Cultivating an environment for leadership accountability

It is a common problem many face - a lack of accountability and ownership of responsibilities. Since accountability is a nature that has to be instilled in the organizational culture, the right conditions and environment has to be created for leaders to be more accountable.

Even the most famous of leaders, Teddy Roosevelt believed in taking accountability. He was keen on acknowledging and taking responsibility for personal barriers that affected his personal performance and that of others.

For accountability to become second nature for leaders, a culture must be established that encourages it.

Gain support

Adequate support should be provided by leadership coaches and disagreements should be made a normal part of decision-making.

Utilize freedom

Leaders must analyze the important aspects of the situation and utilize the freedom to try new approaches.

Keep everyone in the loop

Leaders must keep everyone in the loop about the situation to receive more information and take decisions accordingly.

Provide clarity

Gaining and providing clarity about the situation, the steps that are being taken, and any potential challenges that can become a roadblock must be made known to the leader. This will provide enough information to strategically plan the next steps.?

Even after setting the right environment for leaders to take responsibility for their actions, it may not be enough to guarantee that action. The work culture must also focus on creating accountability by building trust and reducing fear in the organization.

Any environment that displays harsh criticism, hostility, aggressiveness, or defensiveness can make taking ownership a daunting task. However, on the other side of the coin is ego-centric nature, unwillingness, superiority complex, and victim mentality that can equally stop leaders from taking responsibility.

Therefore, it is essential to start from the basics and build relationships based on trust and authenticity.

Instead of letting titles create boundaries, leaders should begin by connecting with their people and creating genuine networks. Trust built through these connections will help in cultivating employees’ confidence in their leader. However, fear can have the opposite effect.

Fear can hold people back from expressing their reservations or their expectations from leaders. If leaders do not know what their employees expect from them, it is possible for them to underperform or avoid taking responsibility.

To counter fear from being an active element in the workplace, it is important for the organizational culture to encourage disagreements, differences in views and opinions and welcome dissent.

However, the work environment and people aren’t to blame if a leader’s accountability falters in tough situations but takes center stage when the team enjoys the fruits of their labor. To prevent this from happening, leaders must adhere to the following principles.

1.?????Take responsibility for all decisions - Regardless of the outcome, leaders must take total responsibility for all their decisions and how and whom they will affect.

To ensure that those decisions have a positive outcome, they must review them later and tweak them as needed in the future.

2.?????Be responsible for communication – Accountability is increased when there are no communication gaps.

Eliminating any chances of miscommunication should be the priority of leaders to effectively express their expectations while also actively listening to their juniors.

3.?????Have a “we” mentality – It would be hypocritical of a leader to take all the credit when there are positive outcomes but refuse to take responsibility when things don’t turn out as expected.

Leading from a “we” mentality is necessary for leaders to improve teamwork and hold everyone equally accountable for their actions. This will ensure that everyone gets their due credit but also recognize their shortcomings when mistakes happen.

Holding leaders accountable is one the major challenges that many organizations face today. Leaders must realize their limitations and acknowledge them where required and build a culture of accountability by displaying responsibility themselves.?