6 Ways Leaders Can Build Accountability
Leaders frequently wish the people they lead are more accountable. How can a leader build accountability?
What is accountability?
Accountability is the expectation or requirement to justify actions, decisions and outcomes, and accept consequences stemming from them. To be accountable is to be answerable and subject to consequences.
When accountability is willingly and actively embraced it sets high standards and encourages others to be more accountable.
Accountability vs. Responsibility
Accountability and responsibility overlap but are different. Responsibility refers to a person’s actions; the actions they are responsible for taking or seeing are done. Accountability relates to the outcomes or results of those actions.
Often the words, and therefore the meanings, are used almost interchangeably which doesn’t help understanding and the practice of accountability.
For more about what accountability is and how it differs from responsibility see What is Accountability and How Does is it Different from Responsibility?
6 Ways for Leaders to Build Accountability
When leaders are asked if they would like the people they lead to be more accountable, most say yes. It’s a common wish. But most leaders are less sure about how to go about building accountability. Here are six ways to do so.
Ensure Clarity
An important part of leadership is ensuring clarity. And clarity is the foundation of accountability. Ensuring clarity is a vital up-stream step that makes effective, sustainable accountability possible.
To know whether something has gone as expected or planned, or has achieved the desired outcome, all involved need to be clear about what was expected. For example, to know whether the outcome of a project is acceptable we need to know what was expected of the project.
Some leaders think that clarity needs to come from them. While it can there is another, often more effective, source of clarity …
Minimise Directive Leadership & Coach More
When a leader tells someone what to do they are reducing that person’s accountability. If a person simply did what they were told it’s flawed and unfair to hold them to account unless what they were supposed to do is so fundamental or obvious that it needed no clarification.
An alternative to directive leadership that builds accountability is to coach more. At its simplest, coaching is asking people rather than telling them.
If you include a person in setting expectations around a task by asking for their input they will be clearer, and probably more committed to, those expectations.
For example, if you ask someone when they can complete a task by, they are more likely to own getting it done by then and it’s easier to hold them to account for meeting that deadline.
Openly Hold Yourself to Account
Leader’s words and actions are constantly scrutinised by those they lead. More than that, what leaders do not say and do not do is also keenly noted.
If a leader wants people they lead to be accountable then the leader has little choice but to be accountable themselves.
If a leader holds themselves to account, taking ownership of their actions, decisions and associated outcomes, they influence others to do the same. If something doesn't go to plan and a leader quickly puts their hand up and owns it, others will tend to do so too.
A particularly powerful way for a leader to hold themselves to account is to find opportunities to be accountable to the people they lead.
For example, if a leader commits to doing something for someone in their team by a certain time and they do not do it by then, the leader should hold themselves to account by explaining, and probably apologising to, the team-member and committing to actions to get get it done and resolve any issues arising from their lateness. A savvy leader may even welcome such an opportunity.
Make It About Doing Things Better
Unsurprisingly, people tend to shy away from unpleasant experiences. When things go wrong and a person feels unduly criticised or diminished they tend not to want to risk that outcome again in the future - they tend to avoid responsibility and accountability.
If failure does not result in this disempowerment but is actually a pathway to learning and achievement, we grow to trust that we can embrace failure, and accountability.
Leaders set the tone for how failure and accountability are handled. A leader should ensure that being held to account is a psychologically safe, learning, and even empowering experience.
If accountability focuses on ideas and communication like, “What have we learnt here and what can we do differently next time?”, it is an empowering process that encourages future accountability.
Make Feedback a Key Accountability Tool
How to hold someone to account in the workplace without demotivating or disempowering them is an important leadership skill. Many leaders would say it is one of the more subtle arts of leadership (even more so with Gen Z).
Feedback is an often under-rated, under-used leadership skill that can be a highly effective accountability tool.
Drawing on psychology, there are two forms of feedback: reinforcing and redirective. To be effective, both rely on being timely and specific. Good feedback is provided soon after the action and is clear about, 1) what was done, and 2) its impact (positive or otherwise).
Done well, feedback then uses a coaching approach to reinforce something that was good (“Why do you think that went so well?”) or redirect something towards being better (“What do you think you could do differently next time?”).
And Consequences
Ultimately, accountability is about consequences. Being answerable and receiving feedback are consequences.
Beyond those, there are often consequences that if experienced by those accountable are highly effective at creating change and improvement. Leaders can use consequences as a component of accountability.
For example, if a target is not met one month and the next month there is a bigger target as a result, that consequence motivates those involved towards achieving monthly targets.
Consequences are most effective when they are significant but not excessive. Ideally, a leader can control the situation so that consequences motivate, not overwhelm.
Accountability is highly desirable but often it is talked about and surrounded by an air of unpleasant ness and even punishment. Instead, it should be positioned as part of learning. It should be nurtured and practiced.
Take a practical approach to accountability, learn how to set it up and make it tangible and effective, and it will embed itself in your culture with stunning impact.