Accountability comes naturally for some people. Some people were raised with strong values that translated into impressive work ethics while others learned to take ownership of their roles by being molded by great leaders.
As a business leader, you may not always be so fortunate to have a team where each has a high level of accountability. However, through patience, persistence, and passion, leaders can promote accountability.
Establishing Expectations
Promoting a culture centered on accountability needs to start from the top. A management coach would say that as leaders, this means taking ownership of the fact that the reason you have a team who is detached or lacks unity is that there is a deficit in leadership.
How you manage, maintain, and motivate your team is crucial to developing their drive for success. Without a leader who is clear about their expectations, employees who have a tendency to underperform will continue doing so due to the absence of leadership. If you continue to tolerate this behavior and do not demand that people be accountable for their actions, the employee will exhibit the same lack of urgency as you do.
To hold others accountable, you must also be accountable for yourself as a leader whose role it is to set measurable goals and drive individual accountability.
Purpose and Persistence
A winning characteristic that high-performing organizations share is a sense of unity. Company unity is achieved when the team continuously communicates with their people how valuable they are and rewarding those who deserve it consistently. Through this, the company forms a mutual mission, understanding, and vision.
When a member of the team feels valued, they naturally commit to their role with a sense of purpose. And when leaders are persistent with underperformers through constant coaching and individualized training, they do recognize their place and purpose in the overall outcome.
Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk
A leader who cannot be the model for accountability for their team members cannot demand it of their people.
Take ownership by taking the initiative; do what you said you would get done. If other team members’ work is dependent on your results and you display an attitude that does not want to let them down, it reinforces their own level of commitment. Trust is formed when team members show respect to one another and value each other’s time and efforts.
Ultimately, your organization’s best chance at success is hiring people who share your values. Accountability is improved in the organization when you seek to hire for skill as much as character. While there is hope for underperformers through leadership and training, developing a skill is much easier than molding character particularly one that doesn’t exhibit proper work ethics or values.
If you found value in this blog and if you have time, let’s jump on a call to brainstorm some strategic leadership concepts you may be unfamiliar with…I think you might be pleasantly surprised!
Then, without obligation, we can consider if working together would be beneficial. If that sounds good, you can use this link to schedule a time convenient to you for us to chat: https://meetme.so/GregNichvalodoff
I look forward to furthering our connection and learning more about you and your business.
