Opinion: Instill healthy accountability with these 7 ideas

There’s nothing more beneficial than when people take responsibility and ownership for their results, processes and communications. And when they don’t, it can be seriously disruptive to the organization.

For example, when an employee doesn’t take ownership for a project or when a manager fails to be proactive about performance problems, it can impact quality, customer loyalty and sales.

A lack of healthy accountability among employees is a very common challenge. Part of the reason is that rarely are managers trained for dealing with accountability issues, especially handling thorny accountability discussions with employees.

A good way for leaders to improve is to be intentional about creating and sustaining accountability. When a business intentionally designs its culture for accountability, performance will increase. When it doesn’t, performance suffers and employees remain disengaged.

Here are seven ways leaders can instill healthy accountability throughout the organization.

1. Determine what accountability means to your company. Since accountability must exist at all levels to be effective, leaders should decide how accountability fits into the company’s culture. Keep in mind that accountability may require standards or certain communications in one department that aren’t necessary for others.

Also consider what levels of employee accountability are required to meet the company’s needs. It’s far better to deliberately foster the accountability needed than to depend on your employee’s work preferences.

2. Be constructive, not punitive. The best leaders cultivate accountability by addressing errors in constructive ways. Everyone makes mistakes, but the important thing is how leaders react.

If you want sufficient risk-taking and problem-solving from your employees, avoid being punitive when errors occur. This doesn’t mean getting lax on performance; instead focus on how an employee can take better ownership for their work.

3. Inspire initiative. Whenever employees feel like they have to run everything by the boss first before taking action, they often avoid taking initiative on important issues or problems. Delegate sufficient autonomy so employees will take initiative and get things done. Check up on their progress as needed but avoid micromanaging.

4. Communicate goals and direction. It’s not possible for healthy accountability to exist if the company’s goals and sense of direction are unclear. If people don’t know where they are headed or exactly what’s to be achieved, how can they be accountable for achieving it?

I’ve seen instances when a leader failed to communicate goals and direction effectively and as a result, lost top-performing employees. One company lost several good engineers and project managers because the CEO kept them in the dark.

Being clear on goals and direction serves as a discrete way to engage employees and keep them focused on progress.

5. Make an effective evaluation. Regular feedback and evaluation are indispensable for healthy accountability.

The best leaders avoid asking questions that can incite making excuses or blaming others. Too much emphasis on “Who’s fault is this?” or “Why did this happen?” can create conflict between departments and hinder efforts to develop good solutions.

No doubt, leaders must isolate the source of a problem in order to solve it, but eventually, the focus should shift to asking, “What actions or changes are needed to prevent future problems?” Focusing on solutions, not blame, helps reinforce healthy accountability.

6. Build accountability early. Start creating accountability on day one of the employee’s tenure instead of dealing with performance issues later on. Building accountability into the culture isn’t brain surgery, but it does require a good process.

7. Lead by example. Leaders should serve as good examples when it comes to accountability and taking ownership for results. When management refrains from blaming others and from making excuses for their mistakes, it motivates everyone to do the same.

Healthy accountability across all levels of your organization will lead to better results.

Consultant and professional speaker Mark Holmes is president of Springfield-based Consultant Board Inc. and SalesRevenueCoach.com. He’s also the author of “The Five Rules of Megavalue Selling.” He can be reached at mark@salesrevenuecoach.com.