Your team isn’t performing. Deadlines are slipping. Results aren’t there.
Who’s responsible?
If your first thought was “my team,” we need to talk.
Here’s what separates average leaders from exceptional ones in 2026: accountability starts with you. Not your team. Not the economy. Not your boss’s unclear direction. You.
I’ve watched this play out for years. Leaders who blame externals stay stuck. Leaders who own their part transform everything around them.
Personal accountability isn’t about beating yourself up. It’s about recognizing where you have control and using it.
Stop waiting for perfect conditions. “I’ll address this when things calm down” is code for “I’m avoiding this.” Things won’t calm down. Leadership means acting despite the chaos, not after it passes. Your team needs you to lead now, not when it’s convenient.
Own your communication gaps. If your team didn’t understand the priority, that’s on you. If expectations were unclear, that’s on you. If someone thought they were doing fine when they weren’t, that’s on you. Clear communication is your job, not theirs.
Take responsibility for the culture you’ve created. Your team’s behavior reflects what you’ve tolerated, rewarded, and modeled. If people don’t speak up in meetings, look at how you’ve responded when they did. If accountability is low, examine what consequences you’ve actually enforced. You created this environment, even if you didn’t mean to.
Admit when you’re wrong. Fast. Without excuses. “I made a mistake” is one of the most powerful things a leader can say. It builds trust faster than anything else. Yet most leaders would rather defend a bad decision than admit they got it wrong. Your ego is costing you credibility.
Stop blaming your boss for your limitations. Yes, maybe they’re unclear. Maybe they change direction constantly. Maybe they micromanage. You still have choices. How you respond to difficult leadership above you is entirely within your control. Complaining about them to your team doesn’t make you relatable. It makes you weak.
Ask yourself the hard question. When something goes wrong, before you analyze what your team did, ask: “What’s my part in this?” There’s always an answer. You hired them. You set the expectations. You gave the feedback, or didn’t. You created the conditions that led to this outcome.
Here’s what happens when you embrace personal accountability: your team steps up. When you stop making excuses, they stop making excuses. When you own your mistakes, they own theirs. When you focus on what you can control, they do the same.
Accountability is contagious. So is blame.
I coached an executive last year who was furious about his team’s lack of ownership. “Nobody takes responsibility for anything,” he told me. “They always have an excuse.”
I asked him to track his own language for a week. What he found wasn’t comfortable.
“The budget cuts made this impossible.” “My boss keeps changing priorities.” “If I had more resources, this wouldn’t be an issue.” Every conversation, he was modeling exactly what he hated in his team.
We shifted his approach. Instead of explaining why things didn’t work, he started owning his decisions. “I chose to prioritize this over that.” “I didn’t give you enough context.” “I should have addressed this sooner.”
Within a month, his team’s language changed. The excuses dropped. People started saying “I’ll figure it out” instead of “it can’t be done.”
He didn’t give them a speech about accountability. He just started living it.
That’s how culture shifts. Not through posters or values statements. Through leaders who go first.
2026 will reward leaders who stop pointing fingers and start looking in the mirror. The problems in your organization? You’re probably contributing to them more than you realize. The dysfunction you complain about? You’re likely reinforcing it somehow.
This isn’t about blame. It’s about power. When you blame others, you’re powerless. When you own your part, you can change it.
Every outcome in your organization traces back to choices you made or didn’t make. Conversations you had or avoided. Standards you set or let slide. People you developed or neglected.
That’s not a burden. That’s leverage.
This year, stop explaining why things are hard. Stop waiting for better circumstances. Stop blaming the factors outside your control.
Own what’s yours. All of it. The good, the bad, and the uncomfortable.
That’s where your real leadership power lives.
What are you ready to take accountability for this week?
If you want to build genuine accountability in yourself and your team, schedule a call with me.
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