The Accountability Mindset: How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Disciplined and Achieve More
Entrepreneurship is a path filled with ambition, innovation, and independence.
Posted on: 11/04/2024
This article will explore the major differences between business ethics and accountability, informing you how they work together to create a robust workplace.
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By bringing a moral outlook to the operations, a company also ensures that it positively impacts its employees, the environment, and society at large. Following are some of the core principles of business ethics:
Personal responsibility is the hallmark of any trustworthy employee, whether in a junior position or management. It ranges from diligently performing what your job description says and completing the projects that have been assigned to you.
Similarly, openly accept your mistakes, learn from them, and discuss them with others to find a way out.
Consider this startling statistic: According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Pay Gap Report, the world will spend 135 more years before it closes the gender pay gap.
Fairness is a fundamental aspect of business ethics that is all about treating everyone equally regardless of rank, race, religion, and political views. If a lower-level employee is expected to follow the standards of honesty and integrity, the CEO should also be held to the same standards.
A business doesn’t operate in isolation; it is part of society and connects with it on several levels. Whatever a business does, from manufacturing to delivery, has a tangible impact on society and the environment.
It’s important to recognize this impact and look for ways to mitigate ‘negative externalities,’ such as pollution, waste, and more. One way of doing this is to work directly with various communities, understand their issues, and invest in them to give them opportunities.
Accountability can be defined as an enforcing mechanism, ensuring that companies and their employees adhere to an ethical framework in their conduct. It is about holding businesses and employees responsible for their actions, a system that can be both internal and external.
Internal accountability involves performance reviews and analyses that determine a company’s progress toward specific goals. Similarly, it also includes the level of adherence to ethical principles.
To promote a culture of accountability, firms should have a special team to oversee ethical compliance and submit their proposals regularly. Companies should also enact whistle-blower-friendly policies that encourage employees to report ethical violations.
External accountability comes from outside actors like the government, regulatory authorities, and NGOs. The government passes regulations to make companies adhere to ethical standards regarding employee treatment, waste management, taxation, and much more.
Similarly, regulatory authorities and NGOs monitor companies to ensure business ethics and accountability standards are being followed.
Also, customers boycott brands that they think indulge in unethical practices and hurt their market value. It acts as a deterrent for companies to have ethical boundaries.
Following are some examples of how accountability plays out in a corporate context:
Business Ethics | Accountability | |
Definition | A set of moral codes and principles determining the right and wrong in a company’s conduct. | A system that ensures the ethical framework is being followed. |
Focus | Rules that guide decision-making | Consequences of actions |
Importance |
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Examples |
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Mechanisms | Internal:
External:
| Internal:
External:
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Challenges |
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Business ethics and accountability are two sides of the same coin, both being equally important to a thriving organization. However, it’s a tricky area that sometimes evades our previous knowledge and understanding. Therefore, it’s crucial to have thorough training on the subject, like the one offered by tickthoseboxes.
If you need assistance you can take a look at my accountability coaching packages or book an accountability assessment today.
Explore new opportunities in the corporate world like never before.
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/
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