Essential Accountability
Many leaders have strayed from the path of wisdom because of poor boundaries, a lack of accountability, or just a simple hubris that it can’t happen to them. At best, poor decisions come about and there is a lack of good direction. At worst, moral failures occur and lives are wrecked. Accountability, especially for a senior pastor and or leader, is essential. Accountability is vital to the long term success of a leader and a system of accountability can help missteps from being taken and wise decisions to be made. You should willingly submit to some form of accountability, whether that is a small group of church leadership, or an individual or two that you can trust fully. If there is no one around you that you can fully trust you have a far greater problem than a lack of accountability. Here is what essential accountability can do for you and your leadership.
Clarity of Direction
It is your direction, not your intentions, that determine where you are going and where the organization will end up. Good intentions without proper direction are worthless. A system of accountability around you can help give clarity to steps. It will be wise counsel in difficult times and great encouragement to keep going when things turn challenging. The accountability team will see things that you simply don’t see, or have become blind to. Having it in your life will help you have a better understanding of yourself, your abilities/inabilities, your team, and the organization as a whole. It will lead to greater health overall.
Greater Integrity
The path to failure, especially moral, doesn’t spring itself on a leader out of the blue. Compromises have been made long before the final step. Arrogance has set in well ahead of the blow up. A trusted system of accountability will help you as a leader stay on the path of character and integrity. That is why trust is so important. They must be able to ask you direct and difficult questions that will answer honestly and openly. If you have to give account to someone then you are far more likely to hold yourself to the standard. The accountability group cannot be “Yes” people.
Better Stewardship of Resources
Resources are a very broad set of categories. They are not only your own money, time, ability, knowledge, giftedness, and background; but they are also all those same things of the people you are leading. Accountability can defend against excessive use, which becomes abuse, of all resources. It will help guide them to be focused on what is most important rather than being spread too thin. It helps create a healthy and sustainable balance in both your own life and the life of the organization.
Avoid Unwise Relationships
It has been said that each person is the average of the five people closest to him/her. The people around you will eventually shape and define you. What do the people closest to you right now say about you? Is it positive? Is it concerning? Are you trying to figure out if there are even five people close to you? Is any one of them a relationship that definitely shouldn’t be one that is closest in your life? Say a member of the opposite sex who is not your spouse? Accountability can help you discern what are and are not healthy functional relationships around you. It can help identify poor influences, or unwise interactions. Accountability is a key to helping you avoid situations that can turn into very bad things in your life.
The step of accountability is an intentional act by you as a leader. And it is one that is essential for you to be taking. Having a person/s who you can come to, in trust, to ask questions, hear feedback, and seek guidance will help you mature and grow into a wise and godly leader. There will likely be setbacks along the way. In those times keep your heart devoted to God and trust Him fully. But don’t allow the fear of being failed by someone to keep you from being accountable. Pursuing God’s heart means learning to trust His plan and story in every area of your life.