What Does Accountability Mean In Workplace?

Picture of By Darren Finkelstein
By Darren Finkelstein

The Accountability Guy®

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Accountability in the workplace is crucial for the smooth functioning of the company. It prevents blame games and ensures people know what is expected from them. Accountability in the workplace is the willingness to accept the consequences and rewards for results.

Are you stuck regarding what accountability is in the workplace? Fret not; this blog will help you understand what accountability in the workplace is. Plus, you’ll know what wonders accountability in the workplace can do for your team and company.

So, read on to know everything about accountability in the workplace and include it in your work culture to boost performance.

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What is Accountability?

Accountability means an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for your and your team’s actions. It is the willingness to accept the consequences and rewards for your results. If you are accountable, it means you are answerable, and your team and your supervisor can question you and expect relevant answers.

Accountability is result-oriented and is assigned to a single person. This person is often the leader or the project manager who needs to brief their team and are responsible for their and their team’s results.

Examples of Accountability in The Workplace

It might help you to understand accountability in the workplace with a few examples:

  • You and your team are present for the entire shift
  • You and your team completing the assigned tasks wholeheartedly and enthusiastically
  • Contributing new ideas, as a leader
  • Your team being responsible for their tasks and willing to accept the consequences of not fulfilling their responsibilities
  • You and your team working together to achieve a common goal enthusiastically and willingly accepting the responsibility
  • You being willing to take risks and owning the results irrespective of it being favorable or unfavorable

How does accountability in the workplace help?

Now that you know what accountability at the workplace is, you might wonder why it is important. Here are the reasons why accountability in the workplace is important:

Accelerates Performance

Accountability in the workplace accelerates performance. When your team knows that you are accountable and you’ll guide them properly, they will work twice as hard and communicate with you.

Also, if you are accountable, you automatically become responsible and ensure you perform your tasks to the best of your ability.

Promotes Trustworthiness

Accountability helps create consistency in the workplace. It helps eliminates distractions and ensures you know what to do and when. This helps create a consistent performance that is going upwards. Plus, creating consistency will help maintain consistent performance because you’ll be responsible for your actions and results.

How to promote accountability in the workplace?

Accountability in the workplace boosts the company’s success by multifold. You must try to foster an accountable environment in your workplace by doing the following:

Set Goals and Expectations

As a leader or manager in the company, you can foster accountability by setting clear goals and expectations. You must communicate what you expect from your team and give guidelines to achieve the goals successfully.

This communication makes things crystal-clear and helps your team know what they are responsible for.

Provide consistent Feedback

Your team will find it easy to feel accountable for their actions, responsibilities, and results when they get consistent and regular feedback. You must give constructive, actionable feedback that makes sense. Your feedback should make your team feel accountable, and they should be able to work on it to give you measurable results.

Take Ownership of Results

As a leader, you need to take ownership of your results and your team’s results. You must also make your team understand the results and guide them to take ownership of the same. This will foster accountability in the organization.

Taking ownership of results shows a willingness to accept the consequences

Endnotes

Accountability in the workplace fosters trustworthiness, willingness to accept responsibility and boosts performance. As an organization, suppose you are stuck regarding how to promote accountability in the workplace. You can consult an accountability coach like Tick Those Boxes.

The accountability coach sits with you for 40-60 minutes to understand your goals, expectations, and commitments. They will then examine your priorities and help you plan your to-do list, and show you how to implement them. Accountability coaches will help you create plans and set a timeline to hold you and your team accountable.

So, hire an amazing accountability coach and know what accountability is to foster it in your company.