You can have a focused strategy, a great marketing plan, highly qualified and talented staff—but without a culture of real accountability, your teams and organization won’t achieve the levels of success or results they should. Accountability is the make-or-break factor for a truly successful company that demands results.
Accountability, or lack thereof, tops the list of serious issues that organizations face. It’s about individual and team performance, innovation, responsibility, talent management and great communication. Truth be told, accountability is a mirror for an organization’s health. If an organization’s culture is steeped in clearly communicating roles and expectations, measuring results, rewarding goal achievement and celebrating success, then it’s been successful in creating a culture of accountability. This company can hold up a mirror and actually say, “We did a great job and we know why!” Plus, it can replicate its successes and continue to grow.
So what happens when an organization doesn’t hold its people accountable? What happens when the leader doesn’t have the time or even the skill set to communicate clear roles, clarify project goals and deadlines, establish clear priorities and recognize and reward strong performers? The results are missed deadlines and opportunities, failed projects, employees who don’t advance their skills and knowledge, and frustration for all. The results are an organization that doesn’t succeed in the long run.
Think about it for a second. If an employee is being asked to accomplish a project that he or she clearly isn’t looking forward to, perhaps finds difficult, doesn’t understand or may not have all the needed skills for, how engaged will that employee be? Add to that a manager who’s focused on other areas and isn’t holding the employee responsible for results, and you have a project that will most likely fail.
But, what if the manager did understand how to hold the employee accountable? What if the manager understood why the employee wasn’t looking forward to the project and took the opportunity to coach the employee to understand its importance and how to achieve results? What if the manager and the employee had a working agreement about accomplishing key, challenging projects and set up accountability metrics along the way with a reward at the end? What a difference using a few tools to hold people accountable can make.
The beginning of the year is an excellent time to start with a fresh slate and commit to improve the areas that will drive the success of our organizations. Here are a few ways that you, as a leader, can start to create a culture of accountability in your organization for 2011.
Define your end result. I constantly refer back to Stephen Covey’s “Begin with the End in Mind” concept (from his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People). Determine exactly the culture you want to create—one that will bring accountability to the forefront this year.
Introspect and assess. When and where are you holding others accountable? On the other side of the coin, understand what prevents you and your leaders, from holding others accountable. Is it time management and not adhering to the deadlines you set? Is it the challenge of giving feedback, especially when an employee isn’t meeting standards? Is it the idea that once you give a task or project, you expect employees to do their part and trust that they will? Once you understand what gets in the way of you holding others accountable, you can work on removing that barrier and making accountability a way of life.
Create a strategy. In coordination with your leadership team, create a strategy that includes the right tools and training to foster a culture of real accountability. Consider using working agreements as a part of your tactics. Bring your values and culture, as well as individual and team styles, into play when creating working agreements. Describe what needs to be done in terms of expected results. Explain why the task is important and how it fits into the larger picture. Incorporating accountability measures into agreements from the start will set the tone for what’s expected on the job.
Implement and teach. Train your leaders how to present and integrate stronger accountability into their teams by implementing your strategy and tactics. After training, set employee goals that help reinforce what they’ve learned. Set up regular meetings and incorporate the models and methods they’ve learned in the training, while discussing how they’re applied in the workplace
Create metrics. Incorporate means to measure the organizational impact of individual and shared accountability. Link metrics to rewards and consequences.
Reward and consequences. Provide a reward or positive feedback when employees meet their deadlines and successfully complete their projects. Institute appropriate consequences when deadlines and milestones are not reached—and make sure to administer them.
The culture drives the wellness of the organization. Accountability produces the results you need to succeed. Taking the time to define what accountability means in your organization and how you can create a culture that drives this message will reap long-term rewards for everyone. By harnessing the power of shared accountability and creating a culture that reinforces this, you’ll enhance your level of employee engagement and thrive as an organization.
Carolyn Silvestri is founding partner of The Personnel Perspective, a management consulting firm with expertise in strategic human resources consulting, leadership and management training and executive recruiting. Andrea Salvemini is a consultant. Since 1987, The Personnel Perspective has been helping companies in the North Bay leverage their greatest asset: their people. For more information, call (707) 576-7653 or visit www.personnelperspective.com.
