Here is a brief excerpt from an article co-authored by Adrian Gostick and Chester Felton in which they share their thought s about one of management’s greatest challenges: Instilling a sense of personal accountability within those who comprise a workforce. To read the complete article and check other resources, please click here.
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When we are asked to name one thing that can safeguard a team’s long-term performance, the answer is: become more accountable. To grow a great culture, you need to cultivate a place where people have to do more than show up and fog a mirror; they have to fulfill promises — not only collectively but individually.
A lack of accountability is one of the most corrosive elements of poor work cultures. It shows up in many ways: people failing to take responsibility, missed deadlines, errors in judgment, misunderstandings, over-promising, personal failures, petty disagreements, unfair expectations, and a marshmallow mound of “should have’s.”
But accountability is widely misunderstood as being all about the punitive. To be “held accountable” generally implies that a punishment is coming. How often do employees get the message that the boss wants to see them and feel a tightening in their stomachs—Yeah, just give me a minute while I go throw up.
An employee in the hospitality industry made the point to us so simply that we will never forget it: “When I make a mistake,” she said, “I’m recognized one hundred percent of the time; when I do something great, I’m not recognized ninety-nine percent of the time.” What would happen to her workplace if that 1 percent positive accountability could be turned into 2, 5, 10, or 20 percent?
Heavy-handed leadership such as this is not true accountability; it’s criticizing them. Accountability at its highest level is about assigning responsibility with realistic goals, evaluating progress and making positive course corrections at milestones, removing obstacles, and then closing the loop by celebrating successes or honestly and openly evaluating misses.
Some managers back off on individual accountability because they are somehow afraid of the confrontational side of the issue. But the truth is, a lack of accountability actually frustrates employees just as much as it does you. Employees really do want to do a good job, and holding them accountable is an important way we help them do just that. When accountability is instituted in positive ways, it helps people feel the satisfaction of achieving a goal and performing up to (or even surpassing) expectations. But it also allows them to clearly understand when they’re falling short and where they need to improve. Accountability helps people grow.
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Internationally recognized workplace experts Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton are partners in the consulting firm The Culture Works. Adrian is the author of several best-selling books on corporate culture, including New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers The Carrot Principle and All In. His research has been called a “must read for modern-day managers” by Larry King of CNN, “fascinating,” by Fortune magazine and “admirable and startling” by the Wall Street Journal. As a leadership expert, he has appeared on numerous television programs including NBC’s Today Show and has been quoted in dozens of business publications and magazines.
Chet has been called the “apostle of appreciation” by the Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest newspaper, and “creative and refreshing” by the New York Times. The co-author of All In, The Carrot Principle and The Orange Revolution, his books have sold more than a million copies worldwide. Chester has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company magazine, and New York Times, and he appears in a weekly segment on CBS News Radio.