5 Simple Ways to Improve Accountability in Your Team

Accountability is important for any team. Without accountability, people won’t take ownership to make sure the work is done right. Improving accountability in your team is an important step to fix this situation.

One mistake leaders make is that they feel they need to go it alone and be the only accountable person in the team. This isn’t always true. It takes a team effort to achieve results.

Yes, you are accountable for the overall success of the team. But that doesn’t mean your team members can’t be accountable for smaller parts of the whole puzzle.

Signs You Need to Improve Accountability in Your Team

There are a few signs that show you could benefit from improving accountability in your team.

1. Improve Accountability When You Don’t Know All the Details

If you are a leader who doesn’t know the technical details of your team’s work, that isn’t always a problem. Some of the best leaders can remove themselves from the details and be more strategic.

However, when you don’t know the technical details of the work, you may need to improve accountability by delegating to somebody else to take charge.

Give them the accountability to lead the technical parts, because they are the best person to understand it. You just need to make sure you can maintain the right oversight and keep updated on progress.

Learn More: Thoughtful Leader Podcast #66: How to Feel In Control Without Being a Controlling Boss.

2. Improve Accountability When Decisions Are Taking Too Long

Sometimes there will be too many opinions in your team. Before you know it, you will need to step in as discussions about the best approach take too long.

Decisions might reach deadlock when team members can’t agree and they all have the same level of authority. This means that nobody can make a call and you may need to step in to fix it.

However, it can be time consuming for you to be involved in every decision and detail in the team. Instead, try delegating accountability for the decision to somebody else who can make the call better than you can.

3. Improve Accountability When Your Team is Underperforming

Accountability gives people a greater sense of ownership over their work. You can improve ownership by delegating responsibility for functions within your team for team members to lead.

When someone feels greater responsibility, they often feel personal pride, making them care more about the quality of their work.

You can see this through improved motivation, enthusiasm and greater commitment to the team.

How to Improve Accountability in Your Team

I like to think of accountability this way:

When everybody is accountable, nobody is accountable. 

If you fail to delegate accountability for a task to one person, nobody has ownership.

When “we are all accountable”, nobody owns the task. This is why it’s important to be specific. What you don’t want is a situation where team members say “I thought (someone else) was doing it!”

1. Make Sure You Choose Just One Person

“Katy, you are accountable for making sure the letters go out on time.”

This tells Katy that she is the one in charge of this task. If things go wrong, Katy knows she needs to fix it. Katy knows if she doesn’t do it, nobody else is going to.

2. Set Clear Expectations

“Bob, I need you to make sure that the report has no spelling mistakes, blurred pictures or incorrect fonts”.

It pays to be specific about what you need people to do. The more specific you can be, the less chance there is that your team will have a misunderstanding.

The clearer your expectations are, the less likely that there will be confusion about what you need.

3. Make Sure You Communicate Accountability

If you make Katy accountable for sending the letters on time, make sure you tell everybody else in the team.

Otherwise, when Katy starts to ask people about the letters, people will think “who made Katy the boss?”

The worst thing you can do is tell Katy she’s accountable for the letters, but forget to tell anybody else. Katy will be running around thinking he has authority for this, but nobody else will.

This will make Katy’s job harder, and failing to communicate accountability is a very common mistake that leaders make.

4. Make It Formal

If you want to make the extra accountability a permanent arrangement, make sure you include it in your team development plans if you have them. In other words, make it more formal.

Formalising accountability improves ownership, and also allows you to recognise team members for the additional responsibility. It also means they can add the role to their CV for future positions.

This can motivate team members, because they feel they are developing their skills and taking on more responsibility.

5. Follow Up and Hold People To Their Word

If you introduce accountability into a team that isn’t used to it, it will take time. That’s why it’s important to follow up on the tasks that people are accountable for.

Explain clearly to your team members that when they commit to completing the task, they are accountable. Sometimes you need to make people a little uncomfortable in your team so that they know you’re serious.

You don’t want to become a tyrant, but it needs to be made clear that accountability means something.

Accountability is critical for a successful team. Teams will sometimes avoid it, because it can make them feel exposed. However, once accountability is clear, formal and widely communicated, it will improve the way your team works.

Remember, if everyone is accountable, nobody is accountable.

Have you had issues with accountability in your team? What did you do and what happened? Share your story with the other Thoughtful Leaders in the comments below!