How Can Leaders Build Accountability and High Performance at Work?

What Does an Accountability Problem in the Workplace Look Like?

Leaders often see a lack of accountability as an individual performance problem, such as an employee missing deadlines or failing to follow through on a manager’s direction. But weak accountability in individuals may be a sign of broader culture issues regarding how work gets done day to day within teams, across leadership levels and throughout the organization.

Here is what poor accountability looks like as a culture problem:

• Leaders and teams have different expectations for performance and results. 
• Managers are inconsistent in holding people accountable. 
• Employees complete their work but don't feel responsible for the outcome.
• Performance conversations are frequent on some teams but rare on others.
• The same operational and relationship problems keep surfacing in different parts of the organization.

Leadership’s Greatest Weakness: Creating Accountability

Leaders and managers agree that creating accountability is where leadership most often falls short. Among seven leadership competencies that influence engagement and performance, both leaders and managers rate creating accountability as leaders’ weakest skill. Fewer than half of leaders, 46%, rate themselves as exceptional or outstanding at holding everyone responsible for exceptional performance, and even fewer managers, 30%, rate their leaders the same.

Common Reasons for Lack of Accountability at Work

Inconsistent accountability points to systemic issues in how leaders set expectations, develop their people and recognize their employees’ contributions. These are common reasons that leaders, managers and employees don’t take responsibility for their work and its outcomes:

• Unclear or misaligned expectations. Leaders establish and communicate expectations for work, but managers and frontline teams misinterpret them or ignore them because they feel the expectations are disconnected from how the work gets done. 
• Underdeveloped managers. Managers need more development and support to learn how to have meaningful performance conversations. 
• Inconsistent standards. Performance standards are applied differently across teams, signaling to employees that accountability is optional. 
• Sporadic correction over consistent coaching. Leaders and managers address accountability for performance only when something goes wrong, rather than making coaching a consistent, frequent practice.
• Ineffective recognition. Recognition doesn’t reinforce the behaviors that drive results.
• Disconnection from the work. When employees aren't doing work that fits their natural talents, motivation and personal responsibility suffer.

How to Improve Team Accountability

Managers play the most significant role in building accountability by setting clear expectations, leading consistent coaching conversations and helping employees excel by using their strengths at work. 

About one-third of U.S. employees strongly agree they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day, leaving about two-thirds without a strong tie between their natural talents and their daily work. 

Learn leadership tips for managers on how to hold people accountable in “3 Strengths-Based Practices That Help Managers Create Accountability.”

The Organizational Impact of Strengths-Based Development

Organizations that invest in strengths-based coaching see measurable results in collective performance outcomes, including up to:

• 18% increase in performance, including productivity, sales data and performance ratings
• 23% higher employee engagement
• 72% lower attrition
• 10% higher customer metrics

Are Accountability Issues Bigger Than Your Team Can Solve Alone?

When accountability challenges persist despite leaders’ and managers’ efforts, it is usually a signal that the organization would benefit from outside perspectives on how to build accountability into the organizational culture. 

Here are signs that improving accountability at your organization may require additional support:

• Leaders agree that accountability is a problem but disagree on the solution.
• Managers are expected to coach and develop their people but lack manager development themselves. 
• Performance standards vary significantly across the organization, and no one has developed effective strategies for aligning them.
• Previous culture or performance initiatives did not produce lasting behavior change.
• Employee engagement scores are declining as efforts to hold people accountable are increasing.

Why Should Organizations Invest in Improving Organizational Culture?

Organizations with strong cultures outperform on metrics that impact profitability and growth, including engagement, retention and burnout.

Gallup research shows that 2 in 10 employees strongly agree they feel connected to their company’s culture, leaving 8 in 10 without a strong connection to their workplace. Those who strongly agree they feel connected to their organization's culture are:

• 4.3 times as likely to be engaged at work
• 5.3 times as likely to strongly agree they would recommend their organization as a great place to work
• 62% less likely to feel burned out at work very often or always
• 47% less likely to be watching for job opportunities or actively looking for another job

A Customized Approach for Improving Organizational Culture

Gallup helps organizations improve their culture through customized organizational culture consulting, including a strengths-based approach tied to their unique mission, vision, values and goals.

Only 19% of employees strongly agree their manager explains how the organization's cultural values influence their work. To help employees connect with their organizational culture and take accountability for their performance, organizations can:

• Deploy CliftonStrengths® across the entire workforce so every employee has a shared language for how they and their colleagues work best.
• Provide individualized CliftonStrengths reports to employees at all levels to demonstrate how their strengths apply to their specific role and responsibilities.
• Customize the CliftonStrengths experience to connect employees’ strengths to the organization's unique culture, including its brand, values and leadership initiatives.
• Equip managers with strengths-based coaching tools tailored to the organization's performance expectations and accountability standards.
• Measure the effectiveness of strengths-based practices, including how strengths-based leadership strategies are improving business outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions About Accountability at Work

What Is a Culture of Accountability? 

A culture of accountability is one in which leaders, managers and employees take personal responsibility for their work and its outcomes. It is built through clear expectations, frequent coaching conversations, consistent performance standards and recognition that reinforces the behaviors that drive results. When accountability is consistently part of a culture, leaders model the expectations they set for others, managers follow through on coaching commitments, teams meet shared standards, and employee engagement and performance improve.

How Do You Hold People Accountable at Work?

Holding people accountable at work starts with setting clear expectations and following up through frequent coaching conversations rather than waiting for problems to surface. Managers who check in regularly, provide recognition for the behaviors that produce excellent results and connect each employee's strengths to their work create an environment that inspires their team members to take personal responsibility for their performance and outcomes.

How Do You Hold Employees Accountable Without Micromanaging?

Micromanaged teams focus on what the boss thinks. Gallup research shows that micromanaged teams experience fear, paralysis and confusion rather than personal responsibility for producing outstanding work. In contrast, accountable teams work with autonomy and ownership oriented around mission, customer needs and results. Leaders and managers build accountability and reduce micromanagement by trusting their team members to manage the details of their work while they focus on effective leadership practices, including assigning the right people to the right tasks based on their strengths, setting clear expectations, increasing coaching conversations, prioritizing development and celebrating exceptional outcomes.

What Metrics Can Leaders Use to Measure Workplace Accountability? 

Leaders can assess how well accountability is working by looking beyond individual performance metrics to measurements that reflect broader aspects of the culture. For example, leaders should evaluate employee engagement data and feedback, manager effectiveness scores, and managers’ practices for tying recognition to the behaviors that drive results. Because no two organizations are the same, the most meaningful accountability measures are those built around each organization's unique culture, goals and definition of excellent performance.

What Is the Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Accountability? 

Engagement and accountability are connected because both depend on clear expectations, consistent coaching from managers and recognition tied to meaningful work, among other factors. When employees understand what is expected of them, receive regular feedback and feel connected to work that draws on their strengths, they are more likely to be engaged and are equipped to take personal responsibility for outcomes. Gallup research shows that managers are significantly more likely to be engaged when their leaders excel at holding people accountable for exceptional performance.

How Long Does It Take to Build a Culture of Accountability? 

Building a culture of accountability is an ongoing leadership discipline that typically takes years to develop. The timeline for improving accountability at work depends on the size of the organization, the current state of its culture, and the consistency with which leaders and managers already hold people accountable day to day. Organizations that see the fastest and most lasting progress are those that have integrated culture work into their business strategy, connected it to their organizational identity and committed to it at the executive level for the long term.

What Is the Difference Between Accountability and Blame? 

Accountability is future-focused. It is about accepting responsibility for outcomes. Leaders can inspire accountability by defining what is expected, equipping people to meet those expectations and reinforcing the behaviors that produce the desired results. Blame is backward-focused. It is about assigning fault after something goes wrong without addressing the conditions that caused the problem. 

How Does Strengths-Based Development Improve Organizational Culture?

Strengths-based leadership and development improve organizational culture by giving every employee a shared language for how they and their colleagues work best. Effective strengths-based development is individualized and connected to an employee’s responsibilities and the organization's mission, values and performance expectations. Gallup research shows that organizations that invest in strengths-based coaching see measurable improvements in performance, engagement, retention and customer metrics.

Talk With Gallup About Your Culture Challenge

Your organization's accountability and performance challenges are specific to your culture, your people and your goals. Gallup works with leaders to build a customized strengths-based approach that will move your culture from good intentions to measurable outcomes.

Contact us to learn how we can help.