Creating a Culture of Accountability

Accountability is more than just a buzzword, frequently bandied about in organizational performance. Creating a culture of accountability in a team or an organization is a critical element of high-performing organizations. We hear about accountability all the time in the media, in politics, and in business – things like “…a lack of accountability created an atmosphere for risk taking without consequences…” in reference to the recent U.S. financial meltdown. But what does accountability mean? How do you create a culture of accountability, and why is it important?

Many people associate accountability with negativity: consequences for one’s actions, tightening of the reins, etc. In “Journey to the Emerald City,” however, Connors and Smith espouse a more positive view of accountability – one where we take ownership and create a strong sense of responsibility for making things happen: “See it, own it, solve it, do it.” They define accountability as “a personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results.”

Some of the highest performing organizations in the country, such as Southwest Airlines and Disney, have a strong culture that emphasizes accountability, ownership, responsibility, and empowerment, so it’s no wonder more and more organizations are searching for ways to create this kind of culture. And, the estimated costs for a lack of accountability in organizations range into the billions of dollars. But the impact is not limited to the bottom line – the impact is also seen in poor morale, unfair workload distribution, poor employee performance and commitment, substandard work quality, high conflict, and inefficiency. What actually happens where there is a lack of accountability in an organization? Nonperformers thrive while diligent staff picks up the slack. The stress level rises; communication, trust, and sense of fairness drops; and, territorialism runs rampant. Good employees get overwhelmed by their workload, become disillusioned, and leave. The organization becomes more densely populated with underachievers. Quality falls, deadlines are missed, and finger pointing intensifies. Revenue is then lost when formerly loyal customers are alienated by a noticeable drop in customer service – though it’s rare that a customer would recognize this as ‘a lack of accountability.’ This is part of the management challenge – understanding that the symptoms – like numerous customer complaints – derive from a lack of accountability in the organization.

Inculcating a sense of accountability in an organization is like ensuring an engine has the clean oil it needs to run smoothly and efficiently. It is a way of ensuring that your organization has the right mechanisms, and that employees experience a sense of commitment and empowerment that exponentially increases performance. Research by the Harvard Business School shows that most people want to be held accountable, and want to feel like their contributions are valued and make a difference to the organization. So how do you create a culture of accountability in an organization?

Lead: It starts at the top. Leaders articulate a clear vision and strategy that inspire employees. Leaders and manager help employees see how their role contributes to that vision and strategy, which fosters a strong sense of ownership and commitment.

Plan: The strategy then becomes a plan of action. This plan provides a sense of direction and focus to marshall organizational resources, and also provides a way to measure results. Throughout this process, ongoing feedback is flowing to proactively address any issues emerging, to ensure open and honest communication, and to instill a sense of confidence and transparency in the organization’s operations and processes. Supporting the vision, strategy, and operating plan are a clear set of values that leadership has defined and embodies in their everyday interactions: honesty, integrity, transparency, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Model: Leaders model accountability by their individual behavior, in taking ownership of actions that result in positive or not so positive outcomes, and accepting responsibility for the results. They then reflect on what happened and use that reflection as an opportunity to learn and continuously improve.

In addition to the steps outlined above, several other points are worth noting. First, organizations need to ensure that their performance management system aligns with the organizational strategy and values. For example, some organizations strongly believe that they value collaboration, and yet their employee performance is measured on individual contributions to income with no team goals or collaborative measurements in place. This sends a mixed message to employees about what’s important and does not foster accountability in an organization. Also, many leaders and managers fail to make effective requests of one another and their employees. Requests are critical to ensuring that tasks get completed and work gets done. An effective request states what exactly needs to be done, by when it needs to be done, who is going to doing it, and other conditions of satisfaction necessary to complete the request correctly. Instead we often ‘allude’ to something that needs to be done and hope someone picks up what we are hinting about!

As in the often-quoted story about Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody: “There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.” Basic training and education on making and responding to effective requests, setting clear expectations, and providing effective positive and constructive feedback can go a long way toward ensuring that what needs to get done in an organization gets done with clearly articulated responsibility and outcomes.

Accountability is critical to high-performing organizations. Creating a culture of accountability does not have to be an overwhelming “challenge” that paralyzes and defeats a leadership team. A leadership team can take some of the steps outlined in this article to inculcate a culture of accountability in an organization. The results will be exponentially greater.

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