Ep. 73: How To Increase Accountability

In this podcast episode, DecisionWise Consultant, Stephen Mickelson, discusses the topic of how to increase accountability inside of your organization.

In the DecisionWise Employee Engagement survey, we ask the questions:

- Does my supervisor hold people accountable?

- Do the people I work with take accountability for results?

At it’s core, accountability is about owning outcomes. This could meaning owning mistakes, but people often overlook taking accountability for things done well.

When accountability is not happening in an organization, it creates a frustrating environment. Roles and responsibilities are unclear. Work remains unfinished. Some end up carrying the burden while others drift by. Managers need to address whether the issue is a problem of capabilities and provide additional training and clarification or if the problem is motivation and if so, have a conversation about whether the person is a good fit for the team.

One idea to increase accountability is to hold regular one-on-one conversations with your employees. “It’s a great opportunity to give redirecting feedback about where they are missing things, but also give re-enforcing feedback about what they are doing well,” says Stephen Mickelson. He continues, “Having those one-on-ones will help you build a relationship with your employees so that when you do need to have those strong conversations with them, they’ll be much more likely to listen to you and trust that you have their best interests and the interests of the organization in mind.”

Learn about these ideas and more on in this episode on accountability.