Building Accountability in Organizations

Building Accountability in Organizations

So, let’s us just start with the textbook definition of the term accountability and break-down its nuance. Webster's Dictionary defines accountability as "an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions." And students from the Indian subcontinent or those that have been exposed to the myths and traditions of this land will probably immediately identify with the statement “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions." It is one the principal philosophical foundation of our epics, history (or what we call Itihasa in Sanskrit), and stories. The entire epic of Mahabharat is based on this one fundamental premise. So, without belaboring the point any further let us accept the importance of the topic.  However, even when the term is so ubiquitous and readily acceptable to our analytical mind, in the working world (and I use that term loosely to define any place which is based on principles of economic profit and loss), the word accountability is often charged with negative connotations, stress, and even fear?  To give examples – because corporate guys like me – love to through these data curveballs.

• 25% of remote managers say lack of accountability is one of the biggest hurdles their team needs to overcome.
• 93% of employees don’t understand what their team is trying to accomplish (let alone how they can contribute to help get there), and 85% of leaders aren’t defining clear enough expectations for employees in the first place.
• At the same time, a recent study by Gallup says that Employee engagement helps companies outperform their competitors and can result in 21% greater profitability.

So empirically, we see the importance, and then we see what the outcomes are when we don’t measure up, and yet we struggle to build that environment. And one of the reasons I feel it is so and reasons why participants of the corporate game shun it is because we are accustomed to using the term to describe disciplinary measures or to assign blame when something has gone wrong. Generally, people tend to use the term responsibility and accountability interchangeably. But that is wrong. The difference between responsibility and accountability is that responsibility defines “action” and accountability defines “ownership of the outcome”. And it is this perception that as managers and leaders we need to change.  There is a book called Winning with Accountability, in which Henry Evans the author gives a very everyday language definition - “Clear commitments that — in the eyes of others — have been kept.” Here, the phrase “in the eyes of others” is key.

So, in my experience thus far, I have advised organizations that accountability is not just about making and keeping commitments — it is also about transparency. When we foster a culture of accountability, our employees pivot on the end result and then work together to find solutions to problems. They deliver results and hold each other responsible for their actions. Creating that kind of company culture of accountability is often the secret of high-performing teams because it fosters better work relationships, eliminates surprises, and improves overall job happiness.