Accountability
CLEAR DIRECTION PAVES THE WAY FOR ACCOUNTABLE ACTIONS
How to hold your team accountable
Accountability in the workplace is something that tends to continually crop up at every team meeting and annual performance review. As a leader or management figure, you need your team to be accountable for their actions and their work. It is a hard one to achieve.
Being accountable is a trait that needs to be encouraged, inspired and demonstrated. If you expect your team to be accountable, ensure that the buck starts with you. Show your team that you are accountable for your management decisions and professional actions to encourage your staff to do the same. In an encouraging and supportive environment, staff will feel confident in their willimgness to come forward.
When setting your staff’s tasks, be sure to set clear and specific objectives so everyone understands their key responsibilities. More specifically, be sure to outline clearly:
What?
What task is at hand? What work or action needs to be conducted?
Why?
Ensure your team members understand why they are delegated a specific task and how these smaller tasks fit into the bigger company picture. How does it relate to the company’s goals?
Who?
Who is accountable for each task? If it is a team effort, ensure each member has set tasks as part of the whole. When tasks are specific and clear there can be no confusion as to where the responsibility lies. Plus your staff will thrive on being solely responsible for set tasks.
When?
Ensure to set clear deadlines for set tasks and ensure that they are realistic and achievable. It is good to challenge your staff without overreaching expectations and placing undue stress on staff and their performance levels.
Keep to these basics for a greater chance of performance success. Regardless of whether your team’s actions have a positive or negative outcome, ensure to acknowledge their willingness to be accountable. This will ensure their future commitment to ongoing accountability.
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