Accountability vs. Grace

“We need to hold ourselves more accountable.”

That was feedback shared during a really big project debrief at work. I am certainly a fan of accountability. And I know that setting a realistic goal and all of that SMART goal blah blah blah is a sure-fire plan for success. Seriously. People have made millions helping people get specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-framed goals. I get it. It works.

You know what doesn’t work? When you feel like you failed because you didn’t achieve a goal because life happened. Am I still supposed to achieve a goal when suddenly I’m dealing with a friend that has cancer? What about when my team set out to do a project, and one of our team members has to deal with the sudden failing health of a parent? What about all of the battles that we don’t even know others are fighting?

Yes, we want to achieve goals, and we want accountability, but certainly not at the expense of grace.

Giving our colleagues grace will do far more than complete a project or a achieve a goal. It will strengthen our bond, it will enable empathy, and it will keep us human.

Keep giving each other grace.

Photo by Guillaume Flandre on Unsplash