If You’re Leading Change, Accountability Is the Part You Can’t Skip
In the world of change, we spend a lot of time talking about how uncomfortable change can be.
And that’s true — but it’s incomplete.
Most people want change.
What they struggle with is the cost of change.
That cost shows up first as the loss of the status quo: familiar systems, familiar roles, familiar ways of working. In theory, that discomfort pays off in dividends — efficiency, clarity, scale.
But for those in positions to implement change, here’s the harder truth:
Change without accountability rarely pays out.
We change a system.
We launch an initiative.
We assemble a task force or project team.
And at the start, there’s energy.
But as execution begins, accountability is often treated as something that will “sort itself out.” Ownership is assumed. Decision rights are implied. Follow-through is expected.
That’s where momentum starts to leak.
Avoidance shows up quietly, wrapped in professional language:
- “This is cross-functional”
- “We’re still aligning”
- “Everyone plays a role”
In reality, ambiguity becomes a form of protection — for people and for the organization.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth for anyone leading change:
If ownership isn’t explicitly designed, the system will default to comfort.
Accountability feels uncomfortable not because people are unwilling, but because it puts capable, respected individuals in unfamiliar territory. New responsibilities. New visibility. New risk of failure.
And when accountability depends on personal courage alone, people retreat.
So how do you build accountability without turning it into blame?
You design it.
One functional place to start — every time:
Before the work begins, answer three questions in writing:
- Who owns the outcome? (One name, not a group.)
- Who has decision authority when trade-offs arise?
- What does “done” mean — in observable terms?
If those answers can’t be stated simply and consistently, accountability doesn’t exist yet.
Not because people are failing —
but because the system hasn’t been asked to carry it.
Accountability that lives in meetings erodes.
Accountability that lives in process endures.
And for those tasked with leading change, this is the real work:
Not driving urgency.
Not managing resistance.
But designing clarity strong enough to survive discomfort.
Because change doesn’t stall when people resist it.
It stalls when accountability is optional.
ALL2S CONSULTING LLC 