Want to create a strong accountability culture? Here are 4 strategies to get you there.

Often we think of accountability in terms of others…. What is expected of our team and individual contributors, or what we expect from our bosses and managers that we report to.. Sometimes we only consider this at times of performance reviews….  So, what does accountability mean to you? 

Reviewing several Google search results, I’ve found accountability to be defined as: 

• the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.

• an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions

• doing what you said you would do within the timeframe you agreed to do it

• a contract, a commitment, a personal promise

Accountability is an easy concept, but it has many challenges. This makes sense when we think of deliverables in terms of what, when, how much – this is often easy to define.  But the challenge comes into play when we consider the complex systems within the business. For instance, we might hold one position responsible for specific metrics (e.g. turnover, safety incidents, sales, or market share). But it is often not the actions of this one person that brings about improvements; it takes the whole team. Sales is impacted by the credibility of the organization (quality, on-time delivery, value) as well as new competition, new technology, downturn in economies, and/or shrinking markets; and yet we are consistently holding sales people accountable for growth. This is the case with projects as well. If it is one person running with the ball, then it may be appropriate to hold this one person accountable; but if the project is a team approach, there are numerous variables that might make it difficult or easy to achieve.

Additionally, organizations often use metrics and trends in a superficial way - they do not dig deep into root cause and/or why results are positive. In addition to this, metrics are often arbitrary, and we are often not in organizations that want to be challenged once they determine a key performance indicator. An example of this is the 6’ rule for social distancing. Why 6’? Why not 5’ or 8’?  Another issue relates to how individuals determine value…  often what is seen as value to the CFO is very different than it is to the CMO. We could list a lot more reasons why accountability is not as easy as it sounds.  BUT, there are some things you can do today, to create an accountability culture:

1. Start with yourself.  Ask your team how they would like you to hold you accountable. Agree on a few things. Ask your boss how he/she is holding you accountable. Get specifics. Ask yourself how you want to hold yourself accountable as a leader or a parent.  Write it down and practice.

2. Define clearly and often what is required for success in terms of deliverables and behaviors. Be clear, communicate and stick to this value statement when you are discussing performance.

3. Use positive reinforcement. Often and consistently when you see/witness results that are positive and/or behaviors that align with values of the team. Positive reinforcement reinforces your desire for the person to succeed; it is much easier to master than giving critical feedback; and positive reinforcement is much better for building positive habits.

4. Start small. Get in the habit of giving immediate feedback at the present time (pull aside a person after a meeting and share the positive aspects you saw; or pull a person aside after a presentation and discuss specifics within the presentation). When you see patterns developing, good or bad, provide examples of what you are observing and discuss the impact to the team and or the organization or the client. If you start small, you may never need the conversation to move into performance management, performance improvement, or an unpleasant surprise at time of formal performance review!

Just like trust, accountability is best practiced when working on self-awareness and self-management, then addressing with others.