When it comes to managing your company and serving your customers, you need to be confident that things are getting done. If you don’t have a culture of accountability, of holding yourself and your people responsible for behaviors, follow-through on assignments and adherence to corporate values, your business is suffering and so is your bottom line.

While some may ascribe a negative air to the word accountability, I don’t.  Like a multi-vitamin, accountability is good for you! Think about it; holding people accountable for results can equate to better preparedness leading to shorter and more effective meetings, greater accuracy of work product, better responsiveness to client and team members, more vigilant problem solving, and better decision making.  The result - a higher functioning, more collaborative team and greater job satisfaction for all! 

Accountability is an odd concept. It has been defined as having the responsibility and authority to act and fully accept the natural and logical consequences for the results of those actions. Once you accept the challenge of being accountable, there’s no running and there’s no hiding, especially behind emails. Personal accountability is a creditable trait, one that everyone should strive to attain but not one that everyone immediately “gets”.

Just this morning I was at the gym, normally a regular routine for me.  But I had been slacking for several weeks and thought I would show up and jump on a machine, get back on track and no one would notice.  A trainer other than my normal one noticed and said – Kathy where have you been for the past several weeks? I responded that I was on vacation, came home sick and was lazy following all that.  The person on the equipment next to me chuckled.  In the end, there was nowhere for me to hide so I embraced accountability.  Besides going to the gym regularly is good for me, just like that multi-vitamin!      

    So, how do you help others ‘get it’? 

Share your vision. Bring it to life. Weave it into the fabric of your organization. Accountability should be expected in every role. Communicate expectations and how you’ll measure success. Invite commitment and make sure that everyone understands why it’s important, how it will benefit your clients, your employees and your organization. Measure progress and provide regular feedback. Remember the old adage, what gets measured gets done!

Most importantly, model the behavior you seek. Be sure you know your own performance guidelines and act the way you want people in your company to act.  Creating a culture of accountability will lead to creating a team full of Directly Responsible Individuals (DRI).  Imagine that………….

What have you done to create or promote a culture of accountability?