How To Make Accountability A Positive Process

Accountability is a crucial aspect of effective leadership, driving individual and team performance, and achieving organizational goals. However, if someone says, “I’m going to hold you accountable,” then those words don’t generally mean a good time! It may cause you to break out in a sweat, your heart rate may go up, or it may keep you up at night! Over time, accountability has taken a bad rap.

Some leaders don’t do a good job of coaching people through to expectations, so they miss an opportunity to provide feedback and help you improve. Instead, they are hands-off, wait until performance needs improvement, or an issue needs to be addressed, and then they get involved in “holding people accountable.” In other words, they are reactive versus proactive with their influence in support of your success.

In these cases, holding people accountable is a negative or punitive process, because the act of addressing performance issues is after it has happened. Why does it need to unfold like this? What can you do to make accountability a process and not a moment in time? Let’s explore how to make accountability a positive process and a catalyst to support the success of others.

1.     Set Clear Expectations:  Effective accountability starts with setting clear expectations that are detailed, specific, and time bounded. As a leader, clearly communicate goals, objectives, and performance standards to your team. Ensure that expectations are understood and agreed upon by all parties involved.

2.     Follow Up On Expectations:  Provide feedback, monitor performance, coach, teach, and train.  In other words, practice servant leadership.

3.     Create Touchpoints:  Touchpoints are incremental moments of accountability. Touchpoints take on different looks, such as meetings, e-mails, phone calls, self-reporting, surveillance, conference calls, etc. Touchpoints should feature positive feedback and reinforcement, constructive feedback, and progress updates, and all these moments can be moments of incremental accountability.

4.     Practice Servant Leadership:  Become a better performance coach, so you can influence performance before or during poor performance, not afterwards. Shift the focus of accountability from blame and one of reaction to learning and growth and influence before the situation gets out of hand. Emphasize the importance of continuous improvement and provide constructive feedback that helps individuals identify areas of development. Encourage a growth mindset within your team where mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning and development rather than reasons for punishment. Create an environment where taking risks and experimenting are encouraged, as is innovation and creativity.

5.     Be Personably Accountable:  Lead by example and set the standard for excellence by holding yourself to the highest standard of accountability in your actions, decisions, behaviors, and commitments. Demonstrate behavior you expect from your team by meeting deadlines, fulfilling obligations, and taking responsibility for outcomes. When leaders exemplify accountability, it sets the tone for the entire team and reinforces the positive nature of the process.

6.     Celebrate Achievements:  Acknowledge and celebrate individual and team success and achievements. Recognize the efforts and accomplishments of your team members and reinforce that their accountability led to recognition and rewards. Celebrating successes creates a positive accountability cycle and a culture of recognition and continuous improvement.

Accountability, when approached positively, can be a transformative force to higher performance, better morale and motivation, and a more satisfying employee experience. By setting clear expectations, building trust, encouraging ownership, providing feedback, and promoting a growth mindset, leaders will create an environment where accountability is embraced as a catalyst for individual and team success. Embrace accountability as an opportunity for development and collaboration and watch your team thrive.

If you would like to make accountability a positive process and become stronger in holding people accountable, please click on this link to set up a discussion on how our expertise and workshops can assist.