Want a More Accountable Team? It Starts with You.
Accountability is the foundation of a high-performing team, yet many companies struggle to embed it into their culture. This can be especially challenging for a fast-growing small business. In the early stages, team members are praised for wearing many hats and stepping in wherever needed. But as the company grows, this fluid approach can lead to confusion, rework, and disengagement. Without clear ownership and expectations, accountability erodes, making it harder to scale effectively.
If this sounds familiar, now is a good time to assess where accountability fits into your company's culture. The chart below compares behaviors in low accountability and high accountability environments so you can assess where your team stands.
Behaviors of accountable cultures
If you're experiencing behaviors on the left side and want to move toward a high accountability culture, start by asking these key questions.
Is it clear who owns what in the company?
It's common in small, fast-growing companies, for roles and responsibilities to be fluid. This can be effective for small teams, but when the team grows, a lack of role clarity can cause confusion, rework, and erode accountability. A simple and powerful first step is to use a responsibility matrix like the "RACI" to clarify which leader is accountable for each function in the organization and communicate this to the team.
Does your team know what success looks like?
To promote accountability, people need to understand what success looks like. This can start at the top with measurable company and departmental goals and extend to each role in the company. For new initiatives or projects, it can be helpful to provide a "definition of done" that focuses on realizing value. For example, if someone is working on a training program, it's not considered "done" until it's rolled out to everyone on the team.
How frequent is feedback given?
If team feedback is reserved for semi-annual performance reviews, it's probably not timely enough to foster a culture of accountability. Once roles and expectations are clear, there's a context for giving and receiving feedback. Highly accountable cultures get comfortable sharing timely feedback in a way that conveys kindness and supports continuous learning. If giving and receiving feedback is challenging for your team, consider reading Radical Candor which offers practical tools for improving direct feedback.
Do people feel empowered to act?
In the process of moving to a more accountable culture, leaders risk making the team feel micromanaged. The antidote to this risk is a focus on empowerment. If the steps above are done correctly, a move to accountability can actually create a sense of autonomy for members of your team. Because what you're saying is, "I'm trusting you the own this thing." The book Turn the Ship Around! does a great job outlining practical tools for empowering your team.
Are leaders modeling accountability?
Unfortunately, "do as I say, not what I do" isn't effective in changing behaviors. Leaders can encourage accountability by modeling the behaviors they want to see. This can start with simple things like following established internal processes, showing up on time for meetings, and consistently doing what you commit to doing.
Building a culture of accountability takes intentional effort, but small changes can have a big impact. Start by clarifying leadership team roles and expectations, and modeling the behaviors you want to see from your team. When accountability starts at the top, it creates a ripple effect that drives engagement, performance, and growth. It starts with you!
