How to Create a Culture of Workplace Accountability
Accountability is a critical issue in almost every organization, and managers and their employees agree: A recent study shows that 82% of managers believe they have “limited to no” ability to hold others accountable, and 91% of employees say that “effectively holding others accountable” is one of their company’s most pressing leadership-development needs.
That’s because an organizational culture of holding people accountable has concrete benefits that positively affect all levels of the organization:
Employees are more engaged and satisfied with their work, increasing workplace morale and resulting in lower rates of employee turnover.
Employees and managers communicate more clearly, creating higher levels of trust between them.
Employees know exactly what’s expected of them, leading to more effective project execution.
Approach accountability with the end goal in mind
Generally speaking, we don’t hold people accountable for the sake of accountability—we hold people accountable because doing so helps the people involved reach a goal that they all care about. Therefore, holding people accountable must result in a positive and concrete outcome; in the context of management, this outcome is generally for the employee to meet their manager’s expectations.
Even then, it’s easy to approach accountability with a bias toward negativity, thinking of it primarily through the lens of addressing employees’ failures and shortcomings.
When accountability carries with it a negative connotation, it puts both managers and employees on edge. Employees dread their quarterly 1:1 with their manager because they’re anticipating a conversation where they get to hear about all the things they did wrong. And managers may even neglect to have these conversations because they’d rather avoid confrontation.
Therefore, it’s equally important to hold employees accountable for their successes as it is to hold them accountable for their shortcomings. One way to do that is to encourage managers to begin these conversations by asking questions that recognize employees for the hard work they’ve done. For example, What have you learned over the past three months? or What are you feeling most proud of right now? are great examples of questions that open the conversation in a much more positive light.
When employees see that their managers are genuinely interested in their employees’ success, the manager-employee relationship deepens and creates space for the more difficult conversations to happen.
Of course, a key part of accountability is addressing issues. Keeping in mind that the goal of accountability is to help employees improve, try coaching managers to ask deeper questions that help employees reach their objectives moving forward rather than shaming them for not meeting them in the past.
Here are two examples of what this can look like:
It seems you didn’t reach the target we discussed last quarter. Can you walk me through the progress you have made and discuss some of the obstacles you’ve experienced that I might not be seeing?
I’ve noticed that x metric declined over the past month. What new obstacles have you encountered that may have driven that?
Notice in these two examples several key elements of how the manager is phrasing these questions:
Instead of asking closed-ended, yes-or-no questions, they are asking questions that get the employee talking about their experience.
They are relying on specific and concrete data about whether the employee met the objective rather than making a judgment about the unmet goal (more on this in a moment).
They are acknowledging that they might not be seeing all of the issues and obstacles that the employee might be experiencing.
They are seeking to understand the situation rather than punish or shame the employee for their shortcomings.
Ultimately, these examples demonstrate that you are a manager who wants to empower the employee to meet their objectives and to improve their overall performance.
Address issues using data rather than assumptions
When addressing an issue with an employee, managers can easily slip into offering subjective interpretations of the behavior or problems they’re observing:
You seem really disengaged.
You don’t seem to care about the project.
You have a bad attitude.
You’re not paying close enough attention to detail.
These interpretations of an employee’s behavior are almost guaranteed to be met with defensiveness because they make an implicit (and sometimes explicit) judgment about the motivations behind the behavior.
For example, “you don’t seem to care about the project” is an emotionally charged judgment that makes an assumption about why an employee may not be meeting their objectives. Plenty of other issues may be at play, including any roadblocks the employee is experiencing that their manager isn’t aware of.
Further, even if the manager is correct in assuming that the employee doesn’t care about the project, in communicating that to the employee, the manager has closed the door to digging deeper into why the employee doesn’t care.
Being held accountable requires honesty—and even a level of vulnerability. Managers’ making interpretations and judgments can bring up intense emotions for employees, including guilt and shame. These emotions can quickly lead to defensiveness, shutting the conversation down and virtually guaranteeing that the manager won’t achieve a positive outcome.
Instead, coach managers to use specific data and concrete facts when addressing issues with employees:
You didn’t meet the objective we agreed on last month.
X metric declined over the past month.
The report you submitted contained several errors. For example, …
When managers raise issues using specific data, they open the door to further discussion, increasing the likelihood that you’ll get the outcome you want (e.g., improved performance). Further, doing so shifts the conversation from being about the employee’s shortcomings as a person to being about their shortcomings in their performance, thus making it easier for the employee to look more objectively at their own performance. Finally, it creates a culture of trust and honesty that strengthens relationships between managers and employees (and, as we’ve identified before, an employee’s relationship with their manager is a critical factor in that employee’s engagement and satisfaction).
Support your managers to better hold their employees accountable
If 82% of managers believe that they have “limited to no” ability to hold others accountable, then you must give your managers the support they need not only to hold their employees accountable, but also to help their employees improve their performance and consistently meet expectations.
Here are some resources to get started:
Coaching vs. Managing Employees: How a coaching-based approach to management can help managers confidently and effectively have difficult conversations with their employees that produce a positive outcome.
The ALT Framework: Our proven 3-part process for having strategic conversations that improve performance.
Improving Performance: How we help managers develop and implement the skills and tools to improve their team’s performance.
