Promote a Culture of Accountability

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Healthy Habits of Highly Effective People says “accountability breeds response-ability”. For most people, when something goes wrong they quickly look to others to ask who dropped the ball? This is a natural defense mechanism we use rather than thinking about our own actions and decisions or lack thereof.

According to a Gallup survey less than half of employees (40%) strongly agree that their boss holds them accountable for their performance goals. Why is accountability important to work culture? Accountability increases engagement, establishes ownership over responsibilities and people hold themselves accountable without much intervention. 

When accountability is embedded into the culture people feel comfortable to acknowledge mistakes without fear of further blame from others. Accountability promotes honesty and integrity because people will follow through on promises and not blame others for mistakes 

Gallup shares 5 areas leaders and managers need focus on to promote accountability: 

1. Define what people are accountable for.

Spend time defining what individual team members are responsible for so they have clearly defined expectations. Explain how their individual performance fits into the bigger picture to increase clarity of responsibilities, encourage ownership and increase productivity. 

2. Set and cascade goals throughout the organization. 

Once employees know what they are accountable for, managers should help set measurable and individualized goals that align with their role and responsibilities. Also prioritize ongoing communication to evaluate. 

3. Provide updates on progress.

“People need information to course correct toward their goals.” (Gallup, 2019) Managers should ask themselves do they have the right data, so they can speak to the behavior that allows progress.

4. Align development, learning and growth. 

Managers should focus on employee development to help workers address roadblocks that prevent their ability to deliver results, in additional helping them learn and grow in their role. 

5. Recognize and celebrate progress.

This step is simple: identify, celebrate, and learn from successes. Praise employees for good work.

When you need to push employees to be more accountable, a good approach is to start with the leadership mindset.


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