What is a good example of accountability?

By Darren Finkelstein
By Darren Finkelstein

The Accountability Guy®

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Being responsible is nothing but accountability. A person who takes ownership, understands and respects people around him, understands his limits and his roles in the organisation. Understand how he can achieve all of his goals. This is all about accountability! Now, the word “accountability” might be a little intimidating, but it’s nothing but taking responsibility for your own actions at work. Accountability strengthens transparency and encourages employees to work together and build a healthy environment. Accountability is a great tool for building successful teams at work. Along with transparency and honesty, the members of the team learn to deal with problems together. They will learn to respect each other and also not to blame each other. Instead of running to their bosses and complaining about the fellow team members, they will learn to accept and learn to work together to achieve all the goals efficiently.

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What is accountability?

Taking responsibility for your actions and decisions, being responsible and respectful to those around you, and being honest are all examples of accountability. Accountability at work plays an important role, as it builds a transparent environment and a respectful atmosphere amongst the team members, and each person takes charge of their own actions in case they have failed, instead of blaming others. Now let’s have a look at some of the examples of accountability at work.

Accountability examples

1. Bring solutions

As we work daily, there will be many challenges that one will face at work. So if you are proactive in taking initiatives, then the managers will really appreciate it. Instead of bringing more problems to your line managers, bring them more solutions along with them.

2. Acting Promptly

As you face more challenges and issues while you are trying to finish your daily assignments, understand and become proactive rather than reactive to face any problematic situation. Understand what situations might arise later on, and be prepared for those situations and how you can solve them.

3. Form a learning habit

Adapt to the willingness to learn from others, even if you are the manager of your team. Listen to what other members of the team have to say or give you feedback.

4. Accept accountability for your actions

It can be difficult for anyone to accept that they have failed, but it is very important to understand that one has to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions.

5. Accepting criticism with grace

Criticism has been an important part of my development at work. You should accept the criticism positively as it gives you an opportunity to improve.

6. Being transparent

Be honest and be transparent with the people you work with. Learn to build a transparent environment in your office.

7. Maintain your focus on your objectives

Stay focused on your and your team’s goals. You have to be goal-driven and understand the directives that your team needs to fulfil in order to achieve its goals.

8. Communication channels

Be open and clear about the discussions that you want to send across. Make sure that you develop an effective communication channel amongst your team members so that they can discuss the matters openly and resolve them.

9. Be aware of policies and procedures

Do not go too overboard; understand the standard operating procedures at work and how they can help you and your team to achieve the goals.

10. Be ready to apologise

Be prepared to apologise if the situation arises at work. If you have realised that you have made a mistake, then be prepared to rectify and apologise.

Conclusion

Accountability, if practised by everyone at work, can be fruitful for the people at work as well as for the organisation. Many organisations build different policies for keeping their employees happy and satisfied. Accountability is one of the key factors to maintaining a good working atmosphere in the office. As they would build healthy employee relationships as colleagues, boss and employee, one would work in a transparent environment, and hence, everyone would be able to trust each other at work. This would, in turn, help in making wonderful teams that would help them work closely and effectively.

Along with transparency, employees must be honest and reliable towards their team members. They will be able to make better decisions at work and stand up for their decisions in case things do not go well. That’s what organisations need: people to be responsible for their actions and reactions. They would be prompt enough to see the repercussions of their actions in advance and hence plan for them in advance.

Setting examples at work is a great tool to make sure that everyone follows the good standards of accountability at work. If you have an employee who religiously practises accountability, then you can set an example at work and let everyone learn from him and see the changes that your team will go through. The team will learn to work happily together. Instead of complaining about each other, they will learn to help each other and work efficiently.