011 | 6 ways to foster a culture of accountability with your team

Women of Faith in Leadership - Kingdom Leadership, Workplace Organisational culture, Christian women

What does accountability look like in your workplace?

Even if you trust your team and trust them to work autonomously, there should be some form of check-in, provide feedback or update chat/meeting so that your team know, you care.

Accountability does not mean micro-managing your team, constantly checking up on them or even having them constantly keep you updated or give you feedback.

1. Integrity
Integrity is the foundation of good leadership. Integrity is a cornerstone of effective leadership because it builds trust, respect and confidence among employees. YOU are committed to doing the right thing, even when it's not easy or popular.
As leaders, we’re constantly under the microscope, whether that is
a. Because our team looks up to us and want to follow our lead, they trust us and want to learn from us or
b. There is a toxic workplace culture and you are being chastised by your team for every possible little mistake that you make, they love pointing it out every time you try and speak to them about their performance, they simply throw your performance back in your face
Integrity is doing the right thing, even if somebody isn’t looking

2. Clear expectations
Listen to a more details version of this discussion in episode 8 & 9 where I discussed setting clear expectations with your team.

The vision that I have about setting clear expectations is similar to the shark net and the flags that have been put in place to keep swimmers safe at the beach. Should they choose to go out of bounds, they will be in danger.

Does your team know the consequences if they decide to go out of bounds at work? What will the domino effect be for the organisation, the environment and even their job prospects?

3. Professional goals
Does every person in your organisation have a goal that they are currently working towards achieving? A goal that has nothing to do with your projects, strategic plans, long-term goals etc.

But rather a goal that develops them, personally, and encourages them to be a better version of themselves and do their job role even better?

4. Relationship

To cultivate a culture of accountability, relationships and trust will be key. How do we build relationships with our team and start trusting them to do their jobs.

How do we move from micromanaging them to giving them autonomy and trusting them?

Build 1:1 relationships with each team member, if you have a very large team, and you don’t have the time to meet with each of them, just remember that they want to be seen and heard by you, they want to know that you know that they exist.

Find ways to connect with them, whether that be in department meetings, greeting them by their first name (which creates a sense of belonging because your first name is uniquely you, it is significant to you and if someone cares enough to know your name, it means something)

5. Follow-through

What does follow-through look like? How will you physically (as per a policy/procedure) keep your team accountable if they don’t come up the mass if they fail to produce?

There are practical steps you need to take for follow-through and if you are proactive in prepping for this, you are going to be reactive and act in the wrong way.

Know what that will look like, not only from a black-and-white legal document point of view but from a practical way. Visualise yourself talking to someone who is under-performing. Prepare what you will say if they get defensive, or overly emotional, or angry.

You must be prepared at all costs.

This counts for the positive as well. How will you follow through if they do hit their targets, achieve a goal etc. What will that celebration look like?

Your team will soon realise that they are in charge of their results, and no matter which way it goes, you will be there to follow through.

6. Support

Let your team know what support is available for them, but also, identify who in your team needs what type of specific support and reach out to each of your team members individually to ask if they need anything. In a group, they’ll just smile and wave, but they’re more likely to open up if you have them 1:1

Stay tuned for the next episode coming to you on Wednesday.

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