In any relationship, trust and accountability are partners.

The ability to be accountable to the other is a way trust establishes itself. The willingness to continuously be accountable contributes to establishing a sense of trust that feels safe.

There is no effort in such kind of trust.

There is no effort as it seems that asking critical questions is welcomed by the other.

That there is no sense of being aggressed is the result of the trust that established itself in the relationship.

When such trust doesn’t yet exist in the relationship, establishing it takes more effort and is an individual effort.

Being asked to be accountable then requires taking a step back to assess if there is simply a need to know due to the context. It can also be, that there is more to it, in such a case it becomes relevant to explore what it is that leads to a lack of trust.

Assuming positive intent in such a situation requires effort. However, this doesn’t mean that the effort needs to be done without verification. Learning what it is that leads to receiving accountability questions allows one to develop trust, this time by learning more about how the other person thinks.

Feedback may be a useful concept to learn what others experience and would appreciate seeing. What it doesn’t take into account, is how much of a two-way street trust is. That is, how different accountability is to feedback.