The end of this year is soon upon us, and we are in what call I “results-season”. At work, targets will either need to be met, adjusted, or accounted for, before the holidays start.
Brainstorming sessions will be in full swing to determine how you can justify closing the year respectably, and to lock down targets for next year.
What happens over the next few weeks will determine how your 2018 begins.
Now, what if you haven’t met your 2017 goals? Will you reflect and own up to your shortcomings? Or have you already started working out the justifications for not meeting them?
Alternatively, what if you have met, or surpassed your targets? Are you expecting a promotion? Or have you figured out how to ensure that this year’s achievements do not apply pressure on you for next year?
These are very serious questions that many of you will be grappling with right now.
Regardless of what your circumstances are, perhaps instead of just looking at your victories or losses, it might be more prudent to use this period to develop the ability to take ownership for your results.
Through experience, I have learnt that the start point for owning your results is taking 100% responsibility for what happens to you. Remember the ultimate truth that there is only person who is accountable for the quality of your life. And that person is you.
It is a hard step to master, because we are schooled in the art of apportioning blame from an early age.
As a kid, I would formulate smokescreens to escape punishment for something that I did. If I was naughty and got caught by my folks, I would try my best to “tai-chi” blame to my younger brother.
Because I learnt the art of assigning culpability to others, by the time I started work-life, I became quite good at it. I would often rationalise or defend my failures. It was always the fault of my boss or a colleague. In business it was easy to attribute any bad result to the nation’s prevailing economic conditions.
Many people I know spend hours reflecting on results. But they never focus on the real issue, which is their role in obtaining that undesired result.
Instead, they concentrate on how to palm responsibility off to someone else. They concentrate on working out credible explanations and justifications. And, of course, this takes immense energy, and effort.
I was the same.
Don’t get me wrong. I was not some villainous slacker who never got anything done. I did get things done. But, if I did not accomplish what I set out to do, I almost always had an escape hatch in my mind.
Like many people, I found it hard to accept that it could be my fault.
It was only when I ventured into entrepreneurship that I realised that this attitude of focusing on passing the buck to others, was in fact a liability.
As is the case with many novice entrepreneurs, I made some bad decisions in my early forays into business. Fortunately for me, I had good friends, and associates who provided me with a solid support network that helped me in these times.
It was one of these friends who taught me that I must always take ownership for my results.
Fatima Tahir Ali has been my friend for 20 years. I trust her counsel, and value her friendship. She is a persuasive and bull-headed lawyer who will always be good value on your side.
Without revealing too many details, let me just say that I once found myself in a spot of bother in a business venture. And as always, I turned to Fatima for advice, and assistance.
She took up my cause with her usual gusto, and fought my corner. Eventually, she negotiated a suitable end to my predicament. She advised me to comply, which I duly accepted.
Subsequent to this, and largely due to my lack of appreciation for the seriousness of the issue, I became lackadaisical about following through. Naturally, this brought me more trouble.
So once again, I trudged off to see Fatima to ask her to deal with it.
I am inclined to think that most lawyers would have gladly accepted the work, and proceeded to send me a hefty bill. But Fatima was different.
She wrote me a long but well-crafted message. It detailed out what being a responsible business owner entailed. She articulated everything I needed to know about proper commercial behaviour.
But more importantly, she explained to me the value of keeping my word in the business world. And, that my choices would heavily impact the results that I was going to get, both in business and in life.
Fatima was not only being my lawyer. She was being a mentor.
That dressing down by someone I trusted and respected, made me acutely aware of how important it was to accept ownership for my results.
Are you aware that you own all the results in your life?
Shankar R. Santhiram is a managing consultant and executive leadership coach at EQTD Consulting. He is also the author of the national bestseller “So, You Want To Get Promoted?”