Building a Culture of Accountability and Leadership: Strategies for Organizational Success

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You need to have Accountability and Leadership

Accountability and Leadership, every world-class organization has a performance imperative—a transparent culture of individual accountability. A true culture of accountability demands answers from individuals at every level of a company. It’s not enough for certain teams or departments to have this culture while others do not. For an organization to perform to its full potential, every employee must feel personally accountable for their work and consistently deliver on their commitments.

When an organization lacks the individual and collective accountability needed to achieve the desired outcomes, it’s your leaders who are the solution. Leaders set and deliver the vision to employees in a way that explains why it’s important and how they can contribute as individuals. Like any other organizational standard, if personal accountability is the expectation, leadership must model it themselves. Without this commitment from leadership, it’s unreasonable to expect that others will hold themselves accountable for their work.

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What is personal accountability?

Put simply, personal accountability is doing what you say you are going to do. Personal accountability goes hand in hand with trust; when people follow through on their commitments, they show themselves to be trustworthy. Likewise, when leaders show trust, people are more likely to want to live up to that trust.

Most people don’t want to drop the ball or let their leaders down when they commit to something. Most people approach their commitments in the workplace with the intent to follow through, and why wouldn’t they? It feels good to succeed. However, slipping deadlines and a growing list of tasks that just never seem to get done are all too common.

This scenario, where intentions are not translating into results, is a familiar one. There may be seemingly good reasons for this—a lack of motivation, an intense workload, and so on— but ultimately, it comes down to personal accountability. When viewed in this light, the explanations or reasons for failure become excuses for not following through on a commitment.

Of course, there are also legitimate reasons an individual might not meet the expectations that were outlined. It might not be possible in the given time frame, they might not have the necessary skills or the budget might not be realistic. These circumstances are avoidable, but it’s not only up to individual employees to identify and communicate these challenges. Leaders and managers must also participate in a way that helps individuals follow through on their commitments. Closing the gap between intention and results will lead to greater personal accountability.

Leaders can do this by embracing a three-step process:

Defining a mutual understanding of the desired outcomes,
Assessing whether the person can achieve the desired results with their current skill set, and
Getting their commitment to executing the agreed-upon plan.

Execute the three-step process.

1. Achieve understanding: setting clear expectations

The first step in ensuring that assignments are reasonable is for both parties to have a thorough understanding of the expectations. Without this mutual understanding, the individual might fail to meet the desired standards, even if they are following through on their personal commitment.

When setting expectations around a particular assignment, include these three important criteria:

What is the expected outcome?
When is the due date?
How should the individual accomplish the expected outcome?

This conversation will be different for every individual. For example, a junior-level employee might need more explanation about how a certain task should be performed.

A more senior-level employee won’t need step-by-step instructions but can contribute more to the discussion about a realistic due date. Tailoring the discussion to each individual is essential when the goal is personal accountability.

In a fully developed culture of accountability, achieving understanding is a two-way dialogue. Employees feel empowered to ask questions such as, “How much time should it take me to complete this task?”

Leaders know that they must be prepared with all of the relevant information before assigning a task or project. When accountability is the company-wide standard, individuals know those clear expectations set the stage for success.

2. Agreements: adjusting for roadblocks

Agreeing to complete an assignment is more than just a simple yes or no. It requires careful consideration of whether the what, when, and how of the task are possible. When making a personal commitment, it’s not fair to yourself or others to make promises you can’t keep. Even though it’s good practice to aim high and maintain strong standards, taking on assignments that you can’t deliver as expected will slow the project, impede progress, and hurt your professional reputation.

Before making a commitment or assigning a task, take the time to anticipate the obstacles that might arise and make adjustments accordingly.

Follow these steps to come to a mutual understanding and set a realistic goal:

Look at the calendar and map out a realistic timeline.
Talk to others on the team about their availability rather than assuming they can help; remember that they have made personal commitments of their own.
Consider the knowledge and skill set necessary for executing the assignment and compare it against your own. You might have to factor in training or research time if there is a gap between what you’re required to do and your current abilities.
Carefully evaluate the budget to determine whether it is realistic.
Determine what other resources are required and make sure they are accessible.

All of these steps will help ensure that commitments are realistic and achievable. If you don’t take the time to do this evaluation and adjustment, you will encounter hurdles that will affect your ability to deliver on personal accountabilities. You can’t predict the future, but you can learn from the past and thoughtfully apply those lessons to future commitments.

3. Taking action: leaders must be rigorous in their expectation

After confirming a mutual understanding, accounting for potential hurdles, and adjusting commitments accordingly, nothing should remain in the way of delivering on an assignment. It is then up to the leaders to demand personal accountability and to see the project through.

To do so, leaders can measure progress along the way by checking in at previously agreed-upon points along the path to completion. This reinforces that the leader is expecting the promised outcome to be delivered on time and up to the previously discussed standards.

Creating mini-milestones will help individuals stay on track, especially for larger projects that might feel overwhelming. Leaders and employees can then work together to identify any necessary course corrections that will help individuals fulfil their commitments and stay personally accountable.

In addition to delivering on their promises, there are certain behaviours leaders can display to promote accountability in the organization. When leaders recognize that the deliverables might not be complete as promised, this is an opportunity to provide support and coaching. What productivity or time management skills can be transferred to help an individual follow through on their commitment? What other adjustments might be necessary to ensure that the goal is met? By staying engaged in this way, leaders demonstrate the importance of personal accountability and show that outcomes must be delivered as promised.

What it all means?

Personal accountability is a hallmark of world-class organizations. To create a culture of accountability and leadership the organization must demonstrate it themselves and demand it from others. For the demand to be fair, expectations must be clear and agreed upon, and leaders need to participate in the follow-through. All of these skills are teachable and can be perfected over time with training and practice.

Individuals at every level, including leadership, can benefit from ongoing training. It’s important to remember that even if you have a strong commitment to personal accountability, you might need to learn how to coach others to do the same. Investing in leadership training equips executives, managers, and supervisors with the skills to help others achieve the highest standards of accountability.

About The Author

Darren Finkelstein, The Accountability Guy®, is the founder of TICK THOSE BOXES, a specialised accountability coaching practice. Darren is a formidable international accountability coach, business advisor, mentor, and author/speaker, fostering development and measurable results in entrepreneurship, leadership, and accountability. Darren’s tale is one of perseverance, self-reinvention, and resilience.

With compelling execution, Darren has empowered high-achieving individuals and teams from Australia and New Zealand to Latin America, Europe, Asia, the UK, and the US to embrace accountability; after all, it is your superpower.

Darren’s one-on-one and group coaching programs are based on his bestselling business book, “The Accountability Advantage – Play your best game” and the latest, release “NO’ – Building a life of choice without obligation”.

Darren has an impressive background in business, having held the role of “Manager of Commercial Markets” at Apple Australia during the Steve Jobs revolution.

He enthusiastically “walks the talk,” having also successfully sold and exited his lifestyle businesses, which served as the impetus for establishing his coaching and mentoring business.

Join Darren on this transformative quest to accomplish the remarkable.

Read Darren’s full bio here:
https://tickthoseboxes.com.au/about/