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QBQ! Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life- by John G. Miller

This subject is one that has helped me tremendously. I am reading this book again to help refresh the concept. I will be sharing with you a few of my thoughts on this book. For the record it receives two thumbs up or five stars, depending on your method.

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What does QBQ! stand for? The Question Behind the Question.
What to Really Ask Yourself to eliminate blame, complaining, and procrastination

My example? A pizza service being so terrible they had no record of my order or that I called. This happened more than once. Employees have literally ignored customers. They were in their own world and conversation. I hear they have better management. I haven’t been back to see.

Have you ever heard these words?

Not my fault.
Not my job.
Not my problem.

OR

“When is that department going to do its job?”
“Why don’t they communicate better?”
“Who dropped the ball?”
“Why do we have to go through all this change?”
“When is someone going to train me?”

The questions above are lousy questions or as John refers to them: Incorrect Questions aka IQ’s.
What if we asked the QBQ! ? The results no doubt will vary, but things like the following could happen.

Improved productivity- Who couldn’t use a dose of this?
Greater Teamwork- This could lead to not only productivity, but shorter meetings. That could impact the bottom line.
Reduced stress- Now that could be a game changer.
Healthier relationships- Sounds like a win win to me.
Better customer service- Ultimately you want to serve them better right?

You may be saying, “nobody else will practice the QBQ! so why should I?” My answer to you is, you should do it for your own personal accountability even if those that are around you don’t. It will cause you to be more productive, creative and benefit those that are around you. They will notice the difference trust me. If you keep working at it this could change your environment. I often use the analogy of how we have more faith in the negative actions rather than in the things like this concept of personal accountability being able to change our world. We automatically discredit the notion of trying to do good or improve. We are much better at believing that if someone did something negative that it would certainly cause problems. Let’s say hypothetically that your boss had an affair with a subordinate employee. Do you have a problem believing that this would cause a negative reaction or that it could in someway cause the moral of the sales team to drop? Of course not! We would be insane to think otherwise. Now.. so you were thinking in your head that this whole personal accountability thing.. there is just no way it could change my boss or employees! Wait.. were you? What do you have to lose? Could it hurt to have our thinking tuned up?

Asking the right questions and will help you to make better decisions. You can begin now to implement this. You do not have to have permission. Ask yourself how you can help in a situation that everybody else just walks away from. You can stand out from the crowd with personal accountability. Kick out old negative thoughts and make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you.

Here are a few quotes for you to enjoy. Read one in the morning and find a way to make the difference.

“Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility . . . . In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.”
- Michael Korda Editor-in-Cheif, Simon & Schuster

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.”- Lou Holtz

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.” – Jim Rohn

“The reason people blame things on the previous generation is that there’s only one other choice.” – Doug Larson

“In the old days, words like sin and Satan had a moral certitude. Today, they’re replaced with self-help jargon, words like dysfunction and antisocial behavior, discouraging any responsibility for one’s actions..”- Don Henley Singer/Songwriter

“Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.” -George Washington Carver

“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you.” – Wayne Dyer

“In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.” – Abraham Lincoln December 1, 1862 Message to Congress

“It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”-J. W. Goethe

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