10 Factors in Creating Team Accountability – Make Your Job Easier

Creating team accountability makes your job as a manager as lot easier. Creating team member accountability reduces the time and energy you spend in decision making, solutioning and planning out the steps to implement solutions. There are many factors that go into creating accountability at work. The first of 10 factors in creating team accountability which we are covering are setting crystal clear expectations. If don’t know what is expected of you, how can a manager be holding employees accountable or how can you deliver against expectations.  The second factor for team accountability is show the team the how. Goals are great. If you don’t know or are not sure how to achieve your goals it is pretty hard to deliver. To ensure accountability at work, make sure each team member knows how to achieve the goals they have been set. Thirdly when creating a culture of accountability, creating visibility is essential. This is like creating a scoreboard for a sports game – everyone is so much clearer how each team is doing and what progress looks like. When driving team accountability, creating psychological safety is a must. Without safety, team members will find it a lot harder to take ownership and take the small risks involved with accountability. The fifth factor in creating team accountability is to delegate problems as well as tasks. Delegating problems and providing coaching and mentoring support in tandem allows you to develop a whole host of skills in your team that make you life a lot easier.  Sixth, when creating accountability, encourage team level planning. Using the team to problem solve, plan the execution of solutions and spot problems gives all team members a chance to improve relationships and learn about each other. Great to create team accountability.  Seventh, always follow up to improve employee accountability. Focus on helping and supporting first which also allows you to check up on progress ad spot issues and challenges that may need intervention.  Eighth, leading by example and holding yourself accountable is a great way for creating accountability in a team. Another key factor for developing ownership and accountability at work is to resolve conflicts within the team quickly. There will always be some level of conflict. How you manage conflict within the team is crucial.  Finally, when creating accountability in a team, celebrate successes together. Everyone likes compliments, praise for work well done and rewards for success. Taking ownership and accountability involves taking some risk. It seems sensible to increase the upside to encourage a bit of risk taking – and praise and celebrating success is one way to increase the upside.  Enjoy creating a more accountable team.