Accountability was 1 of the 10 items mentioned in the previous post titled Business Execution – 10 Things Make You More Effective.  But why is accountability important to business execution?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, accountability is defined as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”

The post focuses on hold yourself accountable first and then others.  Notice it says hold yourself accountable first!  Why do it in this order?

Why Accountability if Critical

As a business owner you lead your company which means you make the decisions and live with the results.  Leadership 101 tells you “walk the walk” don’t just “talk the talk.”  So, you need to show employees your willingness to do what you ask of them and rewarding them as you reward yourself.

But, how does this relate to accountability?Accountability Looking in the Mirror

Easy.  Ask yourself, “Am I doing everything that I’m asking my team to do or I am  holding myself to another standard?:  This uncovers a lot as to whether your employees respect you or not.  Thus, just like a kid rebels against his/her parents, your employees will resist against you.

Do You Use Others to Avoid Accountability?

Next, I see business owners use employees actions as an excuse for why their business isn’t moving forward.  Bad excuse!  I usually ask them, “You’re in charge right, so why haven’t you let them go or taken the necessary action to put them on the right path?”  If you are the leader then you need to LEAD!

Now, this isn’t always the problem.  Often the owner lacks the “know how” to create accountability across every aspect of the business.

This is a simple fix. However, it may not be an easy one.

A Process to Build Accountability

I discuss accountability as a topic in many different posts.  It was introduced nicely in the post 4 Characteristics of High Performance Organizations which outline the process outlined below. Using it creates accountability and allows your team to operating at a much higher level.

The idea is similar to what was outlined in the Business Execution – 10 Things Make You More Effective.

  1. Communicate the direction which the organization is heading.
  2. Provide clear parameters within which they are authorized to operate.
  3. Delegate their objectives and assignments with quality expectations.
  4. Evaluate objectives and assignments against the quality standards.
  5. Provide feedback on the assignment with positive or constructive input.

Is this currently happening in your organization?  If not, why not?

The why might be that you’ve not embraced the first part of accountability – hold yourself accountable first.

If you don’t know how, it’s understandable, but most people don’t know how to create accountability.  You just need to learn and apply the necessary skills which is the purpose of the BGS Business Accelerator Masterclass and provides a framework with built-in accountability.

If you DO know how to create accountability, the more serious problem may be that you haven’t held yourself accountable.  A different problem all together, however business coaching can help here too.  Just contact us and we can get you on the right path.

 

So, where is your organization with regard to accountability?  Does it exist?  If it does not, how are you currently moving toward creating it? Without solid methods for accountability you will continue to struggle with business execution within your company.

Business Growth Simplified offers a Business Accelerator Masterclass to help with implementing accountability. Click the icon to find out more about this powerful program to see if it could help you.