How accountable are you?

In today’s world too many people avoid accountability for their actions. When things go wrong, they find someone or something else to blame. Look around you… I’m sure you’ll see examples. Almost daily you can look at cross-sections of society and find areas where accountability (or lack thereof) is debated and questioned. Everyone from politicians to business leaders and sports figures is fair game.

In the workplace, accountability builds trust as organisations understand they can depend on their team members. Individuals who are accountable are more likely to be trusted because others know they will keep their word. Once fear of failure is removed, employee participation and involvement increases, as does overall feeling of employee competency and commitment to work. Because the environment is safe for exploration, overall performance is higher, as is the level of creativity, innovation, employee morale and work satisfaction. By taking responsibility and taking action when needed, problems can often be averted. Timely responses and action can result in time and cost savings.

Being both responsible and accountable equals taking full ownership of life, although the process may not always be easy, it does offer tangible benefits. Taking personal responsibility for your actions leads to healthier relationships with your friends, family, colleagues and customers, leading to more positive human conversations. 

Too often leaders of organisations take the credit when things go well, but they find ways to avoid responsibility when they get unexpected results. This behaviour will not work in the long-term; accountability is too important for leaders to avoid.

Many people want to be a leader. However, few are prepared to accept the accountability that goes with it. But you can’t have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin.

First and foremost, being a leader means that you accept responsibility for the outcomes expected of you, both good and bad. You don’t blame others and you don’t blame the external environment. There are always things you could have done, or still can do, to change the outcome. Until you take responsibility, you are a victim and being a victim is the exact opposite of being a leader. Victims are passive, they are acted upon. Leaders are active, they take initiative to influence the outcome.

More than talking about accountability, great leaders show it. It is not something that happens at moments of convenience or when things go wrong, they showcase it throughout the work they do and the way they lead day in and day out. They know that accountability comes from the existence of trust and the absence of internal politics.

Accountability comes from the presence of trust and the absence of fear

When a manager, or better yet, the leadership team, is both trusted and trusting, others in the organisation know where they stand. They have greater confidence in their ability to do the work and in the people they work with. It’s not frightening to take ownership and initiative, but when you and your fellow managers undermine trust, fear finds a foothold. Being accountable becomes risky, with overall customer service and business performance suffering.

In a low trust, toxic climate it is difficult for managers to demonstrate accountability when other leaders are trying to throw them under a bus, blame them for mistakes or take the credit for things that they have not done. Operating in this kind of climate means things take time to get done, it is less productive and actually quite stressful. People cover their arse by ‘cc’ing’ the world into email, corridor conversations happen left, right and centre, meetings are a political minefields where honest, transparent and human conversations just don’t happen. It is just not a nice place to work.  

The Accountability Ladder

People who are fully accountable and demonstrate this to their teams have higher performing teams. Being accountable means looking objectively at a situation and making some deliberate choices about how you will handle it. The more focus you have on finding solutions, the more choices you will make available to you. 

Being accountable doesn’t necessarily mean you get the output that you want, or that you’re able to solve things. What it does mean is that irrespective of whether or not things turn out in your favour, you can, hand on heart, look anyone in the eye and say ‘I was accountable for my decision’. Our actions and the language we use are the ways we can demonstrate accountability. The Accountability Ladder is a great tool to help us understand why we may not be getting the results we want – from work or life. 

So how does the Accountability Ladder work?  

Victim Behaviours:

I did not know – These are the people who are not even aware of the problem, for example: ‘I did not know coaching was expected.’ 

Blame – It is always easy to point the finger at others rather than ourselves when things don’t get done, for example: ‘My manager does not coach me, so why should I coach others?’ 

Making excuses – Making excuses is easy and a masked form of procrastination. We make excuses like ‘I am too busy to coach’ or ‘I have never done that before, no-one has shown me.’ 

Wait and hope – Waiters and hopers are those who do just that. Wait and hope for miracles without actually doing anything at all, for example: ‘Eventually my team will improve.’

Accountable Behaviours:

Acknowledging reality – People at this level look at the situation in black and white, focusing on the tasks and their responsibilities, for example: ‘I need to coach to improve team performance, rather than waiting and hoping for things to change.’  

I own it – Next, people at this level take ownership for the problem and accept they are responsible for creating the solution, for example: ‘This is in my gift.’ 

Find solutions – The next step is to brainstorm and start thinking of all possible solutions, for example: ‘How can I start to coach?’ 

Make it happen – It’s about implementing a solution and taking action. Getting to this step is the best part. Goals are accomplished, for example: ‘I will spend one hour a day coaching.’ 

Accountability is crucial for high performance 

When an individual truly accepts, chooses or takes accountability for their thoughts and actions, their commitment rises and so does their performance. Telling someone to be accountable doesn’t mean they will be and if an individual doesn’t accept accountability for themselves, performance will not rise.  They may do the job because there’s an implied threat if they don’t, but doing something to avoid a threat doesn’t optimise performance, neither does it build trust.  Encouraging someone to take accountability for themselves will build self-esteem and self-motivation, as the results they’ll achieve will be their own. 

Try this:

• Be honest: Often, this requires setting aside personal pride, admitting your own mistakes and being completely honest with yourself. Honest leaders become accountable by reviewing their own role in a situation and devising a reasonable solution to resolve issues, conflict, and challenges in an authentic and genuine fashion. Moliere, 17th century French dramatist, said "It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." Is there anything that you are avoiding doing that needs to be done? For example, are you putting off a difficult conversation? Are you delaying any important decisions? Are you delegating away responsibilities that should stay in your court?
• Be prepared to be wrong: Don’t be afraid to say “I’m sorry” when something has gone awry and they are responsible for the wrongdoing. The backdrop to a real apology is a focus on making amends, committing to what needs to be done to fix the situation and executing on it when promised. By apologising and creating a plan to fix the situation, accountable leaders allow a focus on the end goal rather than on the problem.
• Take responsibility: Accountable leaders do not avoid responsibility, they do not procrastinate and they do not under or over commit. They know when to say no and they know when to ask for more. Before agreeing to new tasks, new deliverables, new to-do’s, they review their schedules and know whether they have the physical time required to complete the work on time and with quality. If unsure about whether they can commit, they say no to the task and yes to the person asking for the commitment. In this way, accountable leaders provide their own insurance that they won’t let promised work go undone.

Accountability doesn’t guarantee that you always get the result you want.

It means that you’ve acted with integrity in your choices and actions and can stand behind them because they are congruent with what is important to you. Regardless where your actions are, in the workplace or personally, when you make deliberate choices, you are in control.

Your decisions are the opportunities for your own success and for the possibility of inspiring others. You can choose to make life happen, rather than watch events happen to you.