Accountability: A Difficult Lesson to Learn

My alarm screamed at me at 330am.  I dragged myself around my apartment getting ready for work.  It was so early, the coffee shop wasn’t open yet.  And the bars had just locked up from the night.  Hiking up the stairs to the train was the most arduous task in the history of arduous tasks.  The wait was longer than usual. At least when the train arrived, I had my pick of seats. 

My boss was sitting at the desk finishing the morning duties when I dragged myself into the office.  Her eyes tore through me when she looked at me.  She pursed her lips, furrowed her brow, and didn’t say a word.  What in the world had I done to make her this mad?  I’d never seen her like this. 

“Anne,” she growled.  (Ok, she didn’t growl, but that’s the tone I heard).  “What happened to the VIP suite yesterday?”

“What do you mean?”, I asked hesitantly. 

A group had booked almost all the hotel rooms and all the meeting space and had a VERY Important Person staying in the suite.  Almost Presidential level important. 

My mind rewound to yesterday and I recalled my day.  I arrived at work, gave the employees their assignments, I answered guest calls, I checked the suites.  Oh shit.   I didn’t check all the suites.

This was it.  This was the day I get fired because I neglected one of the most important responsibilities.

I did everything I could to hold tears back, but they fell anyway.   

“The VIP’s front team came in, inspected the suite, and called it a disaster.  The night manager had to go up and clean it again.  The sheets were dirty, the mirror had smudges on it, the bathroom was filthy.  What did you do yesterday?”

I tried to think about what happened.   I had inspected the other rooms on my assignment sheet.  And then it hit me: the room attendant assigned to the VIP suite had an emergency in another room and didn’t clean the suite early enough in the day.  It was the end of the day when she got to it and by then, I was in the middle of checking everyone out with their assignments, the front desk was calling with a lot of guest requests, I was thinking about my dinner plans. 

None of that excuses my neglect.  I should have been thinking about the VIP suite, helping the room attendant clean the VIP suite, and checked in on the room attendant earlier to see what she needed. It was the end of the day.  She probably wanted to go home, too.  I shouldn’t have left her to complete the room on her own.   I could have switched the suite to a different one so we could clean it perfectly.  It was my responsibility to inspect the suite and I did not. 

Because of my carelessness (or was it laziness?), a guest suffered at the lack of service they received.  The room attendant felt like I had abandoned her.  The night supervisor had to leave her work and her responsibilities to do my work.  My boss had to hear it from the general manager.  I disappointed my boss, my team, the guest, and myself. 

I apologized to my boss.  My throat was tight, my hands shook, and I could barely squeak out the words “I don’t have any excuse.  I screwed up.  How can I fix this?”. 

“Well, you can’t fix it with the guest.  Luisa did that last night.  I want you to come up with a plan for how you’re going to prevent something similar in the future.  How are you going to help your team prevent something like this in the future.  And how are you going to make it up to your team?  And I want it by the end of the day.”

Accountability  doesn't care about excuses. It asks one question: did you own what was yours to own? That morning, I did. I said it out loud. I apologized to my boss, to the room attendant, and to the night supervisor. I didn't explain. I didn't defend. I owned it.

Then I went and figured out how to make sure it never happened again. New end-of-day checklist. A check-in with any room attendant working late. The most important room gets inspected first, not last.

I remember that day like it was yesterday because I was held accountable and it’s a reminder of what leadership looks like when I got it wrong. I owned it.  I fixed it.  I changed how I work so my team isn’t left to correct my mistakes.

I could have told my boss about the emergency, the guest calls, the timing. All true. None of it the reason. The reason was that I didn't do my job.

My boss could have fired me that morning. She had every reason to. Instead, she gave me room to make mistakes. She told me the truth when I did. And she trusted me to be better the next day.

That's what employees need. Training so they know what the job is. Freedom to make mistakes and freedom to learn.  Consistent feedback that happens soon after the moment, not during the annual performance review.  A workplace with open, honest communication that builds trust.   

The morning I skipped the inspection I learned what accountability looks like from the inside.   If you want managers who own their work, you must build a place where owning it is safe. Where the goal is a better manager tomorrow.  That’s the job, too.