As HR and business leaders, you are sure to know that culture is created from the top down. Accountable employees begin with accountable leaders. How then can you best hold employees accountable for their performance and behavior issues while modeling accountability yourself?
What does accountability look like in the workplace?
Accountability in its simplest form means “making and meeting commitments.” This means you hold yourself and others to a fundamental promise that you’ll do your best and expect the same in return.
It means enabling people to do more as a team than they can individually, because you know that others can be counted on to deliver.
What does lack of employee accountability create in the workplace?
- Staff frustration
- Missed deadlines
- Schedule padding to compensate for expected shortfalls
- Inefficiency: A circle-the-wagons mentality, meaning, if you can’t count on others, then you’ll do it myself.
While performance issues are something that your employee needs to take ownership of, as a leader, you can:
- Approach these conversations in the spirit of accountability by taking time to fully understand the situation.
- Be present in conversation and supportive by creating a plan for success that makes sense for them.
It may not always feel like you have time to sit with each employee to discuss their issues and address each individually. But, rest assured that taking the five to thirty minutes to properly address performance and behavior issues will save hours of time and potentially thousands of dollars down the line.
“ Preparing for and using these interactions wisely is the key to ensuring that employees are set up for success and given an opportunity to engage and feel accountable for their actions, while also giving you another opportunity to model accountability as a leader.” Tom Engel
It may not always feel like you have time to sit with each employee to discuss their issues and address each individually. But, rest assured that taking the five to thirty minutes to properly address performance and behavior issues will save hours of time and potentially thousands of dollars down the line.
“ Preparing for and using these interactions wisely is the key to ensuring that employees are set up for success and given an opportunity to engage and feel accountable for their actions, while also giving you another opportunity to model accountability as a leader.” Tom Engel
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