.svg)
Free Survey
About Us
Our Thinking
Shop
They float.
Words like empower, strategy, and culture hover in the air, detached from anything concrete. You say them, and the person you’re talking to looks up and to the right—a semantic search as they try to make meaning from the conversation. To make the abstract solid.
People do better when you make it real.
Instead of, “I empower you,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is specific:
“Make it happen. You have full authority.”
One of the `floatiest, most detached, difficult-to-put-into-action words?
Ask five people what it means, and you’ll get five different answers—each preceded by a quick glance up and to the right. Responsibility? Ownership? Consequences? Leadership? Empowerment? The definition drifts from one vague word to another.
Split the word up. An account is what happened. Being able is having the power or skill to do something.
So, to be accountable is to make something happen.
Accountability is the A in RACI. You’re not Responsible (doing the work), Consulted, or Informed. But you are the one who owns the outcome—the one answerable for results, not just effort.
Taking accountability, in its simplest terms, is a shift from problem-reacting to outcome-creating.
Problem-reacting isn’t a great space to be in. It’s the confusing algebra of fire-fighting, short-termism, and tunnel vision.
Humans are natural problem solvers. We’re wired that way. We admire it professionally—doctors trained to diagnose symptoms, engineers who can break down complex systems, and entrepreneurs who identify challenges and turn them into opportunities.
But there’s a difference between solving problems and reacting to them.
When we slide down that slippery slope, we stop thinking expansively. We become rigid, defensive, and stuck. Stressed. We’re ruminative—we chew over the same issues again and again. Locked in the moment, treating symptoms instead of root causes.
We’re not accountable; we’re avoiding, blaming, making excuses. Or waiting, doubting, and complying.
Problem-reacting keeps us passive. Stuck. Powerless.
Outcome-creating is the better side of the equation—where energy fuels action, ideas take shape, and results happen.
In this space, we’re expansive. We’re bold, visionary, inclusive, and focused. We translate strategy, lift teams, and lead change.
When we’re outcome-creators, we are accountable. We own the outcome. We don’t wait for direction or permission—we step up, solve, and build.
We stay curious, agile, and in flow. We adapt, we improve, we learn. Rather than ruminate, we reflect—not stuck in what went wrong, but in how to get better.
Outcome-creating builds momentum. Focused. Resilient.
Taking accountability is like a math problem solved by simply moving the decimal point. We’re not shifting blame.
We’re shifting where you stand. You are the point.
Stand on the problem-reacting side of the equation, and everything happens to you. You’re passive, defensive, avoiding responsibility.
Shift to outcome-creating, and things happen because of you—taking ownership, driving action, and shaping results.
Small shift. Big difference.
Questions are the answer.
Taking accountability means thinking differently—and that starts with asking yourself the right questions. Hard questions. Questions that jump you out of the groove in your thinking.
It also means avoiding cliché answers—the comfortable responses that keep you stuck instead of moving forward.
Better questions create better outcomes.
Here are six questions to help yourself, and your teams, move from problem-reacting to outcome-creating.
#1. Where am I standing?
#2. What story am I telling myself?
#3. Am I inside the problem or above it?
#4. How do we move forward together?
#5. What’s the smallest step I can take?
#6. How do we make it stick?
Accountability—moving the dot—starts with self-awareness. Before you can shift from problem-reacting to outcome-creating, you need to know where you are.
When you’re stuck in problem-reacting, you feel it. You wobble. You’re tense. Everything feels like a threat—to your security, control, or competence. Agitated, you take up defensive behaviors: blaming, avoiding, or waiting for someone else to act.
Spot the signs—nagging thoughts hold you back:
Security feels like fear. “What if this goes wrong?” → You avoid action.
Control feels like frustration. “Why won’t they listen?” → You push harder or shut down.
Competency feels like doubt. “Maybe I’m not good enough for this.” → You second-guess yourself.
Outcome-creators do something different. They recognize the trigger, take ownership, and shift the question. Instead of reacting, ask:
“What’s driving my reaction—fear, frustration, or doubt?”
Once you see why you’re stuck, you can challenge how you’re thinking about it.
We live inside a narrative network—a web of stories that shape how we see the world and ourselves.
This isn’t just a metaphor; it’s how the brain works. Our brains create meaning through stories, filtering experiences to fit the narrative we already believe. And in that network, we’re always the hero of our own story.
But sometimes, that story works against us.
When you’re stuck in problem-reacting, the story sounds like:
The Victim: “This is happening to me.” → You feel powerless.
The Fighter: “This shouldn’t be this way.” → You resist but stay stuck.
The Doubter: “Maybe I’m the problem.” → You hesitate, unsure of what to do.
Outcome-creators rewrite the script.
They don’t ignore reality—they challenge their interpretation of it. They MacGyver it. You can do the same. Don’t say, “I don’t have what I need.” Instead of fixating on what’s missing, ask:
“What else could be true?”
“How can I make this work with what I have?”
“If I were the hero of this story, what would I do next?”
Because the moment you change the story, you change what happens next.
When you’re stuck in problem-reacting, the problem is all you see.
You’re zoomed in too close, tangled in details, emotions, and frustration. You react instead of seeing the bigger picture.
Inside the problem, you spiral—fixating on what’s fair, chasing the next big idea, reacting to the immediate, or pushing forward to stay busy.
Outcome-creators zoom out. They shift from reacting to seeing clearly:
“What’s actually happening here?”
“What hard truth do I need to face?”
“What options are there to move this forward?”
“What’s the right thing to do, beyond what’s easy?”
When you rise above the problem, you stop reacting and start solving.
This is where accountability becomes collective.
In problem-reacting mode, people protect themselves—pointing fingers, deflecting blame, or waiting for someone else to take the lead. The result? Gridlock, frustration, and slow progress.
They bring up history. Looking backward—We’ve tried that before or That won’t work here. The past is data, not a destination.
Outcome-creators face forward. They don’t re-litigate history—they focus on now. They focus on the next step, not the last failure.
Shift accountability from blame to ownership. Instead of:
Shift from “Who’s responsible?” to “What can we do to move this forward?”
Build upon common ground:
“What do we want to accomplish together?” or “What are our shared goals?”
Forward beats backward. Ask:
“What’s possible?” or “How could we do this differently?”
Momentum beats motion. Action beats activity. Together beats alone.
There is no big bang.
Except for, maybe, The Big Bang. For the rest of us, big things don’t start big. They start small.
Start with a standard domino and line up twenty-nine. If each domino is progressively bigger, you could topple the Empire State Building. Momentum scales—but only if you start.
So, why haven’t you?
If being accountable means making something happen, you must push over the first—small—domino. In problem-reacting mode, we hesitate. We don’t see the first move, or we wait—for the perfect plan, more information, or someone else to step in.
Outcome-creators don’t just start—they start in the right direction. They work backward from the outcome and ask:
“Where do I want to end up?”
“What’s the last domino—and what needs to fall before it?”
They shrink the problem. They lower the bar. They just start. They ask:
“What’s the simplest action I can take right now?”
“How can I make progress in ten minutes?”
“What’s the first domino?”
The first step doesn’t solve everything. It starts something. Tip the first domino, and momentum takes over.
Don’t be fooled by a flurry of actions.
Activity disguised as accountability is a fool’s productivity. Taking accountability means sustained impact. The first step matters. So does the second. But it’s the combination, speed, and direction that count.
The real test? Each step must lead to something bigger.
In problem-reacting mode, people act without alignment. They fix—and feel good—in the moment, but nothing really changes.
Outcome-creators think systemically. They don’t just solve problems—they connect dots, create patterns, and build for the long term. They align actions with strategy, effort with OKRs, and execution with the bigger picture.
They ask:
“Am I working on a task—or shaping something bigger?”
“How does this action fit into the larger strategy?”
“What ripple effects will this create?”
“Who else needs to own this to keep it going?”
“How will we check back in to reinforce accountability?”
Big change doesn’t happen alone. Sustained accountability rallies a team. A movement. It aligns people to a common goal—and makes something happen.
Gavin McMahon is a founder and Chief Content Officer for fassforward consulting group. He leads Learning Design and Product development across fassforward’s range of services. This crosses diverse topics, including Leadership, Culture, Decision-making, Information design, Storytelling, and Customer Experience. He is also a contributor to Forbes Business Council.
Eugene Yoon is a graphic designer and illustrator at fassforward. She is a crafter of Visual Logic. Eugene is multifaceted and works on various types of projects, including but not limited to product design, UX and web design, data visualization, print design, advertising, and presentation design.
