
But as I read The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, I'm beginning to wonder if the idea of accountability, decision-making, and action goes further than that. He notes:
All too often, "proactiveness" is reactiveness in disguise. If we simply become more aggressive fighting the "enemy out there," we are reacting, regardless of what we call it. True proactiveness comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems. It is a product of our way of thinking, not our emotional state.
Reading this passage, it struck me that there is another category of personal accountability: when the problem lies outside of my direct responsibility, but I am nonetheless contributing to it through my own actions. This idea goes beyond "I can't control what people do" and approaches the notion that "I participate in the system in which the problem arises, and my reaction *and contribution* to that system are part of the problem's outcome."
Reading back over this entry, I'm not sure I'm making sense—but that's part of mulling though news ideas, I guess. My main reflection is that taking a "systems" perspective of personal accountability places me in more accurate relation to problems and solutions. My relationship to problems and solutions is not a linear one—rather I operate in a complex, dynamic system where my actions (and reactions) all influence problems at every level. Wow—what a feeling of responsibility!
