By Kellie Auld, CHRP

A lot has been written about accountability and how we can make others accountable – in particular our leaders (supervisors and managers) – in the workplace.

What exactly is accountability? 

When I think of accountability, my definition would probably be:  the responsibility an individual feels toward someone or something, such as an activity or task assignment.  It means doing what you say you will do – being responsible to align your words with your actions.

At the end of the day, if an individual doesn’t believe he or she is accountable to anyone or anything – I don’t think there is much an employer can do about that.  Accountability is an ‘individual’s own responsibility to others’. 

My question (if indeed you have leaders or employees that are not being appropriately accountable) is: “Have we been really clear about what our expectations are when it comes to holding another person accountable or responsible for his or her actions”?

I truly believe that the best we can do to create accountability at the worksite is to practice what we preach.  We need to lead by example.  And…we must communicate clearly what our expectations are. 

Identify:

• What an individual can do without ‘permission’ and what requires approval prior to taking action?
• What level of autonomy are you able to give; such as, decision-making opportunities?
• What requires approval or at least review by the CEO/Manager/Director?

If someone has made an error in judgement and higher levels of authority are upset because he or she ‘should have known’ that approval was required before the poor decision was made, are you sure there isn’t some responsibility to be borne by management in this case?

This is what I mean when I say we should lead by example – the leaders should step up to the plate if the proper information wasn’t given and as a result, mistakes were made. Accountability is a notch above responsibility because of the liability attached.  Being open, honest and taking ownership of our decisions – right or wrong – will create a more trusting environment.

As much as we may think common sense should dictate, my sense of what makes sense compared to yours, may differ greatly.

I would like to think that the majority of us would consider ourselves accountable – but to what degree depends largely on the examples we see around us.

So, no; I don’t believe I can ‘make’ anyone accountable – but I can certainly make myself accountable and communicate clearly what I want from you in terms of your duties and responsibilities – I can lead by example and if I demonstrate the ability to accept and own up to the mistakes I make (let’s face it – everyone makes mistakes) then I think others in my environment are more likely to do the same.  

Kellie Auld, the owner of Simply Communicating is an experienced Human Resources professional with over 25 years of business experience including Human Resources as well as Training and Facilitation. She is a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) and she also holds Certificate in Human Resources Management (CHRM); Provincial Instructor’s Diploma (PID); and a Continuing Adult Education Certificate (CACE) and she is a certified Workplace Investigator.