I’ve had a lot of people over the years ask me to “hold them accountable.”

It’s never worked the way they thought it would.

I was pastoring in the ’90s and early 2000s when certain Christian men’s movements were in their prime. Men gathered in football stadiums. There was a lot of cheering and crying. The outcome was small groups of men who “hold each other accountable.”

This accountability was typically a series of questions asked in the early morning in church basements over doughnuts and coffee.

Are you reading your Bible?
Are you looking at porn?
Are you cheating on your taxes?
Are you nefarious, evil, or naughty in any way?

Answers varied in honesty and candor.

Over the years, I’ve learned accountability doesn’t work in this way.

Accountability is about transparency.

The best way to be accountable is to be radically transparent.

Keep a public record of your work.
Live life in the open.
Keep no secrets.
Tell no lies.
Make it easy for anyone to see what you do and how you spend your time, talent, and treasure.

The responsibility is on you alone.

When people ask me to “hold them accountable” today, I usually say “no” because they are looking for men’s-group-style accountability from the ’90s. That won’t work.

Here’s what will work:

1. A system with built-in radical transparency
2. A system that defines and measures outcomes/behavior.
3. A system that builds good habits over time.
4. A community that genuinely cares about each other and will speak plainly to each other about issues.

And while we work on these things, let’s also work on what’s ultimately important. Purpose. Mission. Life. Relationships. Godliness. Legacy.

Real accountability is not an early morning meeting with awkward questions around stale doughnuts and bitter coffee. It’s more labor-intensive than that.

Accountability that works is radical transparency through system building, leadership development, and community.