3 Ways to Build a Culture with an Accountability Backbone
Thanks to Kris Boesch for this guest post.
Accountability isn’t exactly happy dance material. It’s a tough term. What do you think of when you hear the word? Perhaps belittling, finger wagging, or being watched?
Accountability is key to an extraordinary workplace culture.
#1. Create a definition.
Create a new definition of accountability. Make it “count-on-able” – where you can count on your co-worker to follow-through. Or consider “ability to count,” the ability to have someone’s effort and energy count.
#2. Include success and struggle.
Holding people accountable is to witness both success and struggle. When you see success, follow up with meaningful appreciation and recognition.
High performers and those who are set up for success love accountability.
#3. Confront mediocrity.
However, if you have someone on your team who is struggling, you’ve likely been asked to “hold them accountable.” But what does that even mean? Hold them in check? Hold one’s feet to the fire?
Consider coaching and guiding them to success. To a point. (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?)
If someone isn’t pulling their weight or isn’t being kind and there’s no reaction, things get wonky fast. When you say nothing, you give unsaid permission to perpetuate bad behaviors. Subpar behavior or performance becomes normal, accepted. Mediocrity sets in. Caring slips.
Leaders are accountable for accountability.
“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”
C.S. Lewis, novelist and poet
How might leaders create a culture to instill accountability?
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Kris Boesch the author of Culture Works: How to Create Happiness in the Workplace found at www.cultureworksbook.com. She is also the CEO and Founder of Choose People, a company that transforms company cultures, increases employee happiness and boosts the bottom-line. The Choose People 360° Culture Audit is based on over 1000 hours of research Boesch conducted with the Industrial Organizational Psychology Department at Colorado State University. Prior to Choose People, Boesch was the CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage. Under her leadership Exodus became the largest mover in Northern Colorado with a turnover rate nearly 40% less than the industry average and a bottom line twice that same average. She is the author of ‘Culture Works’ and the accompanying workbook available now on her website and May 15 on Amazon. Kris is also a proud mother, dancing diva and dog lover.
We are actually doing training this month on Accountability. I am sharing this article with my management team for discussion. Great topic!
Love, LOVE the egg-to-bird-to-flight quote! That one is going in my archives! Great post. I am convinced that a culture of accountability and what I like to call positive peer pressure is essential to success.
Very interesting. Accountability has been in the conversation lately with our staff. As the building leader it is imperative that I am holding others (and myself) accountable to build our desired culture.
#4 Resource the work people are accountable for.
Very few people rush to be held accountable for things over which they have no control.
Dan, regarding “struggle”, effort and energy, it’s as if the Yoda meme has swallowed this. “Do or do not. There is no try” is the rule. Nobody seems to care how much effort or energy you expended, failed is failed is failed.
Accountability is key to success! It is all about living out your values and making sure that you are paying attention to the right things. Great article!
Leaders and managers must “walk the talk”, i.e. exhibit it, live it, believe in it, if they expect those being led and managed to buy-in to the company culture.
Effective Accountability is one of the biggest challenges in a culture especially while trying to shift from a rigid culture to a culture fostered through servant leadership.
Any change in culture is difficult and requires consistent effort and resilience. Ensure it is led from top down and you’ll have more chance of success. By which I mean ensure the owners, CEO, exec and/or management exhibit the same behaviours that you wish to see embedded in the culture. Otherwise your efforts become watered down and ignored.
Accountability is so difficult to balance with autonomy and empowerment. I am curious about a developing a culture that embeds accountability.
True, however it does depend on the underlying culture of the business. if the accepted norm in the business is to ignore measurements and hope that it works out, then measuring does little.
I’ve seen it swing both ways.
Accountability comes down to this: What gets monitored gets done. I couldn’t agree more that “leaders are accountable for accountability.”
I love the idea of creating a culture of accountability rather than just holding people accountable. If we agree that most employees want to do great things and be part of something bigger then holding a stick over their head (old fashioned accountability) feels kind of stifling. But if we set clear expectations and ensure that those are fully understood and vetted, then we can observe behavior and provide reinforcing and corrective coaching and feedback to get the results we want. Thanks for sharing!
Accountability is a delicate balance of coaching and mentoring a person towards the common goal of expected performance and providing disciplinary actions when they are moving away from the target.
It is a journey since people have high’s and lows for performance. Lack of accountability produce mediocre or below average performers who have not been informed they have areas of opportunity.
I like the part about recognizing accountability and the struggle to be accountable. If you work with a high performing team, the daily expectation is that they will remain high performing. They deserve kudos regularly for keeping up the high performance, and recognition that they are a cut above. Thanks for bringing us the great messages on leadership, Dan! Your blog is a great way to start the day!
I like Drucker’s thought – culture eats strategy for lunch . . . culture is critical to an impactful community at work
This is absolutely a critical aspect of leadership no one can succeed in this world without being accountable holding others accountable and sharing the struggles of accountability. Thank you for such a thoughtful and provocative discussion .thank you for keeping this an open topic for discussion.
It is so true… “When you say nothing, you give unsaid permission to perpetuate bad behaviors. Subpar behavior or performance becomes normal, accepted.
Accountability – on both sides – is always a struggle. The question becomes, “when do I step in, or do I allow them to struggle a bit first?” I believe for certain that in my profession (education) that we must teach this to the youngest, and expect it from the oldest!
“Leaders are accountable for accountability.” I have worked with many managers who let the bad behaviors of employees slide which led to dysfunction of the team and discontent of other team members. Leaders do need to walk the talk and be an example of what behaviors will be accepted.
I agree that accountability is the push and pull of when to step in and when to step back. It takes courage, care, and intentional action to build culture, and lots of perseverance to undo poor cultural norms. Onward friends. . .
When attempts to instill accountability have failed, what are the options? I hate to loose talented people and despise the task of finding a replacement. But, when they consistently cannot set realistic time lines and then we don’t meet deadlines, despite the quality of the work, it wears on my last nerve. After numerous discussions, I am still met with apathy for the effect this has on the rest of the team. Is this just a millennial issue?
Great insight.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
What you permit, you PROMOTE.
I’d be interested in reading the book.
My 2 cents, from my experience accountability (along with responsibility and authority) are definitely something the leader must put thought into.
Little point making someone accountable for an activity or task when they don’t have authority to make the decisions needed to achieve. However this needs to be balanced – ensuring they have enough authority to achieve success but enough check and balances (the support system and risk controls) to ensure they cant damage things.
All sounds good, and when it works it does allow someone who wants to excel to feel that great intrinsic satisfaction that you get from achieving something you know you worked hard for.
One difficulty is managing how long you allow the individual to try, with coaching support, before you need to pull the pin and move onto the next plan. The reality is that if the individual that is provided with the opportunity succeeds or fails, the leader is still accountable to ensure the goal is achieved. At some point a failed assignment needs to move to plan B in some form.
My experience has shown two paths you want to avoid when assigning accountability:
1. assigning accountability to someone who effectively abdicates this to subordinates. The type of individual that wants the title but expects everyone else to do the work.
2. assigning accountability to someone who habitually lists all the reasons why they wont succeed, or focusses on plausible excuses, instead of striving to see past obstacles and overcome the challenge.
Love a copy of the book.
Rob
I’ve been dealing with accountability issues in my department for a while. Just last week I learned that my efforts to coach and mentor a team member have not yielded any improvement results. I tried approaching the situation headed on and make myself available to help and guide. Looking back it seems as though we were taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Now, I’m organizing my thoughts and ideas to approach the situation and hold the member accountable. Love your blog, Dan!
Being accountable is integral to mission success.
Accountability is as much expectation as anything else. The expectation and desired results must be communicated effectively. Some would call it the vision. Team members cannot be accountable for unknown or misunderstood expectations.
Accountabilty- is determined by the consequences which one individual or a teams actions becomes in the event of a failure.
Who is accountable, for what? Happened where? By Whom? These are just a few questions that need answered for holding people accountable for their actions.
Sitting back as a Leader and not holding oneself accountable is just the creation of a mindset that it is O.K to not be accountable for everyone else as well.
Step up to the plate and serve the volley to the workers that everyone can be held accountable, granted there needs to be a set of standards established to make this happen, which corporate typically has issued during employee interviews and their training.
Great reminders!
My boss loves the quote,”if you are green, you’re growing. If you’re ripe, you rot.” Confronting mediocrity is about challenging toward improvement. If staff aren’t interested in moving forward and growing, they will fall behind and could end up as a cancer in the organization.
Could be a good future topic … How do you handle the cancer in the organisation
Dan, thanks for another great post! As you and many of your readers noted, accountability is critical to success and health of an organization. The quote that, “High performers and those who are set up for success love accountability,” is key. One aspect of accountability relates to skills, talents, and capabilities — our expectations need to align with them. The other aspect is how we set peers and subordinates up for success. Mentoring, equipping, training, and energizing teams leads to higher levels of engagement, ownership, satisfaction, results, and an evolving culture of accountability. Those who embrace that culture will thrive in it; others need to move on.
Arrived at work this morning to find 2 guys still working that ended their scheduled shift at 5am. I asked them why they were still here and they replied, “we were swamped last night and just stayed to give the 1st shift guys some help”: – how cool is that!!! No management directive, just actions to help their fellow team-mates and serve our customers. Our company is employee-owned which does seem to accelerate the understanding and importance of accountability. Now I am going to be taking them to breakfast to show my appreciation.
So glad to see some others adding support and coaching into the equation of Accountability. That is a non-negotiable. When those two are met with resistance, then you get into evaluation.
Thanks!
The struggle is real. In the past year, my team doubled and new responsibilities were added to my leadership along with those new team members. While I comfortable with the content and the work, the individuals who manage the work day-in and day-out are another story. I have been working for months on coaching – short, frequent meetings to review progress, discuss efficiencies, ask all the questions, push when needed to get them to try things differently, celebrating success, postmortem on the unsuccessful, etc – but they are not moving forward. My boss actually told me he assigned these new folks to me because I would “hold them accountable” and their past supervisors had not. Yet their past supervisors only saw their responsibilities decrease. The frustration is great to say the least. But I push on! I will put in a shameless plug for a copy of the book – I’m desperate for anything that could help me navigate the culture of the team now that these individuals have been unresponsive.
“Confront Mediocrity” this is a topic we are currently discussing with our staff. It is our desire that our staff recognizes expectations and goals require accountability. Our leaders must hold their staff accountable, know when it’s time to coach or counsel. Not be fearful of holding someone responsible for their path to success but be the leader to walk the path with them by giving direction and vision. Follow up on expectations and accountability- COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE! Be a leader that recognizes accountability has ebbs and flow! Mediocre is not acceptable because that produces consequences which ultimately results in failure for the person and the organization. As a leader we must hold ourselves accountable to lead!
CS Lewis quote is great motivator to move past the challenges and see it as the true potential of growth in the process of accountability. What a great topic. Thank you.
Good word. Leaders are accountable for accountability. I also think leaders need to be held accountable for their team’s development, as in not just being accountable for what gets done or not, but for the individual’s sense of fulfillment and growth. In other words, moving beyond delegating stuff and getting it done, but watching and caring for how getting stuff done makes the team member feel, and grow. It’s about serving your team with love and care.
Great article. Confronting mediocrity is the greatest challenge we face. Thank you for publishing this
When did accountability for one’s own actions, accomplishments, and failures become such a rare commodity? One of our Agency’s Values is Accountability: “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” and we work very hard to instill that in our staff. Where accountability is absent, we often find a victim mentality: “I can’t be held accountable because (fill in the excuses) conspired against me reaching the goal.” The oddest thing is how little embarrassment those professional “victims” feel when playing that card. As others have said before, accountability is about what we value, what we measure, what we reward. Culture is making those things so ingrained that deviation from such is noticed — and not in a good way. Keep working on this because as leaders in our Agencies: “if it is to be, it’s up to me.” .
Accountability gets a bad wrap. Whenever I use it in discussion with my teams, I explain what that means. We will work on ideas together to make the best plan to succeed. I.am accountable and they are responsible. I will follow up. If you approach this as an opportunity to promote learning, automatically you’ll confront problems and challenges in a solution oriented way. This works for me.
What’s permitted is promoted….and things very quickly “get wonky” and make for dissatisfied team members! Looking forward to reading the book!
Accountability will always help high achievers achieve. A manager’s inability to hold a team accountable definitely perpetuates an underachiever’s survival in an organization.
Growing and maintaining a positive culture seems to be a struggle for many work places. Finding the balance of accountability, trust and gratitude is something that resonates with me. I also loved the C.S. Lewis quote.
I was lucky enough to have some mentors hold ME accountable for a situation of bad behavior going on in my department. I saw it as patience, everyone else saw it acquiescence. That was a hard one to solve, and ended up with moving several people out and another leaving. But in general, I’ve found people’s reaction to being held accountable is not as bad as I make it ahead of time in my mind.
In my view, the only person that I can hold accountable is me. As I am accountable for my behavior and can become “responsible for” what I do and and I can be responsible to others to ask good questions, help them re-frame or better understand their issues; invest in them with coaching energy. If I am “responsible to” to others, there is a far better chance that they will choose to be responsible for their behavior and to act in ways that allow others to count on them. This distinction between “accountable for” (only applies to me) and “accountable to” (a way that I relate to others) is very important to me.
I think it begins with being accountable as well as a leader. So often staff members are told to meet deadlines, come to work on time and find balance when leadership doesn’t exhibit these traits either. Sometimes I am guilty. However, I am often reminded that people have to see accountability in order to be accountable. Acknowledge when you are not performing well and provide an opportunity for discussion and improvement plans where everyone contributes.
Accountability is a tough one. First you have to realize that not everyone has the same work ethic or is at the same stage in their career. I have seen many people who are “burnt out” who are basically grown people who are secure in their position, so you have to remind them of the simplest requirements for accountability (basically ask them to do their job duties). It can be frustrating when the environment has allowed it for so long that it (seemingly) cannot be undone.
Imagine how different your life might be if accountability was an integral part of our culture. Thinking of my work place, accountability is rather common when it has been assigned – for example, as part of an assignment, task or problem-solving venture. What we’re missing though is the accountability to one another and our organization to grow ourselves, expand one another’s thinking and collaborate together to achieve greater accomplishments. Great, thought-provoking post!
Accountability is one of the hardest concepts in leadership. It forces uncomfortable conversations but is crucial to achieving your goals.
I have been “keeping score” on a variety of measures for 10 years, for my own personal growth. Staff love to see “my” score. Some companies I’ve been with have better markers of success that people can hook on to so that we all make the differences we want. Many, many leadership books tout “knowing thy impact beyond the bottom line,” yet very few organizations can pull this off well. I have been very interested in seeing the excuses or discomfort people get when scorecard metrics come up, but I understand that accountability is tough. Get the correct metric, inspire greater performance. Get the incorrect metric and you discourage teams. Very important work but very hard to do well and sustain.
This is one of my absolute favorite words! Sounds odd – I know. I think of accountability as being an amazing opportunity for growth. With the appropriate coaching and support you are providing the person with an opportunity to change their current reality. As a leader and coach, it is an amazing opportunity for you to grow as well. I understand that if that current reality doesn’t change that what was an accountability opportunity must transform into an evaluation issue. It pains me that accountability has such a negative connotation, when in actuality it is a potential game changer for the good!
Accountability occurs when one Stewards what has been entrusted to them. It begins with the individual who must understand their values, beliefs and purpose. Leadership creates an environment where the corporate values, beliefs and purpose are shared and understood so that together they can bring alignment between the personal and corporate values, belief and purpose. When that happens accountability makes sense and is a shared relationship.
“If someone isn’t pulling their weight or isn’t being kind and there’s no reaction, things get wonky fast.” SO TRUE! As a worker-bee or doer, I have experienced “wonky” in the work place when slackers and bullies are allowed to slide. It poisons the good workers because managements’ lack of actions shows a blatant disregard and disrespect for their positive contributions and efforts. Avoid wonkiness, it’s stench is hard to remove from the good workers’ nostrils.
Agree!! “Consider coaching and guiding them to success.” Accountability is not always about punishment which may lead to negative work place (anxiety and fear….)Accountability should lead to creating a learning atmosphere ..
Understanding your role in an organization and being able to live its values is not always embraced by everyone in an organization. Then there is the issue of clarity so that shared meaning can be established and clear expectations set. Until leaders partner with their teams and each other to have the conversations to establish these expectations, accountability remains undefined. phrases like “oh, I didn’t know that was what you wanted” and success is built more on luck than intention. When teams can reset their guiding principles and recharter their work they can begin to create new cultural norms which will foster individual and group accountability.
Collaboratively developed measures that are specifically spelled out and agreed to by all levels of organization. All need to be in the know of how and when data will be gathered. Reflection conversation on those experiences with observer and observee will be. Calling out mediocrity, setting a plan in motion to become better and celebrating greatness. If you expect it you must inspect it, consistently, competently and completely.
So true. Needs to be tied into everything aspect of the role and factored/tied into both ongoing performance reviews (whatever approach the firm uses) and the salary/incentive determination process.
I never thought of ‘accountability’ as a word that carries weight, but now that I think of it, you’re right. I like it.
Here’s a loaded question: how does one create accountability in an environment comprised of volunteers who are only volunteering because their bosses (all from different companies) told them to volunteer? To spice it up: this ‘volunteer time’ is generally supposed to be on their free time, not company time.
Leaders and managers must “walk the talk”, i.e. exhibit it, live it, believe in it, if they expect those being led and managed to buy-in
I like this post. I find that accountability starts with me. If I don’t hold myself accountable, then I have no business holding others accountable. I see too many accountability=measure-ability and I find that strategy lacking. Measure-ability performs the same function that WA States education system’s WASL testing did. When people are measured instead of being held accountable, you will only get that which is measured.
High performers and those who are set up for success love accountability. I agree with that… but the opposite is also true… low performers or people not set up for successes hate accountability. How many people feel set up for success?
Why is the ministry world afraid of accountability..it is truly an issue of stewardship .
Accountability towards the goals set.
Love the quote! But perhaps more telling in this statement, “If someone isn’t pulling their weight or isn’t being kind and there’s no reaction, things get wonky fast. When you say nothing, you give unsaid permission to perpetuate bad behaviors. Subpar behavior or performance becomes normal, accepted. Mediocrity sets in. Caring slips.” This is a tough environment to crack. It can be done, with accountable leaders at the top, who recognize the absolute requirement for each one of them to have the hard conversations required and demonstrate with passion and integrity the desired behaviors. It’s hard work and doesn’t happen over night, but the rewards are worth it!
“High performers and those who are set up for success love accountability.” This really struck me… my large public organization is full of leaders who are used to being high performers, and they are suddenly stuck because the challenges they face at a higher level in the organization look a lot different from the ones they have conquered in the past, so we end up with a belief gap–people are afraid of accountability because they don’t actually believe they can deliver on changing hearts and minds of adults. This is a particularly hard coaching challenge because the beliefs have settled way down in their hearts, and speaking to their heads isn’t doing a lot of good.
This is a great idea. We are currently looking to improve our trainings and approaches in this area.
Defining accountability is key. People have so many different perceptions of what the word means. Having a common definition seems to be a good starting point.
I really like this post, and I agree that leaders should be accountable for instilling accountability in their teams.
Like the idea of creating a definition for accountability. People may have different perceptions of what the word means. Having a common definition sets what is expected of all.
Awesome! The old way of accountability by fear is dying! That way of managing created a culture of hiding mistakes. Bring the mistakes out into the open, figure out what went wrong, improve, then try again. No one wants to fail – this gives the employees you want to keep a way of testing the waters and trying. Thank you!
This is exactly what I need. I’m struggling to fight my own demons while trying to help others. I am a leader. This is my destiny. To help others. Right now I’m the one needing help.
I lead a mid sized law enforcement agency. Changing the culture to one of accountability has been the greatest challenge…people do not like change, especially when it takes them out of their comfort zone. Also, I have learned that people say they want people held accountable….until you hold them accountable.
In Agile accountability is inherently built-in, but at what point do you acknowledge incompetence? If you are working to help the team grow and learn, but there is someone who consistently puts the team at risk (perceived or otherwise) it is difficult to separate that out from the team’s ‘self management’.
What we accept we get!!! Accountability is an essential piece in making Individuals and Teams move positively toward our goals.
Without clear and defined objectives/goals, organizations would have a hard time holding employees accountable. This is a great reminder that administrators need to have clear expectations so that employees can strive to reach that; without, it would be almost impossible to hold them to a level of standard that didn’t previously exist.
More than anything, accountability requires frank and courageous conversations. It requires everyone to check their egos and get over themselves. Post a sign on your meeting room doors: “leave your ego outside and what you hear in the room.”
Excellent. One thing we might do to help establish a culture of accountability would be to create accountability for ourselves. Asking, how can I give my team the “ability-to-count” on me?
When I think of accountability I think of a plan for growth. What are my challenges and success and how will I over communicate this to my teammates
Can you give some examples of #1? Thanks !
Would love to learn more from reading the book.
I think having certain habits and structures can help build accountability. This might include regular reporting or round tables at team meetings, one-on-ones between supervisors and staff, and internal communication that highlights project progress and successes.
A few years ago as I worked in my first nurse managerial role, I came up with an equation to motivate me personally and professionally. As it worked for me and I was recognized for the ways in which I changed the culture at my workplace, I then shared it with the staff I was managing. RESPONSIBILITY + ACCOUNTABILITY = CHANGE And as I continued to be promoted in new positions, I discovered it could be either positive or negative change. For the staff members who welcomed being both responsible and accountable for their actions, positive change was the result and their yearly reviews improved. However, for those members of the team who opposed taking on responsibility and accountability, negative changes were the result. I continued to mentor those members and help them realize they too can be leaders, but unfortunately few decided to leave. I would like to add that as staff continually improve I make an effort to give them positive reinforcement to let them know how much I appreciate their hard work and dedication. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish!
From my perspective, an emphasis “accountability” has the potential to create a hyperfocus on an underlying assumption that we need to constantly hold ourselves accountable for something done wrong, and that we need to do the same for our peers. People get super hung up on the idea of accountability, looking for the negative, when it’s not balanced out with the need to celebrate accomplishments, successes, steps in the right direction; the latter things may fuel an environment where employees feel safe to take and hold accountability as a value. In addition, there can be confusion about whether or not people need to be held “accountable” for an error or celebrated for taking a chance, making a mistake and learning something new. Confusion also comes with the operationalised agreements about how peers are supposed to hold each other accountable when conflict arises. I see the necessity of it, and am appreciative of the post because it seems to provide some clarity of how to get through the messiness I described above.
I struggle with accountability. Seems like my organization is all about being accountable to the point of monitoring the dotted “I” and the crossed “t”. I think I need this book.
Great tips. I like the definition change to “Count-on-able”.
I see the hard part of accountability for many people happening before these 3 items.
Currently I see 2 potholes that appear to get hit often.
1. Prescribing activities to people instead of outcomes – If you prescribe activities you can only hold others accountable to completing those activities. Even if they do not get the results you wanted. If you give someone an outcome to achieve, you have to learn to step away and leave the tactics and activities up to them to figure out how to get the results they are aiming for. (you can provide guidelines and rules so no trouble is caused)
2. Unclear, undefined, or “fuzzy” objectives (using subjective measures that are vague)- “Provide exceptional customer service” – unless we define what “exceptional customer service” looks like, how can we hold people accountable to hit a goal that the target may vary depending on how I feel that moment?
The challenge I feel personally is when my team has to take on a task which is just set up to be done badly because of insufficient time or skill (in the team). It is then difficult to say to team members “you are accountable for this shoddy work” when the whole enterprise appeared to be set up for a shoddy outcome at the beginning. The approach I take is to continuously encourage incremental improvements in the quality of the work delivered, aiming to get a higher quality result the next time, without “laying it on too thick” for a less-than-great result this time.
I’ve worked at several different campuses and have witnessed first hand the vital role accountability plays in the success or failure of a school. I particularly like the confronting mediocrity idea because it has the potential to move a campus to greatness.
To move forward and grow involves effort. One must desire to become something you will become.
Great quote – it rather perfectly sums up the need to practice accountability!
Dear Dan,
An interesting & thought-provoking post!
While agreeing to the fact that leaders build culture and can do it through building accountability factor in the process, employees need to be educated and motivated to follow certain norms. This is possible with HR intervention and planned calender of training various elements of business ethics and professional behavior. Line management staff too need to ensure right execution of desired Organisation Culture.
Accountability is an area as a new leader that I struggle with. I am glad I have found this great source of resources.
It’s easy to say to someone else that they should hold folks accountable, but when the shoe is on the other foot, the slipper is not always made of glass.
I find that this is hardest to apply as a middle manager when accountability is viewed differently by top management – have been in several situations like that. It works very well, when top and middle are aligned. I also appreciate the suggestion to focus on “coaching”, but feel that coaching in terms of adhering to policy does not work as effectively as coaching to improve performance.
This is helpful – thank you.
I associate accountability with being empowered….my team is empowered to manage their caseload, make decisions on staffing needs, etc. The more empowered they feel the more accountable they are to the each other.
Too often in today’s education we celebrate mediocrity because we want to avoid competition. It might be easier to just let things be. Real leaders stand up and promote excellence.. .accountability is necessary when excellence is desired
Dan, Great C.S. Lewis quote at the end of the post! Everyone thinks holding people accountable is about “wack-a-mole (employee).” When a leader has clear goals and objectives for his/her people and you meet regular and discuss these goals and objectives, accountability takes care of it self. If you lavish Trust on your people, all of them you should not have to “hold people accountable” they will hold themselves accountable.
If employees feel valued , they are excited to be held accountable and will perform at best levels.
This reminds me of an episode of The Office where Michael says he thrives under a lack of accountability. I think there are too many of those types of people in our work that are that way. Our high achievers are watching us closely to make sure we address that problem.
I find the struggle point most interesting. I think many people only see the success and at some level, it makes us unapproachable. Sharing the struggle often removes the elitism and ultimately leads to greater outcomes (including accountability). Thanks for the blog.
You get the behavior that you reinforce.
Great topic! As my organization transitions thru a merger, as well as the ever changing sales culture, I am always looking to better my coaching to accountability!
This is a great subject and I can always use help in guiding our organization. Would love to have a happy and productive workplace!
Escaping the trap of settling for the middle road is key to creating a culture of accountability. In a culture where tolerance is suggested to be our highest value, tolerance would seem to work against the concept of accountability. Clear, concise and discussed standards and expectations can turn mediocracy into performance. Assess, involve, and walk together in dialogue to clarify tasks and progress.
So so good. As a coach, I see people finger wag, & stamp their feet metaphorically as a way to motivate & keep their people accountable. These points help in a very practical way to show there is more to be gained
Creating a culture of evaluation is the first step towards creating a culture of accountability.
Would love this book to share with my coworkers at the firm
A leader must have people at every level of the organization who believe in the culture he or she is trying to create. Without culture champions in the different levels of an organization it is very difficult to change and effect culture.
One word Dan…CONSEQUENCES!
Great article and to the point – accountability is lacking in today’s workplaces and that in turn negatively impacts the workplace culture.
Accountability is so important to the success of any company!
Love the thought of “count-on-able”….this is a game changer.
We are seeking to endorse a culture of accountability in our organisation
Accountability is the one who can “walk the tight rope” and has the ability to balance all challenges that they may face or endure.
Thought provoking piece…I work at a non-profit and have lots of volunteers serving. How should I address the “accountability” factor with volunteer team? Especially the younger ones.
I always hear about accountability.its now I’ve had a real meaning of it.As Dr Nicoline Ambe say we learn everyday and we should look for opportunities to learn
This is a thought provoking post. We often demand our students to be accountable but get offended if accountability is asked of us. Accountability isn’t about not trusting someone, it’s about pushing them to continue to grow.
I think of micromanagement and someone doublechecking- I do realize we must be held accountable but sometimes it needs to be on my terms.
Focusing on someone else’s need to be accountable, before focusing on your own need to be, is part of the problem, we tend to see accountability as something we hold others to but it has to start with holding ourselves accountable. That is what the word means! It’s not about others. It’s about ourselves.
If we create an environment where people are willing to hold themselves accountable, as they should, then accountability happens. As a leader I then only have to worry about supporting someone in their road to their own accountability. This way I’ve moved from an act of doing something to someone and towards an act of helping someone do something they want to do.
It makes a big difference!
The fact is there are million such management theories to promote a good working place. But there’s nothing like role modelling behaviour.
In simple terms role modelling has to start from the top management personnel and even if one of them does not have a clue as to what the concept entails it’ll hamper the accomplishment of the overall organizational objectives. It’s another matter that the manager needs to be humble enough to even understand what this means for him or her and others under him or her. Without humility nothing would be ever learnt and that applies universally
Accountability has to be top down which means that if a lower strata member be it the first level employee or first level manager doesn’t realize the importance of accountable conduct and behaviour,blame would have to be squarely laid on the management and its lack of imagination, competence and professional managerial abilities
The well known and universally acknowledged theory that the management is always responsible for productivity is not without a reason or basis
Accountability is a tough word, however many tough things are worth doing. One of my favorite quotes about leadership and team dynamics comes from Margaret Heffernan, she did a great Ted talk, “Conflict is frequent because candor is safe. And that’s how good ideas turn into great ideas, because no idea is born fully formed.” There is no fix that works for every organization all of the time, but if we are willing to be honest we can find the right solution to fit our culture.
I really like “Leaders are accountable for accountability.” I’m running for a community board director position where “accountability” is one of my three platforms and we are in need of it. Good post.
How might leaders create a culture of accountability? – Although an easy question it seems a good percentage of so-called leaders fail here. Not to get political, but geeze, the political climate is horrible.
So to answer the question: It starts with the Leader..!! It is a heart issue and unfortunately the selfishness of individuals always comes first… Much needed change for sure. let’s roll..!!
Working in a company that 125 years old there is a significant variation in understanding and practicing accountability. As with most things in our organization accountability is an area impacted by significant cultural inertia. To make things worse accountability isn’t understood by most, but it is always very high on the list of areas for improvement in our organization. What we have found is that accountability is always good for everyone else…just not for “me”. A number of years ago I read David Mann’s “Creating a Lean Culture” where he discussed the concept of building daily accountability into a daily management system. The point is you have to be intentional about building this into your daily leadership system and as suggested practice what you preach. We have also learned that this change will only be sustainable if an accountability system works in both directions between leaders and their teams in a respectful manner where people have the courage and promised individual safety to have accountability discussions. I often wonder how it is we can be responsible adults until we come to work? In any case, without this check and balance of accountability I believe the traditional stick and carrot accountability relationship resurfaces which is an antiquated system of accountability. Dr. Deming insisted that a system will not function without cooperation, and I see accountability as a part of this system of cooperation. As leaders, I agree that it starts with the leadership, but this requires courage, humility, patience and unwavering commitment. Even the smallest blunder in this area will unwind your progress. No doubt it is easier said than done and we are very far from perfect, but the time invested is well worth the effort. Thank you for the discussion.
Thanks! Good advice.
I think a culture of accountability in the workplace and in life is a good practice and would like to learn more. I found the comments on here very helpful to read.
Thanks for sharing! Accountability is so important. I think leaders can keep others accountable by doing it systematically. Set-up regular “check-ins” and set regular debrief sessions.
I’ve often saved the pictures associated with these posts as an east memory device. Today what stuck with me is the egg turning into a bird quote from C.S. Lewis!
Accountability takes a lot of time to patrol. Hopefully it needs less and less time as employees step up.
I think #3 is noteworthy. Too often in corporations, managers and supervisors never discuss accountability until they are placing someone in corrective action. Meanwhile, the employee who has been expressing his / her need for help for weeks, if not months, has been ignore.
the results are tragic and really, unnecessary. This article is refreshing, in that, building cultures where we “count on” one another can assist in providing timely and targeted training to struggling employees.
In the end, it demonstrates to all team members the culture has a redemptive side.
This has been a refreshing read.
Thank you.
Dan, a lot of really interesting and powerful comments. Reading over these, one finds the words accountable and accountability used in a variety of fashions. We all probably have a sense of what accountability is, but what we have difficulty in doing is measuring “It” when it happens. It is easy to tell an employee, “You need to be more accountable,” but what does that really mean?
Several years ago I had a client who was really disgusted with the performance of his employees and it was showing up in the downward trend in revenue. Without getting into the background details, the client agreed to undertake a series of sessions wherein his leadership team as a group would define “THEIR” accountability to the organization, including to their employees. The idea was to move the leadership away from STRICTLY managing by the numbers. This was not easy for these leaders. I used a series of questions to stimulate the conversation. Additionally, the group established specific measure as to WHAT they would do to exhibit their own accountability. Several measures included managing by walking around, frequently interacting with employee teams to sort out issues, congratulating individuals and teams for their work, etc. Some in today’s work environment might see these measures as trite. Interestingly, employees were quite responsive to the new leadership approach. BTW, the measures were both quantitative and qualitative and included a 360 degree feedback mechanism among their peer group and from employees.
On the employee side, we did the same thing from their perspective in contributing to the profitability of the firm. Interestingly, a good percentage of employees saw their work as merely being a “Job” and not as an integral component of the organization. To some extent, this attitude was due to a complete lack of the overarching goals and objectives of the firm, which came back to leadership having to articulate to each employee “Why you are an important part of this organization.” The employee groups established quantitative and qualitative measures they agreed to follow knowing management would look to them to deliver on their commitments to the organization to achieve success. Obviously, different employee groups had different definitions of accountability and different measures for achieving their commitments.
Within a year, the client grew revenues by 32% and surveys of leadership and employees revealed a significant rise in confidence to deliver on their commitments.
BTW, even though we experienced some fitful starts and hit some potholes, which is to be expected, senior leadership (i.e., the Owner in particular) were committed to making it work.
Look at it this way, if this stuff were easy, everybody would be doing it…Right?
Without servant leadership where the leader holds him/herself accountable, there is no trust and a weak team. The leader is accountable for serving followers.
Yes It starts with humility strengthened by inspiring confident fair idealistic and assertive leadership. People instinctively can’t resist following a Leader -Manager.
What is true in the political societal arena is not in true for organizations . Great statesmen leaders like Dr Martin Lurher King Jr , Nelson Mandela and M K Gandhi were all first and foremost excellent managers first
Yet at the same time: not everything is a competition, not everything is negotiable, not every team member needs to excel at everything. Suboptimization of all the individual components will not result in optimization of the system. Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces need to fit, and contribute to the overall picture…
“High performers and those who are set up for success love accountability.” — This is absolutely true. I’ve found that when I am performing at my best as a leader, I am doing a more effective job at helping others position themselves for the most success in their roles, and they, in turn, are more effective, often exceeding my expectations. However, when I am NOT performing well as a leader (it happens, I’ll admit), I am more likely to pick up slack for underperformers than I am to coach their performance up. Great article… very insightful.
I’ve definitely had the struggle as a manager as to how to hold people to a high standard – it helps when you’re setting that standard with them in one on ones!
Great article if applied with consistency
Distinguishing between creating a culture of accountability rather than just holding people accountable is critical, otherwise accountability becomes equated with blame rather than with responsibility.
Accountability is the panacea to a world full of euphemisms – which lead in most cases to mediocrity
Count on co-workers
Appreciation and recognition
And confront the mediocre
All of the above is the element of empowerment.
I’m a student from University Malaysia Sarawak. We did learn about that in Career Development in Organisation. If not much trouble, I would love to get a copy of the book.