Culture of Accountability (Part 3 - Final!)
Key ways to create a culture of accountability in your organization
If you haven’t read the first two parts of the Culture of Accountability series, I encourage you to do so. You find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
The third and final part of building a culture of accountability requires a leader to look at themselves in the mirror AND look around in the proverbial board room or conference table. The culture of accountability we are looking to build is found in the answer to the question “How am I being held accountable?”
If you can’t identify clear lines of accountability within your own job description and the actual reality of your everyday work, then how can you build that healthy accountability for and with others?
One leader I know who did not have much accountability would complain about it all of the time to his leadership team. Yet in the same breath, he was not willing to work on building that system for himself. He was always passing the blame to someone else even though it was well within his ability and positional authority to do something about it. This made it harder for his subordinates to see the importance of accountability in their own lineages and thus made the organization weaker overall. Also, those in the organization that would “technically” help hold him accountable were not used to that role. Needless to say, it was a mess! It led to distrust amongst the leadership and chaos especially when important decisions needed to be made or were made that some leaders didn’t agree with.
So what kind of leader are you going to be? One type of leader throws up his or her hands in frustration because the system (or culture) isn’t working like they think it should. Maybe they even get angry when someone introduces a different system just because they didn't think of it or have a part in creating it. The opposite type of leader recognizes this absence a culture of accountability and works to rectify it quickly putting some basics in place and calling on different leaders in the organization to help build the culture systematically.
This leader is vulnerable and humble in their learnings. They admit when they don’t know something and they accept advice and counsel even when they do. They are excited for the possibility of their organization growing in several ways, including the culture that is building around holding each other accountable. This accountability spreads to both the work product presented and the interactions between personnel. Workers begin to use a common language around accountability and some people from outside your organization even start to ask questions like “What are you all doing differently at your company to have employees who are so bought in?” or “How did your culture become so edifying?”
Are you ready to start building a culture of accountability in your organization? Start now!