It’s 2012 and the most important word in business today is Accountability. It means your employees are liable for their own actions. Lack of accountability on your employees part directly affects other team members and definitely has an impact on your business.
Hopefully by now you have given your employees an annual check up or performance review. No doubt you will have made sure they know exactly what they are going to be held accountable for this year.
What’s that? Oh, you haven’t actually told them what they will be held accountable for. Well, I see this as a problem, Mr. CEO or Ms. Business Owner. The problem is this, if your people don’t know what’s expected of them AND how they are going to be measured then how do YOU know if they are helping your company be profitable?
When you create an accountable organization then you eliminate current or future problems that may arise in your workplace. You don’t want poor performance to go unchecked. If managers don’t correct performance issues quickly then you have the potential for your good employees to walk out the door.
Letting all employees know what the organization goals are is a good place to start. Once individuals can see how their department goals make up the larger organization goals people will be more willing to play their part being more accountable so the company can be profitable.
Having an accountable workplace isn’t easy but these additional tips should help.
- Personal accountability is important but holding others accountable is equally important
- Management accountability affects the organization. Make sure your team is working together on all fronts. It will make holding individuals accountable a lot easier.
- Training if you need it, it may help the concept sink in faster for some people.
Bob Woodward said it best, “It was accountability that Nixon feared” And we all know what happened to Nixon.