Creating a culture of responsibility

When I talk to coaching clients about their challenges and stresses, the issue of team members not stepping up to take responsibility is a common source of complaint. They are frustrated that delegation often leads to greater burden on them. They resent having to do more themselves to avoid mistakes, errors or delay. How can leaders truly empower their team members to step-up to a higher standard of responsibility?   

Accountability -v- responsibility

First, we need to be clear in our minds on the difference between accountability and responsibility.

Responsibility is our ability to perform or complete assigned tasks and respond to situations and events as they arise. It is, by its nature, task focused. In the workplace, responsibility is often associated with blame, fault, or guilt which could be why team members are often resistant to taking responsibility.

Accountability, on the other hand, is the recognition and acknowledgment of our responsibilities; being aware of, and answerable for, the outcomes of our actions, decisions, and mistakes. In the workplace, accountability is literally the ability or obligation to assess and report on events, tasks, and experiences. It is how a leader responds and takes ownership of the outcomes of a task.

In short, the difference between accountability and responsibility is that we are responsible for things and accountable to people. Both are personal, mature, and conscious choices that come from within. But they cannot exist in a culture of protective control.

Building a culture of proactivity

As leaders, we often see accountability as something we are compelled to assume when something goes wrong, and we have failed to take adequate steps to prevent it happening. So, when we delegate responsibility to our team members, our focus is on narrowing the scope for them making errors, mistakes or poor judgement calls. We choose not to relinquish control; we direct how things should be done and we micromanage delivery. In short, we retain responsibility out of fear of failure or reputational damage and extinguish hope that our people can step up and take higher responsibility.

In doing so we miss a valuable opportunity. Rather than adopt a protective stance, we must build a culture of proactivity that encourages leaders and team members to assume control over their own outcomes.

There are steps we can take to encourage proactive accountability and responsibility:

Not brandishing people accountable

Statements like ‘This one’s on you!’ and ‘I told you so!’ do not engender learning or growth; they shame people and encourage them to fear mistakes. Team members learn to accept accountability for themselves when they are given responsibility and experience consequences first hand in an environment of support and encouragement. There is no need to punish a team member for making a mistake; it is sufficient to have a discussion on the impact and consequences of the mistake and the learning that comes from that.

Being a responsible role model for accountability

We must be the example for behaviours that we want to see in our team members. When we show them what it looks like to be responsible and accountable, they feel empowered to follow suit. Think, for a moment, about how you delegate tasks and projects. Do you take time to explain the bigger picture and join the dots between successful delivery and achieving personal purpose and goals? Similarly, there are bounteous opportunities in day-to-day work to be creative, innovative, and experimental. Role model this to team members to encourage them to use skills of discretion, judgement, and mitigating risk. We cannot expect our team to step up to growth, unless we are stepping up too.

Promoting a culture of accountability

Create transparency regarding what accountability and responsibility look like in action. De-mystify standards and expectations by explaining how a team member should and should not act and the parameters of authority and decision-making. Develop, with your team’s input, a team promise or protocol that documents the behaviours that are consistent with expected standards. Develop team policies, procedures and processes that document the ‘how’ and ‘why’, so team members know what choices to make when the path forward is uncertain.

Reporting increases accountability and responsibility

Lifting the lid on what is happening as opposed to what people are saying is happening is a sure-footed path to greater accountability and responsibility. When we regularly report on and celebrate milestone achievements, small wins, and progress in the face of adversity, team members are motivated to do more. Receiving praise and gratitude for efforts and being given the opportunity to unite with colleagues in success consolidates learning. It connects the dots for team members between the effort and the benefits from stretching to higher levels of responsibility and challenging ourselves beyond expectations.

Providing encouragement and support

Growth cannot happen in a vacuum, and we have a heightening responsibility to support when we want our team members to be proactively accountable. This means having regular coaching sessions to ask how team members are doing, exploring new challenges and helping them to think through the problems and hurdles they face. These sessions give us the opportunity to provide additional support if course correction is required and to give praise and encouragement to motivate team members to keep stretching.

When we create a culture of proactive accountability and responsibility, we uplift our team members in stretching to reach their highest potential.

If you want to Entrust others to fulfil their potential, reach out to find out more about C-Success Coaching at https://www.kiranscarr.com/coaching.