Accountability is NOT the same as being held accountable. Being held accountable comes from outside of us and is usually out of our hands. Accountability is what we have control over. It is something we do and something we offer of ourselves to those around us.

Accountability means that when we make mistakes, we want to know it and to fix them. This requires a willingness and the capacity to learn from the mistakes.

Acknowledging that mistakes will happen is not hopelessness. It is in fact the opposite. It demonstrates that we are willing to face reality and to work within our constraints with all the power we have. Accountability reflects the fact that we do not fool ourselves into believing our plans are accurate maps of our behaviors. Accountability is essential to learning. It also demonstrates respect!

Communities recognize accountability at a glance. They know who is willing to talk about mistakes or challenging timeframes, and to make changes in their implementation. Most people say that they do not see much accountability in the international community of interveners.

Do No Harm users use their tools to anticipate the types of things that could go wrong in their plans and to incorporate learning from mistakes into their solutions. Many say that they have found it is possible to use a mistake to speed up achievement of the goals of a project or a program because a mistake may increase knowledge about the context in ways that enable better work. They say, however, that this is only possible if we have the capacity to learn rapidly and iteratively, especially with regard to our impacts on Dividers and Connectors.

Do No Harm users, for many reasons, have a bias toward action. They have seen how much power and control they have, even in the most complex and challenging of situations. They have seen that they can still make good decisions, emphasizing the connecting mindset, no matter what is going on around them. And they have gotten good results.

They also know how dangerous inaction can be. They have seen the harm that results when people avoid acting or are trapped by analysis paralysis.

The sense of being able to act is also a form of accountability.

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Related Topics
Positive Patterns of Behavior based in Accountability
Using Accountability
Using the RAFT
Respect
Fairness
Transparency