Early in life, we are all taught the concept of accountability. Our parents told us to brush our teeth before we go to bed. To eat all the food on our plates (and reminded us that some children go to bed hungry; sad that it is still true today). We were taught not to speak with food in our mouths and to make our bed and keep our room clean. All great lessons in accountability.
Life comes with accountability. Parents review our homework assignments and give us feedback at report card time and hold us accountable to meet expectations. We carry these early learning experiences with us our entire lives.
The essence of accountability is taking responsibility for your performance and action, or lack of action. Results are the outcome of actions taken. Justifying the lack of performance dilutes performance.
The foundation of accountability is ownership and clarity of what employees are accountable for. Accountability needs to be measured and have a shared purpose, which supports the mission of the organization as well as expected contribution of the employee. It must be aligned with the overall strategy, goals and objectives of the organization.
Accountability acts as a corporate GPS system, which tracks what went right and what went wrong. Accountability is a leadership tool for enhancing results, not for finding blame. It also helps build a positive corporate culture.
Set crystal clear expectations and a line of sight connection between individual employee performance, department performance and the success of the objective.
Accountability lays the groundwork for celebrating success and milestones. It is indeed a discipline, which holds everyone accountable. Employees feel ownership and are engaged.
Accountability sets the controls in place to drive the business. Consistent feedback and updates on goal achievement is the order of the day. Let’s face it; we all seek to own a piece of the road to company success, in our quest for positive recognition, which satisfies our personal pride.
The recipe for accountability includes the following ingredients:
- Clear goals and expectations
- Leaders that seek and nurture accountability
- Open and honest feedback throughout the organization
- A structured follow-up system
- Accountability needs to be ingrained at all levels
- A creative employee reward system
- Accountability needs to be shared equally
Accountability is all about human conversation and involves a face-to-face discussion and the establishment of mutually beneficial goals, which is grounded in specifics, dates, time and measurement. It is a given that most employees seek accountability. And become frustrated or negative when goals or expectations are vague.
Linkage of employees’ performance objectives, company mission, values, goals and strategy drives results. Employee action is the watchword of the day. Limit the asking of permission and give employees the room to excel!
Accountability is a collaborative concept, which focuses on employees banding together to resolve issues and do what is right for the company and its customers. Good things happen when employees are accountable. When the workplace is designed for accountability, stand back because it will flourish.
A successful crew team (rowing) exemplifies mutual accountability. Each member of the team has a specific job responsibility; one’s job is dependent on the person next to them on the boat and their common objective is to win the race!
Employee teams have shared and common purpose and complementary skills, which provides synergy. They share successes and failures. Effective teams hold each other accountable in a supportive and pragmatic way.
Accountability means trusting, following up, validating and debriefing (feedback.)
Accountability encourages employees to dream. We all dream from time-to-time during the day – in broad daylight! We think about how great things could be. Successful accountability fosters the notion that big dreams (goals) can come true. Most realistic employees have realistic dreams; goals that they will reach through commitment, energy and hard work.
Two questions:
1) What are your employees dreaming about?
2) Who is accountable for accountability in your organization?
Accountability is harnessing your human potential, connecting your human resources, ambition, passion and dreams toward a common goal. The end result is unprecedented value and meaning.
