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Tips for Creating a Culture of Accountability
26 June 2024
Most employee issues - and crazy lawsuits and labor audits - are ultimately due to a lack of accountability. Here's how to fix this in your organization.
At The Big Picture Consulting we define accountability as: The act of communicating a discrepancy between an individual’s actions and previously stated expectations. Or more simply:
- Tell employees what you expect
- Hold them to it
Both of these elements are critical.
You can't hold employees accountable if you never set the expectation. As an analogy, few of us would blame a husband for forgetting to celebrate a date his wife never mentioned was important ("Oh honey, you forgot it's the 2000-day anniversary of the first time we went to a movie together? How could you!?!"). Yet, somehow we expect our employees to read our minds and know what we want because it's just common sense. If you don't make your expectations clear, you can't assume anyone will follow them.
To hold employees accountable you also need to reenforce these expectations when they're not met. Back to our analogy: if the wife fumes silently without telling her husband she's heartbroken over the missed "movie date anniversary," and if she never prompts him to plan for it in the future, he's not to blame when he inevitably misses their 3000-day anniversary. When you allow employees to mess up and don't give them any consequences or reminders, they'll never change their ways.
So that's accountability in a nutshell. What are the steps to holding people accountable?
- Identify an issue. You may notice something yourself, or someone might bring it to your attention.
- Investigate the cause. Just because someone claims there's a problem doesn't mean there is. Gather data, conduct interviews, and figure out what actually happened and why.
- Determine the course of action. Should an employee be disciplined, or do they just need more training? Do you instead need to adjust your expectations?
- Execute. Don't just talk about what to do; actually do it.
Let's dive a little deeper into one last thing: what if your expectations are unreasonable? In our analogy, should the husband be required to celebrate the 2000-day anniversary of each and every small event, just because his wife wants him to? While some people may think the prize is worth the effort, others may use this as an excuse to give up altogether. If your company is struggling with employee retention despite clearly communicating expectations and appropriately holding employees accountable, you might check whether your expectations aren't out of line. Expecting employees to arrive on time to a company meeting? Reasonable. Expecting the same of an employee who's out on bereavement leave? Probably not reasonable. Make sure you're setting your employees up for success as you all drive your business forward.
Have more questions about expectations and accountability? We're here to help.
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