Excuses Offer Only Dead Ends, Here's What You Can Do Instead
Excuses, however interesting they may be, they are still excuses.
Things go wrong. It is a fact of life and business. Not everything will go according to plan. When the inevitable happens, someone asks, ‘what happened?’ What follows will likely be determined to be an explanation or an excuse. What is the difference, you ask? I completed a development session on this many years ago with a group of leaders I had and defined the two this way:Excuses are when you place the blame on someone or something else and do not offer a path forward.Explanations provide insight into the situation, but are always followed by the actions you are taking to move forward.Setbacks happen. Things outside of our control are a reality, but those cannot become the obstacles that keep us from achieving what we initially set out to accomplish. Allowing a problem or failure to completely derail your plan and then place blame on something or someone is an excuse. There may even be valid reasons that you cannot accomplish what you stated you would, but the problem you sought to solve remains, and a new plan or action steps are now required. As a leader, your role is push ahead and not let the challenge overwhelm you or your team.
It starts with personal accountability
Personal Accountability - Owning the current and future outcomes to find a path forward to deliver the expected results or something better.
When I begin working with a new group of leaders, I usually share one of my favorite books, QBQ, The Question Behind the Question, by John Miller. It is an excellent book that clearly defines and provides insight into what personal accountability is and how to live by it. It sets the stage for everyone on the team to understand what personal accountability is and then we discuss how we can employ it in our everyday lives. It is not always easy. The concept is simple - own your outcomes and do not place blame. Ask better questions, ones that start with ‘what’ or ‘how’ and contain ‘I’. As an example, How can I better serve my team to avoid these challenges in the future? What can I do to solve this issue right now? The structure of these questions avoid blame and place the path to action on ourselves.In the end, as leaders we expect results from ourselves and our teams. We want to produce a positive and productive outcome for the efforts we put forth. If you are doing the right things, in the right way, and providing explanations along the way for the actions you have taken, then things will work themselves out. Excuses are only excuses if you let them detract from the ultimate outcome. You always have the final choice as to whether you deliver the expected results or not. I am confident you will choose wisely.How do you balance the idea of personal accountability, explanations, or even the occasional excuse?Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive FREE leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills all at no cost. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.