ACCOUNTABILITY - A Negative or positive word in your organization?

During one consulting engagement, I was asked by one client to not use the word accountability because in their culture it had a negative association and elicited some fear. It stopped me in my tracks since I was raised in a work culture where accountability was desired and cultivated. It was a key ingredient of our high performing teams. Working alongside many clients over the last 6 years, it turns out, that situation was not the only organization where accountability had a negative connotation.

NEGATIVE?

One reason accountability gains a negative aura is that, according to  Jonathan Raymond , leaders often jump right to the last steps of managing accountability which are probation and termination. Many leaders tend to only address accountability once it results in consistent poor performance, it has dragged down the team, client commitments are being missed or formal complaints are filed with HR. This can then result in heavy consequences seen and felt by all. Reacting then turns into using it as a stick to avoid undesired outcomes, thus creating a sense of fear. 

POSITIVE?

To ground us, let’s use the following definition of Accountability – an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions

Instead of a stick, shift the mindset. An organization can use accountability as fuel for the team. When a leader better understands that accountability creates deeper connection to the team and increases empowerment, the shift to positive can occur. This will lead to better business results. Accountability promotes engagement and ownership and Gallup found that highly engaged workforces outperform competitors and result in 21 percent greater profitability. Leaders have clear reasons to be compelled to create the environment that allows accountability to thrive.

LEADERSHIP DRIVES THE NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE VIEW

Lack of accountability is more often about lack of clarity and connection vs. an individual choosing not to be accountable. In one study, Partners in Leadership found that nine out of ten companies either didn’t have clearly defined goals or hadn’t communicated them broadly to employees. As a result, 75% of employees didn’t understand expectations and what their organization was trying to achieve.

The leader should first look in the mirror. Leaders need the humility to acknowledge their contribution to people’s failures. Did the person have clear expectations, the resources, skills, team support, and realistic timelines to be successful? Are you demonstrating accountability?  Are you making accountability overt?

Accountability is not about delegating tasks with a deadline and a consequence attached if they fail. Leaders must cultivate a mindset of ownership and accountability and help illustrate what it looks like in the workplace. Leaders must be willing to share the decision power, risk, responsibility, and ownership. Below are some tips to consider adding to your tool kit.

4 STEPS TO BUILD IN ACCOUNTABILITY

These steps can build up a leader’s personal accountability as well as assisting in building it into behavioral norms for individuals and team.

1. Communicate Clearly – can leaders, individuals and teams articulate the goals, roles, behavioral norms, their responsibilities, expectations of outcomes or outputs and their decision or authority boundaries?

2. Connect their WHY & the Organization’s WHY – has the leader discussed what mutual and shared success look like – for the individual, the team and the company?

3. Bring Accountability to Life – while exercising empathy AND keeping the clear goal in balance, ask:

   • What they need to be successful

   • What actions they will they take to be successful

   • What obstacles do they anticipate and what might they do if obstacles occur

4. Feedback Loop - mutually agree on date and/or frequency to stay aligned and check-in

• Share any changes in goals, expectations, etc.

• Deepen the connection and ownership by asking:

  • what is working well for them on the path to success and

  • how they have done things so far

• Inquire if there is anything they would or will do differently so that any missteps are handled as learnings and not failures

Once the leader strengthens their own skills and they get comfortable being overt with their direct reports, the next step is to elevate it at the team level. Achieving collective accountability further enhances team performance. 

This intentional development of accountability will result in deeper connection, higher engagement and more productivity. The leader also then gains time to look further down the road and be more strategic. This feeds the positive spiral up for the team and the organization!

When you are ready to explore this or other mindset shifts, please contact us at MBM ELEVATE.

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Mary Beth Molloy

Certified Executive Coach and Business Consultant, she delivers uncanny focus on the intersection of your business vision and goals and the leaders you’ve entrusted to achieve them.

She knows what it takes to accelerate and elevate business results through leadership development and performance. It’s her powerful blend of these experiences together with her practicality, purpose, and positivity that drive our value.

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