This document discusses how to create a culture of accountability in the workplace. It notes that managers perceive a lack of employee accountability, while employees feel a lack of leadership accountability. Accountable cultures have improved performance, engagement, and satisfaction. To build accountability, managers must hold themselves accountable and ask how they can improve. They should also involve employees in goal setting, monitor progress, and recognize performance. The document emphasizes that leaders have the greatest influence on culture and must model accountability for others to follow. Overall, it provides strategies for holding all levels accountable to their responsibilities.

1. Taking Ownership
How to Create a Culture of
Accountability in the Workplace

2. Definition of accountability : the
quality or state of being accountable;
especially:an obligation or willingness to
accept responsibility or to account for
one's actions
Merriam Webster Dictionary

3. the WHY
• Managers increasingly report a
perceived lack of employee
accountability
• Employees feel there is a lack of
leadership accountability
• Coworkers report their colleagues
aren’t accountable to one another,
the work or the company

4. Impact of Accountability Void

5. Accountable Cultures Have…
• improved performance
• greater employee participation and involvement
• increased feelings of job proficiency
• a heightened commitment to the work at hand
• added creativity and innovation
• leading to higher employee morale and job
satisfaction, and deeper employee engagement

6. Culture
Manager
Employee

7. Accountable Managers

8. Leadership’s Role In Building Accountability
• Managers are responsible for accomplishing results through
others; often via relationship-building and their demonstration
of high trust and personal integrity
• Leaders have the greatest initial influence on company culture
• While held to the highest standard of accountability,
sometimes leaders abandon responsibilities in these areas;
the weight of leadership becomes an excuse

9. Accountable Managers Ask
Themselves
1. When did your performance expectations not
match the results?
2. What could you have you done differently to
attain your expectations?
3. Do you continue to enforce the missing
element(s) in your work?

10. “Great management can only be attained
by those who are able to manage
themselves before managing others...
Without accountability, the ability to
manage doesn’t exist. Great management
is holding yourself and those around you
accountable to deliver results.” - Greg
Llopis

11. Language of Accountability
• Mistakes? What mistakes?
• They made mistakes.
• Mistakes were made.
• We made mistakes.
• I regret the mistakes that were made.
• I made mistakes; we all did.
• We are addressing the mistakes and working to
ensure they don’t occur again.
• I own the mistakes and am actively working to ensure
they don’t occur again.
• I own our mistakes and am actively working to ensure
they don’t occur again

13. Accountability to Goals
• Involve employees goal setting
• Coach, but encourage independence
• CONSISTENTLY monitor progress towards goals
• Provide needed training and resources
• Establish a framework for independent problem
solving (GROW model)
• Incentivize and recognize positive
performance, both formally and informally

14. Accountability to
Self
• Did I work as hard as I could have?
• Did I set and maintain high standards
for myself?
• Did I spend enough time to do quality
work?
• Did I regulate my procrastination,
distractions, and temptations in order
to complete my work?
• Did I make good use of available
resources?
• Did I ask questions if I needed help?
• Did I review and re-review my work for
possible errors?
• Did I consider best practices for similar
work?
• Is my work something for which I am
proud – that I would proudly show to a
large, global audience?

15. Cultural Accountability

16. “Accountability means people can count on
one another to keep performance
commitments and communication
agreements.”
- Mark Samuel,
The Accountability Revolution

17. Strategies: Build Accountable Teams
• Model accountability, collaboration & trust within your
leadership team
• Establish and clarify expectations(ex. values, agreements)
• Clearly defined roles and accountabilities
• Hire accountability values
• Provide ongoing communication skills training
• Practice recognition and improvement

18. Summary of Key Points
Hold leaders to the highest standards of
accountability, and support them in ongoing
efforts to maintain that standard
Create a culture that makes accountability as
easy as breathing
Hire, reinforce and reward individual
employee accountability
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20. Thank you!