How managers can improve accountability in 2023

By Darren Finkelstein
By Darren Finkelstein

The Accountability Guy®

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How managers can improve accountability in 2023

A lot has changed since the time we moved passed the pandemic phase. Everyone has gone through a difficult phase; some have even lost their loved ones in this pandemic. But when it comes to work and performance, how do we ensure they are back as enthusiastic as they were before the pandemic? How do we ensure that they are committed and loyal to the organization? As team managers, how do we keep the team dynamics strong and significant so that they continue to perform? What about our hybrid teams or people who are still working from home? How do we teach and demonstrate accountability to them in 2023? So, today in this blog, we will discuss how managers can teach about responsibility to their employees and how they can change things around in 2023.  

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How managers can improve accountability

Managers are the primary person responsible for their employee’s and teams’ growth and development. They are responsible for grooming future team leaders and managers. So primarily, they must be a good role model to ensure the employees follow in their footsteps to learn and grow. So, let us understand how they can improve accountability. 

1. What you preach, you demonstrate

Yes, be the role model! Employees appreciate and respect their managers even more when they see that they follow and display the same lessons he has been teaching them. As they think of you as a role model, they will follow in your footsteps to become like you.  

2. Share your goals and progress

This is the game changer, as many think managers are only for bossing around. Still, when a manager is accountable, he is not authoritative, but instead, he is more approachable; he shares his goals with the team, sits down and discusses his plans and road map to meet his goals, and shares his progress. Then the employees would appreciate you even more.

3. Sit down together for goal setting

Yes, you are the team manager, and you are supposed to assign the goals to them, but what if, as a manager, you involve them in their goal setting too? These brainstorming sessions will enable both of you to open up about the challenges and proactive thinking to overcome them. This understanding will help your employee to become more aggressive and committed toward their goal.  

4. Takes ownership of team's failure

We want our employees to learn about ownership; therefore, as a manager, it is your duty to openly accept your failures in front of them and stand up for your team’s failures. As you demonstrate this critical behaviour, employees will not develop any fear of failure; they will share their issues with you openly and then learn to take ownership of their decisions and actions. 

5. Coaching and training

Hiring external coaches will ensure they learn to meet the gaps the trainer would highlight about accountability. There are different standards of accountability that they can find you as a role model, demonstrating, but how do they reach that level? Those gaps will be figured out in these sessions. The coach will share their experience, and then they can understand the importance of accountable behaviour.  

6. Appreciation

Whether it’s failure or achievement, as a manager, you learn to acknowledge the efforts that they have been making. As you appreciate and do not punish them for their failures, employees learn from their mistakes and openly share their issues.  

7. Feedback

As the employees learn to demonstrate responsible behaviour at work, it is very critical that you appreciate and give them regular feedback to them. As you provide them with feedback, they will soon understand that these feedback sessions will only help them improve and perform better in the future.  

8. Provide clarity from day one

As a manager, it is your duty you set clear expectations for them. You ensure that you have discussed expectations with your employees openly. As you speak to them about the company’s vision clearly, you are letting them know how their role impacts the success of the company; as you share the work expected out of them, then they become aware of the duties that they have to perform, and that’s is when the employees become motivated and committed about their responsibilities and goals.  

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, managers are the key personnel to groom future team leaders and managers. Therefore, it is vital that they set clear expectations, say about the company’s vision clearly, and then whatever they have been teaching them about accountability, they follow it religiously. Employees like to follow their managers as they believe and trust them. As an accountable manager, you mustn’t become authoritative but more approachable. But at the same time, you should not become too lenient with the employees, and you must remain firm so that they know that you mean business and results only. As you share your goals and progress with your employees, they know you contribute equally to the organization’s success.