Make Your Team More Accountable – The How To Guide

There’s nothing quite like having a team that you can trust, a team that you have faith in, a team that you know is working to the best of their abilities at all times. But, do you have a team that’s accountable? Do you have team members that are honest about their mistakes, team members that feel confident enough to own up to errors?

In order to have a success team, and therefore a success business, you need to have a team that’s accountable. In this blog, we have taken a look at how to make your team more accountable and why accountability is so important, regardless of industry.

What Does it Mean to Make Your Team Accountable?

There’s a lot of information out there for business owners and leaders, and the importance of making your team more accountable is often mentioned. In fact, it’s often listed as being a priority, and there’s a good reason for that. It’s a way to ensure that everyone is responsible for their own actions, everyone contributes to the collective goals of the company and everyone upholds the standards of the business.

But, making your team more accountable doesn’t just mean putting a handful of rules in place and monitoring their performance. It means having clear expectations, monitoring performance and encouraging your team to take ownership of their work, actions and mistakes.

Having Clear Expectations – It’s important that your team understands their individual roles, your responsibilities and your expectations. Each team member should understand what is expected of them, what their individual tasks are and how their contributions impact the team as a whole.

Regularly Monitoring Performance – Regularly monitoring your team’s performance against set goals helps to ensure that everyone is on track. Though it’s important to avoid micromanaging and to have complete trust in your team’s ability, having systems in place to monitor KPIs (key performance indicator) and milestones highlights if anyone is falling behind.

Building Trust – Trust is a key part of accountability, and you need to fully trust your team if you want to make them more accountable. When team members trust each other and their leaders, they are more likely to be open about challenges and take responsibility for their actions.

Encouraging Ownership – Making your team more accountable means encouraging them to take ownership of their tasks and decisions. Empowered employees are more likely to feel a sense of responsibility and commitment to their work, and ownership holds them accountable for their failures, as well as their successes.

Holding a team accountable is key to the success of any business. By creating a workplace culture of accountability, you can achieve your business goals more effectively, whilst also creating an environment that enables individuals to thrive.

Why is Having an Accountable Team Important?

There are a lot of benefits that come with having a more accountable team, such as:

It Drives Results – Accountability encourages performance and drives results by ensuring that everyone is focused on their goals and they’re working towards them. When your team knows that they are accountable at work, they are more likely to stay committed to achieving results. After all, no one wants to look as though they’re dropping the ball.

It Leads to High Quality Work – Accountability ensures that high standards are maintained across the board, as no one wants to be seen as letting the team down. It encourages team members to consistently deliver quality work, whilst also encouraging continuous improvement.

It Boosts Efficiency – Accountability can streamline business processes, reduce downtime and encourage workplace efficiency. In an accountable team, individuals understand their roles and how they contribute to the overall team, which can lead to more efficient workflows and better time management.

It Encourages Engagement – Employees who are held accountable are also more likely to be engaged in their work, and more engaged in benefiting the business as a whole. They understand the impact of their contributions to the workforce and they feel valued when their efforts are recognised. This can lead to higher job satisfaction and better retention rates.

It Reduces Mistakes – When your team is accountable for their own actions, they are more likely to be thorough and attentive. No one wants to be seen as someone who makes mistakes at work, and being thorough reduces the chances of errors and mistakes.

How to Make Your Team More Accountable

A lot of people make the mistake of assuming that making your team more accountable is a time consuming and complex task, but that really isn’t the case. It’s an ongoing process, but one that can be achieved with a handful of small changes.

Define Roles and Responsibilities – Make sure that everyone knows their specific tasks and how their work contributes to the team’s objectives. Clear job descriptions and defined individual responsibilities prevent confusion and overlap, ensuring that everyone knows what they should be doing and when. The more clarity someone has, the easier it is for them to understand how they contribute to the overall success of the business.

Demonstrate Accountability – As a leader, you need to show your team the behaviour that you expect from them. Own your decisions and admit your mistakes, and follow through on the things that you have committed to. For example, if you expect your team to meet deadlines, make sure you are also meeting deadlines.

Set Measurable Goals – Using SMART, set measurable goals for your team. These goals should be Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. Setting goals gives individuals something to aim for and they act as checkpoints throughout a project. If someone has goals to meet, they are more likely to continue working at a consistent pace.

Give Constructive Feedback – A lot of business owners and team leaders shy away from feedback, but constructive feedback can actually help to make a team more accountable. Take the time to acknowledge successes and address areas that need improvement, and do so without criticising your team. If there’s a problem, constructive feedback can help to get things back on track.

Check in Regularly – Scheduling one-on-one meetings, as well as team meetings, is a good way to make your team more accountable. It’s the perfect way to openly discuss progress, challenges and problems.. This makes sure that everyone is on the same page, and gives you the chance to discuss any changes going forward.

Encourage Initiative and Decision Making – Encourage your team members to take initiative and make decisions within their areas of responsibility, even if doing so is slightly out of their comfort zone. This creates a sense of empowerment and highlights that you trust them, which in turn creates a sense of ownership and accountability.

Reward Accountability – It’s important to acknowledge when team members take responsibility and deliver results. Recognition can be as simple as mentioning their success in a meeting, or by going all out by acknowledging it in the form of an ‘employee of the month’ award. When other members of your team see accountability being rewarded, they are more likely to follow suit.

Create a Supportive Workplace – If you create a supportive workplace, your team will feel safe enough to admit their mistakes and ask for help. A supportive workplace removes any fear associated with getting things wrong, and encourages everyone to be honest about needing help.

A Profici, we are firm believers in the positive impact a truly accountable team can have on a business. Not only does an accountable team lead to boosted productivity and enhanced efficiency, but it can also lead to fewer mistakes being made, a higher quality of work and happier staff. All of these help a business to grow, something that we are hugely passionate about at Profici.

As a growth partner, we are here to help you scale and expand your business, regardless of your industry or niche. Get in touch with our helpful team to find out more.