Be trustworthy (Accountable)

Charlie stood out, because he did the job. Anytime. All the time. Sometimes, the rest of us would spend time on the ‘fun’ or interesting aspects of our job. When we had hundreds of courses to migrate to a new system, he started with the ‘easy’ ones to learn the new development language. Others of us, got mired in items more complex and difficult. We also had other tasks, which diverted our time and attention. Sometimes I too procrastinated, because I feared boredom, and didn’t like repetitive work, hour after hour.

Three things were part of Charlie’s work ethic.
    Accountability.
    Focus.
    Persistence.
These are learned behaviors.

1) ACCOUNTABILITY.
DO. Charlie took personal responsibility to work a certain amount of the day on the task at hand.
DEFER. Other routine work happened later. 
DELEGATE. He tag-teamed with a partner, who would insert videos, while he did the rest.

When others would make excuses for not completing the job, he would gently remind us, “Get ‘er done”.

2) FOCUS.
We knew not to disturb Charlie when his headsets were on. We would compile notes and email them periodically, so he batched his work. Focus is short-term, and means ‘to avoid distractions’.  He asked his co-workers to support him in his good habits. When focus is needed, Dopamine is triggered to create short-term focus, and tune out distractions.

3) PERSISTENCE.
Over the course of weeks and months, Charlie was a productive worker in course mitigation. Persistence is actually a different psychological behavior, than focus. It is more long-term. It is a hallmark of well-disciplined people, who have learned ‘delayed gratification’ (reward comes later).

Another example is shown in a 2008 NPR article, children in Asia were scoring higher in math than American and European of the same age. Was it do to intellect? Culture?

After extensive testing and research, it was determined that those who planted rice in the fields, or had extensive chores or work, were better in math, because they simply had the persistence to work through the problem, to the end. (Malcom Gladwell, 2008, NPR).

Endorphins ‘runners high’ may also be associated with persistence, the ability to go long distances, overcome pain and stress, to feel relaxed, even euphoric. Endorphins are also triggered by laughter, food, sex, exercise, and ultraviolet light.

Have you ever met a person who does not take accountability for their actions?  When we ask “Who is in charge of your career? Finances? Schedule?” They may respond “My boss, my spouse, my kids soccer games.”  They are quick to point fingers at others for why their work is late, incomplete, or not good quality. 

One co-worker replied that she was not going to take the company sponsored training, because it was off-hours. Unless she was paid to learn, she would not. On the next layoff, she was gone and another was given her job.  She did not understand the connection between her habit of complacency and lay off. She blamed everyone but herself, all the way out the door.  

Jeff Kelley told his team to own up to their mistakes. He said that it was a lot easier to work with managers when you stepped up, identified what had gone wrong and worked to fix it. In the highly charged atmosphere, where senior management tended to get upset, people had been covering up for themselves and others, working quietly to fix things before they were noticed, or passing blame on to others. However, it was a life-long good advice, to become better at foreseeing risks.

Taking accountability, seeing risks, and fixing mistakes, is a highly-prized attitude of success.