Do you have someone to whom you are accountable?
No leader can get high enough on the organizational chart to escape accountability. Read Isaiah 40:12-31.
The higher a leader goes on the org chart the less people there are to hold them accountable, but no one escapes accountability to God. In verses 12-31 Isaiah reflects on the majesty of God. God is the leader who has no superior, no one to judge Him. The entire world and all the people are only like dust on His scales. All the trees in an entire nation are not enough to offer a burnt offering to one with this majesty. Isaiah tells the people of Judah that all the leaders from the king on down will be accountable to God. Isaiah isn’t talking about the external appearance of accountability but the accountability that goes to the inner-hidden-secret thoughts and attitudes.
What is the purpose of accountability and why do leaders generally try to evade it? Why do so few leaders perceive accountability to be in their own best interest? Few leaders realize that their ability to deceive themselves is virtually boundless. Without accountability every leader will drift away from attitudes and actions that honor God to attitudes and actions that are self-serving and that actually steal from God. When leaders do not have someone to help them draw out the lines to see how their short term actions will affect the future, their ability to rationalize momentary compromises is boundless. Accountability isn’t needed to protect others from leaders as much as it is needed to protect leaders from themselves.
It is important for a leader, no matter their position on the org chart, to be accountable to other leaders; this gives them a reference point to everyday realities and what other people think. It is also important that every leader is accountable before God; He measures the intent of their heart and attitude behind the actions seen by others. I will never forget the example of integrity of one of the senior leaders in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association who sought me out during a time of sweeping and major organizational change to ask if I would evaluate his decisions and actions and hold him accountable to principles in God’s word. That was a leader that understood the value of accountability.
Are there areas where there are few who have the authority to hold you accountable? Do you have areas in your life where you can see danger if you are not accountable to someone? Are there individuals you can trust with full disclosure? Effective leaders understand accountability is only as good as the information upon which it was based thus accountability without disclosure is a waste of time. Wise leaders also understand God has access to all the information even beyond the external to the motives and attitudes behind their actions and that no one is above accountability to Him.
