Accountability

An obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to

account for one's actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ues5enOnldw

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Having worked with many teams one topic that is always difficult to
broach is accountability.

Many people don't understand what accountability is, why it's

important, or where it starts.

Yes they understand accountability is important, but don't know how

to create a culture of accountability, they just hope it will happen.
Here are seven truths about accountability, which will help you better
understands and increase accountability levels in your organization.

Accountability doesn't happen just by chance. It has to be

implemented
Accountability
starts with you

Leadership defines culture, and if you want to create a culture of

accountability, then it starts with you. You need to model the behaviors that
you want to see in your organization. If you want people to take ownership,
then you have to be seen to take ownership, when you make commitments
you have to be seen to meet those commitments. If you don't, then why
should anyone else be interested in doing so. You have to walk the talk if you
want others to follow you don't the accountability path.
As the leader you are accountable. You're accountable for any
failures, as well as any successes that your organization may
have. Accountability comes as part of the job description,
which is why, if you try to duck it, it will have a negative impact
on the levels of accountability that already exist.
Accountability is
not a one-time, Those people who don't want to be accountable,
or held accountable, are always looking for any
sometime thing; opportunities to get out of it any slips, or gaps in
your accountability will give them the out they
it's an all-time need, to only be accountable when they see fit.
You need to be seen to be as being accountable
thing. at all times.
Accountabili
ty applies to
one and all
When you're looking to hold people accountable you cannot
play favorites; you cannot let it slides with some people.
Accountability has to be consistently requested of everyone, all
the time. If you chose to let one person ignore their
accountabilities then it opens the door for others to be
selectively accountable too.
 You cannot delegate accountability, accountability is
something that has to be accepted for that person to feel
accountable and to have them take ownership. The best way
Accountability to get people to accept accountability is to set them up to be
successful. No one is going to take ownership and show
cannot be accountability for something that they know, or believe is
going to fail.
delegated If you want people to accept accountability, ask them if they
have everything they need to be successful, when they say
yes they have taken a big step towards accepting
accountability. If they say no then you need to make sure
you provide whatever is missing because without it they will
never accept accountability
 When people don't take accountability and things, start
to go awry, as they don't feel ownership they go into
spectator mode and watch as things fail. If they
thought it would fail from the outset it's even worse;
they go into I told you so mode, which nearly always
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Acc
o Whereas when people take ownership if things start to
diff untab
e i
suc rence lity is go wrong, then they step into solution mode. They
cess b th
and etween e start to try and figure out what's going wrong and try
fail and fix it. Teams that are successful are full of people
ure
that go into solution mode. They are full of people who
not only care but take care.
In my experience, accountability is the single biggest
differentiator between successful and unsuccessful
teams.
 You can't just tell people they're accountable, and then leave them
to it. Yes, it may work for some, but not for all. You need to set up
review sessions; you have to check in and see how people are
doing.
This serves three purposes:

You have to hold •It lets them know that they will be held accountable for the
people activities.
Accountable •It gives you an opportunity to provide support in case things start
to go awry,
•It offers you the opportunity to offer praise and encouragement to
move people further if things are going well.
Accountability is something that has to be worked at.
There has to be a clear and consistent strategy on how
it's going to be implemented and validated.
It starts with you, and it has to apply at all times and to
everyone.
When you can do that it will help you create a culture of
accountability where the organization will start to hold
itself and others accountable which will have a massive
impact on performance and results.