Not only is individual career trajectory impacted by every individual’s accountability, but the businesses that they contribute to are just as impacted by their accountability. This core value in particular plays a huge role in the likelihood of both an aspiring professional and the businesses that they make up retaining any level of success. Few owners or managers are actively looking to recruit employees that are non-motivated or have a lack of sense of accountability as those are the types of employees that negatively contribute to any business. Throughout this post, the ways in which accountability contributes to a businesses’ likelihood to succeed and how a business can internally promote this value.
Though every employee brought onto a business is expected to have a sense of accountability, the ability to hold employees accountable should be a skill in every managers’ repertoire. While it may seem unnecessary, there are moments of vulnerability that managers need to help their employees through. Unfortunately, most research points to the fact that nearly 80% of managers are failing to hold their staff accountable. These same employees reporting this believe that they need to be taken care of more effectively than they currently are.
The idea is that accountability is a combination of an organizational-wide culture and a value instilled from the members of the highest level of a company down to every other level of the organization. Meaning leaders of any organization are doing their best to demonstrate their accountability day in and day out. This also means that these leaders must be capable of admitting to their own mistakes and working toward solving the downfalls within the organization. This is accomplished through open communication regarding the mistakes and what was learned while solving them so that every level of an organization can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
While it’s true that every executive and high level employee of an organization are a huge inspiration to the rest of the organization, these employees must take it upon themselves to bring themselves to an accountability standard. This means from the moment they’re brought on to work for their organization, they should be met by clear goals of their organization and its’ expectations of its’ employees. When employees learn these goals quickly, they’re more capable of adapting and fulfill their responsibilities accordingly. In some instances, it may require an overarching understanding of how their roles are incorporated in the overall success of their organization in order to see the best results.
An organization hoping to establish a culture of accountability must be prepared to receiving feedback and criticism from employees at all levels of their organization. This means conversations regarding the matter should never be one sided and every level of organization should be involved so that employees can be encouraged to speak up regarding their concerns or questions. This level of communication is what allows employees and their companies the ability to strengthen their teams and their culture simultaneously. To learn more about this value and how it relates to professionalism and any employee’s time in the office, take a minute to check out the infographic paired alongside this post. Courtesy of Minute7.
