How can you use communication to build a culture of accountability?

Accountability means taking responsibility for your decisions and actions. It is important for an organization to have a culture of accountability and clarity. Everyone must know they will be held responsible for their work at the end of the day. There are many lines of communication: written , oral, print, digital, eg face-to-face, one-on-one, group discussion, email, text messaging, WhatsApp messaging, etc all these channels should be used to communicate. Employees should be communicated that they are allowed to choose what they want to do, how then want to do it and when they want to take action and they will be answerable at the end. Employees should keep the line of communication open with the leaders and be on the same page.

About 20 years ago my former organisation used to circulate printed memo on new initiatives and changes. And to hold employees accountable they use to get them to sign on a sheet stating read and understood the memo. Use to wonder, do they really need to do it? As though we are school going kids. Eventually as emails and Web based communication became a trend, I realised at least 40% of employees were not aware and don't take initiative to learn what is the latest update. When leaders hold them accountable they argue and fight, stating it was not their fault. That made me to learn verbal communication followed by emails, were better practice. SMART and KPI are my favourites.

Algo que he aprendido al participar en múltiples proyectos estratégicos es que en la medida en que uno actúa con apertura a la retroalimentación y rinde cuentas de manera continua, otros miembros del equipo comienzan a contribuir a la tarea más allá de solo hacer lo que les fue encomendado. La colaboración sucede de forma natural ya que se conoce cómo aportar y los proyectos entregan mejores resultados con respecto a lo que originalmente se había planteado.

During important projects, we use to hold 2 review meetings in a week. One at the beginning of the week and another at the end. We update progress. We review what works well and what doesn't. We make changes accordingly for best outcome. When it comes to negative reviews especially with difficult team members sandwich communication method was helpful. Not always. When necessary I use to pull the employees aside and openly share what's going wrong. At first they may deny and become offensive. Eventually, they buckle up as self realisation kicks in.

Safe Zone, is something every individual prefers. Not to be judged, looked down etc. A work culture fostering safe zone is very crucial. In my initial stages, I use to observe and listen till my superior asks for my opinion. And I use to make my opinion constructive though there is criticism without pointing it to any individual or their scope of work. That helped me to build good rapport while maintaining safe zone. However as a leader I've struggled to provide safe zone to many of my team. Due to datelines and expectations from management. Eventually I learned to do it through survey, brainstorming, swot and detailed reasoning. Which was helpful.

Walk the talk in simpleword. Model behaviour. Love that. I learned it from him. That is how verbal communication followed by an email with same information became an important practice in my life. It definitely earned me good name as I have helped to save many ppl from trouble throug my emails. Ppl take me seriously for accountability. Fostering accountability and making it a culture is in the hands of the leader. Lead by example is the best practice to make it possible.

Effective communications when it comes to accountability, is best to do with verbal communication followed by email notifications of what was spoken. I have practiced it almost a decade in managerial and leadership role. It works like gem.