The Number One Worst Behavior In Leadership:

Not Demonstrating Accountability With Your Team

As managers, we have a responsibility to our company to keep employees productive and deliver results according to the organization’s objectives. This relationship, when it works smoothly, can result in some great inroads in innovation and advances. It can create cohesiveness in a team, but sometimes the team falls apart when members do not hold themselves or others accountable.

It may seem obvious that we should own the consequences of our actions, but we tend to justify and excuse our poor choices and bad behavior. When lack of accountability makes it difficult for a team to work together it becomes the manager’s responsibility to correct the situation and coach struggling employees.

Consider the following story where a manager chose not to be accountable to anyone:

As a long-term employee with a manufacturing company, Sheila rose through the ranks because of her confidence and commanding presence. With a personality larger than life, she wooed and wowed all those around her as she climbed the corporate ladder. She was admired for her magnetic personality, impeccable dress, and the ability to get others to do her work. When a problem arose, she was always adept at finding someone else to blame. She made sure the staff was in a constant state of change so that no one who worked for her caught on to her methods. Sheila would always choose to sacrifice others so that she could gain.

She knew that her company employed knowledgeable senior-level people, but she felt threatened by them because of their close association with the company owners and customers. She was pre-occupied with self-admiration and a sense of entitlement, and she wanted to surround herself with newly-hired employees that were loyal only to her. Despite her toxic, self-centered behavior, she temporarily boosted employee engagement because of a thriving economy and the company's good reputation. She ultimately advanced only her career and sabotaged all of her rivals. Ultimately she dodged difficult situations because of her charm and charisma. Sheila receives an accountability score of zero (0), meaning that she is not willing to hold anyone accountable, including herself.

Consider the next story where a manager chose to hold others accountable, but not himself:

Robert, a relatively new employee hired by Sheila as her sidekick, was famous for his good-natured humor. But behind the pleasant fa?ade, dark secrets were hidden from all but the most perceptive and empathic. Robert could do no wrong because he couldn't remember his bad choices, but he remembered others’ choices, and he held them accountable. He often gave impossible or meaningless assignments to those who started to see through his deceit. When they failed, they were discarded and replaced by those who had not yet learned the hidden truth: that Robert did not really know how to do anything of substance.

On his very first day, he fell into the trap of following Sheila's marching orders: clean house of the long-term faithful employees.

To accomplish his task, he started criticizing policies, procedures, and personnel, and he would not take the time to know the ins and outs of the organization. He was unwilling to form his own opinions, free from the bias and judgment of Sheila. To make his mark quickly and dramatically he stomped in and changed everything without getting to know the company culture.

Employees soon realized that Robert wanted to quickly climb the corporate ladder and push others off the rungs as they lost patience and quit. He also constantly bragged about his past accomplishments, but he was unable to teach anyone new skills or share specific knowledge about his past job performance.

Soon, most team members started to regard his comments as just hot air, and they didn’t take him seriously. But then Robert started to hand out pink slips and take on a “do as I say, not as I do” approach. “I’m going to hold everyone accountable,” he boasted—speaking of a recent drop in service (referencing the company’s ranking in the national manufacturing magazine).

Robert was a quick-witted, outspoken individual with terrible listening skills and many of the same character traits, like Sheila. The only difference was this: he was at least willing to hold others accountable, but not himself. Robert receives an accountability score of one (1) because he's willing to hold others accountable, but not himself.

The Best Leaders Have Multi-Directional Accountability

The best leaders are inwardly accountable and outwardly accountable to their company. They have what I call multi-directional accountability that can help a company flourish. They not only hold themselves and their employees accountable but are also willing to hold their own leaders accountable to a certain degree. If you were to describe your own personal leadership style, with regards to accountability, would you be able to call your style multi-directional? If so, you've created a hallmark culture of accountability. Therefore your accountability score is neither a zero, or a one, but is "off the charts."

Lack of accountability and unacceptable behavior weakens individuals, teams, and organizations. Often front line managers recognize that problems exist, but they are uncertain about what steps to take to fix them. You can monitor the actions and exchanges of your organization by being out in the operation and visible. Some publications call this MBWA—Management By Walking Around. When you notice an employee doing something wrong, promptly and privately deal with the problem behavior. Likewise, and equally important, when you observe an employee doing something right, immediately and publicly acknowledge it. These methods will help you connect with your employees and build relationships that are more cooperative, and it helps establish an avenue for feedback. There are five reasons why employees exhibit unacceptable behavior: 1) They don’t know what to do or why they should do it. 2) They don’t have the resources to do it. 3) They don’t know how to do it. 4) They run into barriers. 5) They don’t want to do it. The first four must be remedied by the manager and involve allocating information, training, and resources. The last one may be solved by holding employees accountable.

Finally, be willing to raise the standards for yourself. Take responsibility and see the connection between the work you do and the overall success of your company. As a leader, it's important that you are brutally honest with yourself. Know that it's you that is responsible for your success or failure. If you really want to be held accountable, constantly keep yourself in check. If your sales are down, your culture is weak, or your business reputation is suffering, there isn't anyone to blame but yourself. A business leader that blames others is destined to fail because he or she would rather point fingers rather than review their own performance.