Culture of Accountability (Part 2)
Key ways to create a culture of accountability in your organization
Last week, we started a series on creating a culture of accountability in your organization. If you missed that post, you can find that here. This week, we cover the next parts of the connection between accountability and understanding. Accountability is something we all need yet is difficult to put in place for a variety of reasons. Let’s dive right in…
3. Understand Our Environment & Working Conditions
Have you ever started in a new position at a new company and learned pretty quickly that the culture presented to you during the interview process was considerably different than what you are experiencing in your first few weeks. That may be a good thing but often times when that happens it is a negative experience. You start to wonder if you made the right decision coming on board. You start to wish you had asked different questions when the interviewer said “Do you have any questions for me?” Or maybe you had hoped to have more time with some current employees to probe a little bit into their daily life within the organization. First, take those points and let it inform any future interview process:
When an interviewer asks you if you have any questions for them, ask some… specifically about culture and working conditions. If an interviewer is offended by asking those questions, you probably don’t want to work there in the first place. Don’t be so desperate in a job search that you compromise here.
Ask for a chance to speak with potential teammates about these same topics. You don’t have to walk into a conversation assuming that there are gremlins waiting to be let out, but just simple questions like “What is it like to work here?” or “Describe the workplace culture.” can help you better understand what you are walking into.
So how does understanding environmental and working conditions affect accountability? If an organization does not value accountability before you are brought on board, then they likely will not value it afterwards either. Also, be careful not to confuse an illusion of accountability with it actually occurring. Remember, accountability is not just a performance review or a regular meeting. Though those things may be a part of the formula, accountability has elements of the past, present and future of the people involved in the accountability relationship. There is an understanding that many elements factor into accountability that can not always be quantified.
4. Understanding Organizational Structure
An organization that understands how accountability can be an integral tool to employee engagement, satisfaction and improvement is often set up within its organizational chart to reflect those values. A mistake when discussing accountability is that accountability relationships in an organization are the same verticals found on the organizational reporting chart. In fact, studies say that finding accountability across the organization can be very beneficial to the organization as a whole. Again, accountability is not usually found only on that hierarchical chart. It is found in relationships and understanding as we go about our daily work.
That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be a level of accountability between a boss and a subordinate. There absolutely should and all of the factors we have discussed should be a part of that relationship too; however, if that is the only place that an employee finds accountability, they will likely find their job setting as unfulfilling.
Some may also use the term responsibility. “If I don’t get this task done, then I will disappoint my co-workers and have not fulfilled my responsibilities at work. My boss will be disappointed but so will my co-workers who were relying on me to get this done and do it well.” There is a sense of responsibility in that statement. I would actually call it accountability because a healthy workplace would also factor in all of the different understandings of accountability to help the culture continuously improve. Co-workers are learning how their past and present circumstances are constantly affecting their future ones, including their accountable relationships.
Next week, we’ll look internally at how each os us are being held accountable and how that affects how we hold others accountable.
As a sidenote, if you have not recently taken a DISC assessment, I strongly encourage it. You can do it on my website and get a 30-minute coaching call for under $100. It is money and time well-spent. Just click this link and it will take you directly to the assessment site.
One of the key points I’ve learned from the past 20 years of using DiSC is that it not only reveals my own tendencies, but it gives me a common language with my co-workers to help us better understand each other. Let’s start using the tools and skills that we’ve learned though to not only work on ourselves but also better understand those we work with and are around each day.