Promoting a sense of accountability in the workplace is an effective way to boost productivity and get the best from your team. When workers feel responsible for their actions, they’re more likely to perform their tasks efficiently. You can also foster a stronger sense of commitment and even increase employee satisfaction when you value accountability in your workplace. So, do your workers miss deadlines too often or submit poorly executed tasks? If yes, here are some ways to improve accountability in the workplace.
1. Set clear expectations with performance metrics and document them
An important step in improving team accountability is ensuring everyone knows what you expect from them individually and collectively. Unfortunately, only a few employees have performance metrics to hold workers by. Set clear expectations and document them to ensure no one forgets what’s required of them or tries to shift responsibilities. The expectations should be so clear that if anyone approaches any member of your team, they should be able to enumerate what is expected of them. These should cover what the team is trying to achieve, individual member responsibilities towards achieving team goals, and individual KPIs.
2. Provide worker identification
Worker identification is another proven way to improve accountability in the workplace, usually through ID badges and electronic systems. When an employee knows they’re easily identifiable, that creates a sense of individual responsibility, especially in a workplace with a large staff. ID badges, for example, are an excellent way to keep tabs on your workers. You can monitor their check-in and check-out times, which can prevent them from slacking off. However, it’s important to know what info to put both on the front part and back of an ID card beyond the worker’s photo.
3. Make accountability one of your company’s core values
A recruit should know from the moment they join your team that accountability is central to your working values or company culture. This will be ingrained in their minds from the start, shaping their approach towards work. You can write down accountability as a core value and inform each recruit that you will hold them to it, so keep this in mind. Your expectations for their behaviour will be clear from day one, and they’ll know you’re serious about it.
4. Ensure there are consequences and enforce them
If a worker fails to get something done right, and nothing happens, you may send the wrong information to the rest of your team. Other workers may start wondering if it’s worth meeting expectations in the first place when failing to meet them attracts no consequences. Of course, this doesn't mean you should introduce scare tactics at work, as that isn’t the goal. It’s about letting workers know there are consequences for their actions or inactions.
However, since you don’t want your team to fear making mistakes, adopt an “embrace-mistakes” mantra and encourage your workers to learn from their errors. Also, it’s best to practise what you preach. Even better, reward wins and excellence to encourage others.
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