Why being 100% accountable will get you the job

By Madisen Harper

Last month I was on a cruise vacation that visited Sydney, Australia. Upon docking there were 60 passengers sitting in a conference room waiting for customs to provide them with visitor visas into the country.

The cruise ship personnel explained the process and advised that customs would be on board shortly. After waiting 10 minutes I began to hear the rumblings of dissatisfied people. They sat in the room grumbling to each other, complaining and generally whipping themselves into an angry frenzy.

I decided to practice what I preach about being 100% accountable and went to talk to one of the crew, “You might want to go in there and give them an update on what’s going on as they’re getting a little feisty.”   The crew member gave me a scared rabbit look and said, “Well there’s nothing I can do, we’re waiting on customs.”

Another ten minutes passed and one of the crew finally told the angry group that customs was delayed. And from the back of the room a man boomed, “Who’s to blame?”

Just then two ladies from customs walked through the door to booing and hissing.  Their cheery demeanour turned to annoyance and defensiveness. It was 7am in the morning and as far as they were concerned they arrived exactly on time.

The above scenario is common when people aren’t accountable in their jobs and lives. The passengers preferred to complain rather than get up off their chair to explore the situation and the crew tried to stay as far away from the angry group as possible.

Neither response made the situation go away. » Read more: Job Search Tips: “Who’s to blame?”