Accountability in Four Easy Steps

Source: Partner Insights

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Marty Stanley, president of Dynamic Dialog, Inc.

Accountability hasn’t been considered the “next big idea” because it’s not “flashy.” There are no “bragging rights” about implementing an accountability process. After all, accountability means people would need to change, rather than a system or process that needs to change. And who wants to be accountable if it means having to personally change?

On the other hand we’ve seen what happens when there’s no accountability for leading people or processes: The dot-com bust, Enron, Katrina, FEMA…Scandals everywhere: Politics, religion, sports…Bernie Madoff, bailouts and industries collapsing…Product recalls, contaminated foods, greed, waste and excess.

Here are four easy steps to holding people accountable:

1. Use job descriptions as the basis for hiring or promoting people into a position.
2. Share the job description with incumbents so they know their accountabilities and let them know this will be used for training, coaching, and performance feedback.
3. Have objective ways to measure and monitor performance and communicate those methods to the people performing the jobs. Follow through by providing feedback about performance.
4. Provide training and coaching opportunities to enhance performance.