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What Is Accountability And Why Is It Important?

By Darren Finkelstein
By Darren Finkelstein

The Accountability Guy®

Accountability Importance

Accountability refers to the concept of an individual or a department being held accountable for the performance or outcomes of specific activities. Essentially, the accountable party is in charge of carrying out the desired role.

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Why Is It Important?

Accountability begins with committing to the process from the start by acknowledging where you are now and being aware of the reality of your situation. When you accept the truth about where you are now and how you truly feel, you will be able to carry out the steps outlined in this book. It is critical to accept ownership by acknowledging where you are right now.

 

Accountability cannot exist in the absence of ownership! The process of acknowledging and accepting responsibility for yourself enables you to seek and apply solutions found in the steps we’ve discussed for true change and long-term success. This also empowers and energises you to go for it and see it through, regardless of any obstacles or setbacks that arise along the way.

Promotes Employee Engagement

Accountable employees take psychological responsibility for seeking solutions that will promote a company’s Key Results, which naturally promotes workplace engagement. Accountability enables employees to not only identify critical gaps between current and desired results and take responsibility for closing those gaps, but also to use creative problem-developing and implementing effective, innovative solutions to existing problems.

Unites People

Accountability will vastly improve your business or career. It establishes trust from the start, resulting in more positive interactions with team members and customers. Task and project completion becomes more efficient as accountability keeps you on track to meet your commitments.

 

It also helps to reduce fear because trust encourages teams to work together to achieve their goals. It will also boost your creativity and innovation in terms of new ideas that add value to others. Productivity rises as a result of more efficient processes, which save money and free up time for innovation. Work becomes enjoyable again when you collaborate with others to accomplish great things.

Improves Workplace Culture

Failure to accept responsibility can spread throughout the team like a virus. By establishing meaningful goals and team buy-in, building trust through support and encouragement, empowering everyone on the team, and celebrating victories together, you embed accountability into the fabric of your company, making accountability everyone’s responsibility.

 

When an organization’s culture is founded on honesty and integrity, employees can admit mistakes without fear of repercussions and collaborate to reflect, learn, and move forward in a positive manner. It takes a concerted effort from the top down to strengthen organisational culture. It also necessitates an honest assessment of what is working.

Improves Performance

Creating an accountability culture boosts efficiency and output. How do you go about it? Employees can meet clearly defined expectations when they know who is in charge of what. This reduces ambiguity and saves time. Having clear accountability, however, is insufficient.

 

People’s success in positions necessitates specific and meaningful feedback and evaluation procedures. You must also have a performance evaluation system in place. When you link responsibility to performance, you are also proactively paying attention to both the process and the results, correcting subpar efforts and recognising outstanding performance.

Builds Trust

High levels of accountability, particularly among leaders, help to build organisational trust. Members of the team have a high level of trust in their leaders because they know they will accept responsibility for their decisions. Furthermore, when executives model this type of behaviour for the rest of the organisation, a broader culture of accountability emerges.

 

There are numerous benefits to leading a trust-based organisation. When compared to other organisations, employees at high-trust organisations report 74 percent less stress, 106 percent more energy at work, 50 percent higher productivity, 13 percent fewer sick days, 76 percent more engagement, 29 percent greater pleasure with their lives, and 40 percent less burnout.

Bottom Line

Putting accountability into practise is what holds the organisation together. When people recognise the value of their work, they are more likely to be accountable. They learn this through mentorship and feedback that demonstrates the impact of their actions on the organisation. When they understand how important their roles are, they are more motivated to work and develop a sense of ownership.