In business, success starts with accountability

The word accountable often is defined as having to report, explain or justify being answerable and responsible.

I don’t like that definition because it makes accountability sound negative. It should be more like: “A personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary to achieve desired results – to see it, own it, solve it and do it.”

An accountable person asks what they can do to achieve the desired results and takes action. It is about getting people to do more than they think they can.

Accountability turns the work paradigm on its head. Rather than focusing on the tasks required to do a job, an accountable person focuses on results.

In order to be successful, a business must focus on results, not the job.

No doubt you have heard an employee say, “That is not my job.” That is the mentality often taken by those who are task driven. They tend to see their jobs as doing tasks rather than achieving results.

However, when you change this paradigm and put the focus on results rather than tasks, you will often find employees are much more willing to help one another. The tendency is to do whatever is necessary to get the results rather than simply accomplish a task.

So many of the firms I work with only expect employees to do the job. They do not encourage accountability, and just about all of these firms are struggling or doing poorly.

In a growing and dynamic environment, we must do things that bring the highest returns to our businesses and organizations. The key is accountability. If accountability is instilled in each employee, it will show in customer satisfaction and profitability.

So how do you change the paradigm at your organization? You must get the staff to realize that being accountable is the only way they can achieve the desired goals and objectives. This takes time and requires a lot of information be shared about the problem and financial ramifications.

Now go out and consider adopting a philosophy of accountability for the good of your firm as well as each individual staff member. It is the job of every organizational leader to enable the staff to achieve the highest levels of success possible.

That requires leading with accountability.

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 11:19 AM with the headline "In business, success starts with accountability."