Why Accountability Should Be Everyone’s Job

In one form or another, it’s critical to have accountability in the workplace. That means there is an expectation that you will be recognized for the quality of the work you deliver. If you work in an organization that still relies on hierarchies, accountability is clear, and it only goes one way: It’s neatly distributed and rolls up.

Each person is accountable to his or her boss. That person is accountable to theirs. And so on. It’s clear and simple. But what happens when your organization doesn’t rely on hierarchies to make decisions and get work done?

How then do you make sure everyone, including you, is accountable for his or her performance–both good and bad? If you no longer rely on conventional top-down management hierarchies to solve problems or hand out praise, you need to encourage and empower the members of your organization to hold each other accountable for their contributions.

Consider how open-source communities operate: there are no predetermined leaders or groups of leaders who are officially in charge.

Rather, some people are in charge of making decisions based on the input they receive from the group. When someone goes astray, it’s left to the community to resolve the issue. Similarly, if someone performs rock star-level work, it’s the community’s role to recognize that contribution.

It creates great synchronicity: The more you are accountable to your peers, the more aware you’ll be about the impact of your decisions and actions. That’s why we like to say that, at Red Hat, it’s everyone’s job to be accountable to everyone else.

While it’s clearly important for people to own up to their missteps, I actually believe that 80 per cent of being accountable relates to the positive reinforcement of good behaviour versus bad. Building accountability into your culture is also a critical form of celebration and support.