Introduction
Understanding the Difference between Accountability and Responsibility is of utmost importance for individuals and Organizations alike. Though often used Interchangeably, each term carries with it distinct meanings and Implications.
Accountability and responsibility are two fundamental concepts that have an impactful influence on our actions, behaviors and relationships – they both involve taking ownership for oneself but differ in focus and scope.
Furthermore, we will highlight their interconnectivity as well as discuss ways in which both concepts should be balanced for optimal functioning in both personal and professional lives. With a deeper knowledge of these concepts at our disposal, we can navigate both with ease while maintaining integrity – creating trustful relationships while making effective decisions.
What is Accountability?
Accountability refers to an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions, decisions, and their effects. Accountability includes being answerable and accountable for one’s behavior and any outcomes it creates.
Accountability typically means providing explanations, justifications or reports to relevant individuals or entities. Accountability requires transparency; individuals or organizations who act with impunity are held accountable for their actions, with evaluation and possible repercussions depending on performance compared with certain standards or expectations.
It can apply in different contexts such as personal, professional, organizational or governmental environments and plays an essential part in building trust, integrity and effective governance.

What is Responsibility?
Responsibility refers to being held accountable, reliable, and trustworthy when performing tasks, fulfilling duties or fulfilling obligations. It involves acknowledging one’s roles and commitments while acting upon them accordingly.
Responsibility implies a sense of duty, ownership, and dependability among individuals or entities who must exercise control, make informed decisions, and take appropriate actions in order to accomplish desired outcomes or fulfill assigned tasks.
Responsibility involves understanding and accepting the consequences of one’s actions or inactions and accepting their results. Responsibility may manifest itself in various forms – work, family life, social interactions, or community participation are just some examples where it manifests. Accountability plays an integral role in maintaining order and building trust within personal and professional relationships.

Importance of understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility
Understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility cannot be understated, here are several compelling arguments for why it’s vitally important:
Clarifying Roles and Expectations: Distinguishing between Accountability and Responsibility can provide clarity for organizations, teams, and relationships by helping individuals understand what particular tasks or actions they are accountable for as well as any possible outcomes or consequences of these responsibilities or outcomes or consequences.
Effective Decision-Making: Understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility allows individuals to make more informed decisions. Once individuals acknowledge their responsibilities, they can take steps towards fulfilling them while holding themselves accountable ensuring decisions are taken with consideration of possible impacts as well as a willingness to face possible repercussions.
Increased Performance and Productivity: By understanding accountability and responsibility, both individuals and organizations can increase their performance and productivity. Accountability promotes urgency among its followers while responsibility encourages proactiveness so that tasks can be completed efficiently and effectively.
Establishing Trust and Credibility: Understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility is integral to building trust and credibility.
When individuals take accountability for their actions while remaining transparent with regard to accountability measures taken against them, they demonstrate reliability, integrity, and an ethical behavior commitment – ultimately leading to increased trust between colleagues, stakeholders, and the wider community.
Effective Conflict Resolution: Understanding the distinctions between accountability and responsibility can assist with conflict resolution. By understanding whether an argument stems from issues of either responsibility or accountability, individuals can more efficiently address their problems, allocate tasks correctly, and assess any resulting consequences or corrective actions that need to be taken.
Ethics and Legal Compliance: Acknowledging accountability and responsibility is integral to maintaining ethical and legal compliance. Accountability refers to fulfilling standards or expectations set by legal regulations, ethical codes, or organizational policies while taking responsibility for adhering to them and fulfilling any associated obligations to ensure full compliance.
Understanding the difference between accountability and responsibility is vital for clarifying roles, making informed decisions, enhancing performance, building trust, resolving conflicts, and maintaining ethical and legal compliance in various contexts.
By grasping these distinctions, individuals and organizations alike can operate with integrity, transparency, and effectiveness across various settings.
Transparency
Transparency is an important element of accountability. It refers to openness and visibility in actions, decisions, and processes; with individuals or organizations willing to provide clear and accessible information regarding their intentions, outcomes, and responsibilities or obligations being an integral component.
Transparency plays a vital role in building trust among stakeholders. By being open and honest about their performance and decision-making processes, individuals or organizations allow others to evaluate them more easily while holding them accountable for their actions.
Furthermore, transparency promotes integrity and ethical behavior by decreasing hidden agendas, conflicts of interest, or any dishonest acts from occurring.
Practically, transparency can manifest in various ways, such as openly communicating goals and objectives, disseminating relevant information and data, regularly updating progress reports, accepting feedback or concerns from stakeholders, and making information readily accessible and understandable to all those affected by its results.
By adopting transparency, individuals and organizations demonstrate a dedication to accountability. By creating an environment of openness and trust, they foster collaboration, effective communication, and improved decision-making.
Furthermore, transparency acts as a safeguard against corruption, unethical behavior, or abuse of power as it encourages scrutiny from both internal and external sources.
Transparency is an integral component of accountability, helping build trust, integrity, and responsible behavior across personal, professional, and organizational settings.
Transparency ensures individuals and organizations are willing to be open about their actions, decisions, and outcomes and hold themselves accountable for fulfilling their responsibilities in an accountable manner.
Organizational accountability
Organizational accountability refers to an organization’s obligation and goal of meeting its obligations and reaching its goals while being held responsible for actions and outcomes. This involves everyone within an organization’s ranks – from top management down to individual employees – acting according to established values, standards, policies, and norms.
Here are a few key aspects of organizational Accountability:
Organizational Accountability Requires Delineation of Roles and Responsibilities: For organizational Accountability to work Effectively, each member of an Organization must clearly Understand his/her roles and Responsibilities within the larger context of the Organization.
This involves creating job descriptions, assigning tasks, and making sure all employees understand their individual responsibilities within its structure.
Performance and Results: Organizational accountability requires measuring and evaluating organizational performance against predetermined goals, targets, or benchmarks. This can be accomplished via performance reviews, key performance indicators (KPIs), or regular progress reports.
Governance and Compliance: Organizations are held to high standards of legal compliance with regard to legal requirements, industry standards, ethical norms, and guidelines imposed upon them by regulatory bodies, industry associations, and ethical organizations.
This involves adhering to laws, regulations, and policies while remaining transparent with their financial reporting and decision-making processes.
Decision-Making and Ethics: Organizational accountability encompasses an ethical dimension to decision-making. It calls for Organizations to make Responsible, informed choices that Consider all stakeholders such as Employees, customers, communities, and the environment when making their decisions.
Stakeholder Engagement: Organizations have an obligation to their stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, suppliers, and members of their community. Engaging effectively with these groups involves actively listening to their concerns, meeting their needs, and including their perspectives in decision-making processes.
Learning and Improvement: Organizational Accountability includes an ongoing Commitment to learning and Improvement, such as Identifying areas for growth and taking necessary corrective actions as necessary, all while cultivating a culture of Accountability within an Organization.
Organizational accountability is integral for maintaining trust and credibility, achieving organizational objectives, and encouraging transparent, responsible, ethical behavior at all levels of an organization.
By cultivating an organizational culture of accountability, organizations can improve performance while forging stronger relationships with their stakeholders – contributing to long-term success and sustainability.
Personal accountability
Personal Accountability refers to an individual’s willingness and ability to take responsibility for his or her own actions, Behaviors, and decisions. It involves understanding their impact and accepting any Consequences as a result of them. Personal Accountability includes several key aspects:
Ownership: Accountability on an individual level means accepting responsibility for one’s actions and behaviors. It involves understanding their choices are decisions they have control over and that any outcomes stemming from these choices lie solely with them.
Self-Reflection and Learning: Personal accountability involves engaging in regular self-reflection and self-introspection. Individuals who hold themselves personally accountable regularly evaluate their actions, behaviors, and decisions in order to identify areas for growth and improvement.
Furthermore, these individuals welcome feedback as an avenue for change; actively seeking new learning experiences as opportunities present themselves.
Integrity: Personal Accountability is Inextricably linked with Integrity. Acting according to one’s values, principles, and ethical standards requires acting with Honesty and Trustworthiness in mind; individuals who practice personal Accountability Demonstrate these traits through their actions.
Commitment to Goals: Accountable individuals strive towards meeting personal goals and aspirations with dedication. This involves setting realistic and meaningful objectives, developing action plans, and taking consistent steps toward realizing them.
Those who hold themselves personally accountable prioritize personal growth by striving to realize their full potential.
Personal Accountability Requires Adaptability and Problem-Solving: Personal accountability involves adapting to changing situations and actively taking steps to overcome challenges that may arise, taking the initiative to find solutions when obstacles are encountered, and making adjustments when facing setbacks or difficulties arise.
Self-Management: Individual accountability involves effectively managing time, resources, and priorities in an organized and disciplined fashion to fulfill commitments and meet deadlines. It requires being organized, disciplined, and proactive when taking actions necessary to fulfill commitments or meet deadlines.
Personal accountability is vital to personal growth, success, and well-being. It empowers individuals to take control of their lives, make conscious choices, and pursue their goals with determination.
Being personally accountable helps build resilience, self-reliance, and a sense of empowerment as well as strengthen interpersonal relationships by being reliable, trustworthy, and reliable in interactions with others.
Political accountability
Political accountability refers to the Responsibility of elected officials, Government institutions, and public servants to be transparent in their actions, decisions, and policies.
Political Accountability is at the core of Democratic Governance – assuring citizens that those in power are being held responsible for their conduct and performance.
Here are a few key aspects of political accountability:
Electioneering Accountability: Elected officials are accountable to their electorates who elected them into office, both for fulfilling campaign promises, representing constituent interests, and making decisions that conform with public preferences and welfare.
Transparency and Information Sharing: Political accountability requires transparency in government operations, decision-making processes, and access to information.
This involves providing timely and accurate data to the public so they may hold officials accountable for their actions or policies.
Checks and Balances: Political accountability requires checks and balances within the political system to hold political actors accountable while preventing abuses of power.
Such mechanisms include legislative oversight, an independent judiciary, and free press as means to hold them accountable and prevent misuse of power.
Political Accountability Measures: Anti-Corruption Measures: Political accountability encompasses measures designed to counter corruption and promote ethical behavior within government.
This may involve measures for detecting and penalizing corrupt practices, as well as encouraging integrity within public administration and setting ethical codes of conduct for public officials.
Citizen Participation and Engagement: Political accountability necessitates active citizen engagement with the political process through mechanisms such as public consultations, feedback mechanisms, and avenues for citizens to express their concerns or voice opinions while holding officials accountable.
Institutional Accountability: Political accountability extends beyond individual politicians to include government institutions and agencies, holding them to account for their performance, service delivery and adherence to legal and regulatory frameworks.
Political accountability is vital to maintaining trust, legitimacy, and democratic governance. By holding political actors to account, citizens can influence policy decisions, demand transparency and promote good governance.
Key characteristics of responsibility
Key characteristics of responsibility include:
Obligation: Responsibility refers to an internal sense of duty or obligation towards fulfilling certain tasks or duties that fall under one’s responsibility and to fulfiling one’s roles and commitments as per moral or social imperative.
Ownership: Accepting responsibility means taking ownership for one’s actions, decisions and consequences resulting from one’s choices and behaviors. Taking this step also signifies acknowledging one is accountable for whatever outcomes stem from these choices and behaviors.
Dependability: Being responsible means fulfilling one’s commitments on time and reliably. This involves being consistent, punctual, and being able to fulfill obligations as promised.
Accountability: Responsibility and accountability go hand-in-hand; it requires being accountable for one’s actions, accepting accountability for mistakes or shortcomings and being willing to face the repercussions when necessary – or make amends when appropriate.
Proactiveness: Being responsible involves taking initiative and being proactive when fulfilling one’s obligations. This means anticipating needs, identifying issues early and taking necessary measures to address them before they grow into larger concerns.
Adaptability: Being responsible requires being flexible in response to changing circumstances or unexpected challenges, adapting one’s approach or actions accordingly so as to meet one’s responsibilities effectively.
Ethical Behavior: Behaving ethically and adhering to moral principles are integral parts of responsible conduct. Making decisions that take into account their effects on others, adhere to legal and ethical requirements and promote fairness, honesty and integrity is part of this responsibility.
Responsibility involves self-discipline and self-control; prioritizing tasks, managing time effectively and resisting distractions that may interfere with fulfilling our responsibilities are all hallmarks of responsibility.
Continuous Improvement: Responsibility includes an obligation to personally develop and grow. It means seeking out opportunities for learning, honing new skills, and striving to fulfill one’s responsibilities with excellence.
Collaboration and Cooperation: Responsibility extends beyond individual tasks and encompasses working closely together with others in an organization or team, to jointly achieve shared goals. Recognizing this interdependence of responsibilities among team members or the larger workforce is central to being accountable.
These key characteristics of responsibility drive individual behavior, build trust between people and organizations, and lead to personal and professional development. By embodying these characteristics, individuals can meet their obligations while contributing to others’ wellbeing as well as making positive contributions within communities or organizations.
Work responsibilities
Work responsibilities refer to the tasks, duties and obligations expected of an individual as part of their professional role or job or professional position.
They can vary widely depending on the nature of work being performed by individuals in different industries and positions within organizations as well as any organizational factors present at that location.
Here are some commonly held types of responsibilities:
Task Execution: Professional duties often entail carrying out specific assignments related to one’s role, such as conducting research, performing data analysis, writing reports or presentations for presentations, managing projects or providing customer service as part of daily responsibilities or operating machinery.
Meeting Deadlines: Meeting deadlines is an integral aspect of work responsibilities, as it ensures an efficient workflow and achievement of organizational goals. This involves completing assigned tasks or projects within specified timelines to achieve maximum efficiency in workflow and goals achievement.
Quality and Accuracy: Work responsibilities include assuring the quality and accuracy of outputs. This involves paying close attention to details, conducting thorough checks and reviews, and producing work that conforms with established standards and expectations.
Collaboration and Communication: Collaboration at work involves many responsibilities that involve working with colleagues, teams, or clients – this may require effective communication among colleagues and teams, participation in team discussions, sharing of information among them and coordination efforts to reach common goals.
Professional Development: Work responsibilities may require ongoing professional development. This involves keeping up with industry trends, learning new skills, attending training sessions and finding opportunities to expand knowledge and expertise.
Adherence to Policies and Procedures: Work responsibilities may necessitate adhering to organizational policies, procedures, and guidelines. This means adhering to established protocols while upholding confidentiality, adhering to ethical standards, and complying with legal regulations and standards.
Problem Solving and Decision-Making: Part of work duties often involves problem-solving and decision-making. This means identifying challenges or obstacles, evaluating options, and making informed decisions to overcome problems or achieve desired outcomes.
Adaptability and Flexibility: Work responsibilities may call for adaptability and flexibility to respond to changing work demands or priorities, which includes being open to taking on new tasks or responsibilities, adapting to ever-evolving circumstances, and accepting innovative technologies or working methodologies.
Customer/Client Service: Roles that involve direct interactions with customers or clients typically require providing exceptional service, from responding to inquiries, resolving issues, managing relationships and assuring customer satisfaction.
Continuous Improvement: Work responsibilities often include an obligation to continuously improve, through seeking opportunities for enhancement in work processes, suggesting innovative ideas and contributing to overall improvement of results and organizational effectiveness.
Noting the nature and context of work responsibilities varies widely by industry, job level and organizational context. Employers typically detail these responsibilities in job descriptions to provide clarity for employees regarding expectations.
Family responsibilities
Family Responsibilities refers to the obligations and duties individuals owe within their family unit. These Responsibilities can differ based on cultural, social, and individual Considerations – here are some Commonly held family Responsibilities:
Care and Support: Family obligations often involve providing care and support to family members, such as taking care of children, elderly parents or any other dependents who rely on us and meeting their basic needs. This may involve overseeing their welfare while meeting any basic necessities required of them.
Household Management: Family responsibilities may include overseeing the household and performing various tasks to create a comfortable living environment, including cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, managing finances and organizing family schedules.
Emotional Support: Individuals often have an Obligation to offer emotional support to family Members during times of difficulty, whether this means Listening, giving advice, Providing comfort or simply being there when times get tough.
Parenting and Education: Parents play an Essential role in raising and Nurturing their children, from making sure their physical and Emotional needs are met, guiding their Education, teaching values, and Instilling discipline.
Financial Support: Part of being a parent involves meeting their financial obligations as part of meeting family needs. This may mean earning income, managing expenses and budgeting accordingly and making decisions that benefit everyone within the family unit.
Communication and Relationship Building: Part of family responsibilities is cultivating positive relationships and effective communication within the household, such as by maintaining open lines of dialogue, resolving any conflicts that arise and encouraging healthy interactions among family members.
Health and Well-Being: Individuals have the Responsibility of prioritizing the health and well-being of their family members, which includes Encouraging healthy habits, seeking medical Treatment when necessary and creating an atmosphere of support and nurturing Environment.
Celebrations and Traditions: Part of family responsibilities involves participating in and upholding family traditions and celebrations, from honoring cultural practices to hosting family reunions and creating an environment in which all family members feel at home.
Education and Value Transmission: Families play an essential role in transmitting knowledge, values, and cultural heritage to younger generations. This may involve teaching traditions or sharing family histories; encouraging education as lifelong learning; or simply teaching youngsters new ways of thinking.
Individuals have the responsibility of dedicating time and being present for their family members, which includes spending quality time together, engaging in family activities, and making an effort to foster meaningful relationships.
Responsibilities within each family vary and often change over time, necessitating individuals to balance their needs against those of their family members and create an atmosphere that fosters support and care for all members.
Social responsibilities
Social responsibilities refer to the duties and responsibilities that individuals and organizations owe towards society and its wellbeing, transcending personal or organizational interests to contribute towards improving it all.
Here are some key aspects of social Responsibility:
Ethical Behavior: Adherence to ethical Principles and values when engaging in Interactions and making decisions with others requires adhering to social Responsibilities, including treating each person with respect, honesty, fairness, and Integrity.
Environmental Stewardship: Social responsibility encompasses protecting and conserving the environment by minimizing its effects, supporting sustainable practices, and engaging in eco-friendly endeavors.
Philanthropy and Charitable Giving: As part of social Responsibility, engaging in Philanthropic activities and Contributing to Charitable causes are an integral Component of fulfilling them. This may involve volunteering time or resources in support of organizations or initiatives which aim to address social issues while improving welfare among others.
Community Engagement: Part of social Responsibilities involves actively engaging with and Contributing to the local community, whether that means Volunteering at Community events, supporting local Businesses, or fulfilling Community needs.
Diversity and Inclusion: One of society’s social responsibilities involves encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion within society. This means recognizing and respecting diversity for its intrinsic value while challenging discrimination to create welcoming environments that embrace individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Ethical Business Practices: Organizations have the responsibility of operating ethically. This involves treating employees fairly, maintaining product safety and quality, as well as acting responsibly in supply chains.
Social Impact: Social responsibilities involve being mindful of how our actions and decisions will have an effect on society, including evaluating and mitigating any unintended negative repercussions, while exploring opportunities to make a difference in areas such as education, healthcare, poverty alleviation and social justice.
Corporate Citizenship: Organizations have an obligation to act responsibly as corporate citizens. This involves being transparent about the social and environmental effects of their operations, engaging in ethical business practices, and contributing to society at large.
Advocacy and Social Change: Social responsibility involves advocating for change by raising awareness, supporting social justice movements, and shaping policies and practices to create a more equitable and just society.
This may involve raising funds or volunteering at fundraising events in order to raise funds to address systemic issues.
Consumer Responsibilities: Individuals have social responsibilities as consumers. This involves making informed and responsible purchasing decisions, supporting ethical businesses with sustainable practices, and considering both social and environmental impacts of their decisions when making purchases.
Social responsibilities are fundamental in creating an equitable, sustainable, and compassionate society.
By accepting their responsibilities as individuals or organizations they can contribute positively towards social change by helping address pressing environmental, ethical, or other challenges that threaten this goal.
Comparison Table of Accountability and Responsibility
Sure! Here’s a comparison table highlighting the key differences between accountability and responsibility:
Accountability | Responsibility |
---|---|
Focuses on being answerable for actions, decisions, and outcomes. | Focuses on fulfilling obligations and duties assigned to a role or voluntarily taken on. |
Implies a sense of being answerable to someone or something for performance. | Implies a personal commitment to fulfilling tasks and obligations. |
External expectation or requirement placed on an individual. | Can be internally motivated or voluntarily assumed. |
Emphasizes the consequences and outcomes of one’s actions. | Emphasizes the execution and completion of assigned tasks or duties. |
Relates to the obligation to provide justification or explanation for one’s actions or decisions. | Relates to the obligation to complete tasks or fulfill duties effectively and efficiently. |
Often involves being answerable to higher authorities, stakeholders, or standards. | Often involves being answerable to oneself or a set of values, principles, or roles. |
Can be enforced through rules, regulations, or formal structures. | Relies on personal commitment, integrity, and self-discipline. |
Involves accepting consequences, rectifying mistakes, and learning from failures. | Involves taking ownership, making proactive choices, and seeking personal growth. |
A measure of how well an individual meets expectations or standards. | A measure of how well an individual fulfills assigned tasks or duties. |
Key in organizational contexts to ensure transparency, trust, and effective performance. | Key in personal and professional contexts to ensure productivity, reliability, and growth. |
Please note that while there are distinct differences between accountability and responsibility, they are often interconnected, and individuals are expected to exhibit both in various aspects of their lives.
Focus
Focuses of accountability and responsibility may differ:
Accountability refers to taking responsibility for one’s actions, decisions and outcomes. It emphasizes justification or explanation for one’s behavior to higher authorities, stakeholders or established standards; ultimately accepting responsibility for consequences caused by one’s actions while remaining transparent during this process.
Responsibility involves fulfilling tasks, duties, or obligations effectively and efficiently.
It involves carrying out and fulfilling any specific responsibilities assigned as part of a role or that have been undertaken freely voluntarily – with an emphasis on personal commitment, taking ownership for tasks completed according to expectations.
Accountability refers to being held accountable for our actions and decisions, while responsibility refers to fulfilling assigned tasks and obligations.
Accountability places more focus on outcomes and consequences of an action taken while responsibility focuses more on completion and execution of assigned tasks.
Scope
Accountability and responsibility vary in scope depending upon various factors:
Accountability refers to taking responsibility for one’s actions, decisions and outcomes in general – it goes beyond specific tasks or duties assigned an individual and encompasses their obligation to justify or explain why certain decisions were taken or actions were taken. Accountability means being answerable to higher authorities, stakeholders or established standards.
Responsibility refers to specific tasks or duties assigned to an individual and the execution and completion of these effectively and efficiently. Responsibility is more task-oriented as it involves fulfilling those assigned responsibilities and meeting expectations within a particular role or context.
Accountability refers to taking responsibility for actions and outcomes while responsibility focuses more narrowly on fulfilling specific tasks or duties assigned. Accountability involves being answerable beyond immediate tasks while responsibility focuses more on fulfilling assigned responsibilities.
Voluntariness
Voluntariness is an integral component of accountability and responsibility:
Accountability is often enforced or required by external factors, such as rules, regulations, or formal structures. Being held to account may come with holding positions of authority within an organization or having specific responsibilities within it; accountability typically isn’t voluntary but instead represents an expectation placed upon individuals or entities to answer for their actions or decisions.
Responsibilities, on the other hand, can be voluntary and often arise from personal commitment, sense of duty or willingness to accept certain tasks and obligations.
Responsibility can either be self-assumed or willingly assumed depending on one’s values principles and roles – while external factors may assign certain responsibilities, individuals can choose to accept additional responsibilities beyond what may be expected of them.
Accountability tends to be mandated or required while responsibility may be voluntary. Accountability typically meets external expectations or requirements while responsibility can come from within or be self-assumed in accordance with individual decisions and commitments.
Outcome orientation
Outcome orientation involves directing efforts, resources, and actions toward specific goals or objectives for which desired results or outcomes must be attained.
Outcome orientation applies both in terms of accountability and responsibility:
Accountability: Accountability can be defined as taking full responsibility for the outcomes or results of one’s actions and decisions, accepting any positive or negative repercussions that result from one’s performance or behavior and accepting them with grace and dignity.
Individuals who practice accountability focus on creating favorable outcomes while taking ownership for their role in shaping those results.
Responsibility: Outcome orientation refers to fulfilling assigned tasks or obligations with an emphasis on reaching desired results. It involves understanding the purpose and expected results of one’s responsibilities and working toward them efficiently and effectively.
Responsible individuals are motivated by achieving these desired results so as to contribute towards overall task or role success.
Outcome orientation plays a central role in both accountability and responsibility by channeling efforts toward producing desired results.
It requires taking an active approach in understanding desired results, aligning actions accordingly and owning up to their impactful actions on those results.