Mountain of Accountability: Pursuing mission through learning, exploration and development

This webpage from the Blandin Foundation outlines its Mountain of Accountability© which has three interconnected levels of accountability. The three levels of accountability: Level 1 - Basic accountability; Level 2 - Accountability for Impact and Effectiveness; Level 3 - Accountability for Learning, Development, and Adaptation.

Excerpt

"A simple graphic has come to be valuable in understanding and describing what is, admittedly, a complex system.  Blandin Foundation’s Mountain of Accountability© summarizes its three levels of accountability, and the interconnections among them.  The journey to the summit (mission fulfillment) begins in the foothills of basic accountability.  From there, the ascent leads up to the middle of the mountain where more complexity and commitment is involved.  The final level leading to the summit, with its holistic and comprehensive panorama, offers no pre-set trail.  This is first-ascent  territory, where the conditions along the route and what has been learned along the way combine to inform further learning and guide the way to the summit. 

Upward arrows along the left side show that routine data inform higher level inquiry, and downward feedback arrows along the right side show that what is learned at the top informs strategies and actions at the lower levels (e.g., that reflective practice informs future strategic planning and operations management)."

Michael Quinn Patton and Blandin Foundation (2014)

Sources

Patton, Michael Quinn and Blandin Foundation (2014).  Mountain of Accountability: Pursuing mission through learning, exploration and development.  Grand Rapids, MN: Blandin Foundation, blandinfoundation.org.

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