Understand what accountability is and how to boost it in your company!

This tool is directly linked to emotional intelligence, both for managers and employees, as it determines accountability for the success of projects.

In this post, we brought the main information about what accountability is and how it is applied in organizations. Enjoy reading and check it out!

What is accountability?

The basis of a company is the organizational culture, which can be developed by mapping the company’s value network towards society in general, including customers, employees and its corporate objectives, essential for defining the mission and vision. For a long time, the boss and team corporate hierarchy was vertical, where the boss divided the work and the measurement of professional quality was based on effort and not on results, in such a way that employees had a reactive posture in carrying out their specific activities and only that.

With accountability, this scenario has changed. Today, the company that develops this methodology as a tool applied to its processes will certainly gain market share. This is because accountability has a positioning aimed at growth, and once the organization grows, the professional’s growth occurs along with it.

This employee analyzes the established goals and accepts the responsibilities, assuming the consequences in the present and in the future. He will report both financially and sustainably on the actions taken, the consequences and benefits for the company and society, in addition to assessing and analyzing the weak points of operations.

How to implement accountability in companies?

Initially, it is important to remember that, currently, it is not just companies that are looking for dynamic, proactive and competitive employees — professionals are also looking for responsible organizations that favor professional growth, assuming both responsibility without justifications or excuses, after all, everyone who invests in the corporate world, as well as everyone who is technically prepared to hold a position, aims to grow.

They look for companies that provide opportunities for intellectual and personal growth, and companies look for professionals who can invest and trust, that is, they are focusing, in addition to financial return, on valuation.

They look for companies that provide well-being and intellectual and personal growth, that is, these professionals are focusing, in addition to financial return, on personal development.

To ensure excellence in this process, it is necessary to describe the actions and understand the steps. In this context, it is essential that the employee understands that the company works with errors, and that these errors will not be treated with punishment, but evaluated in order to learn from them and challenge the participants with the resolution of problems.

In order to guarantee everyone’s commitment, it is recommended that everything be as transparent as possible. For this, it is necessary to use methodologies that deviate from the standard and that reach beyond the conventional — ORK (Objectives and Key Results), Lean and Kanban are some of them.

In addition, it is extremely important to have a vision of the whole, set goals and visualize how the company will be interconnected to achieve these goals. through the accountability methodology, in order to improve the perception of business collaboration.

Why develop accountability in enterprises?

In the past, it was common to have a scenario of competition within companies — it was sector against sector. The collaborator carried out his tasks without worrying about what he would deliver to his colleague. If an error occurred, the main justifications were “I don’t know, I did my part”, or “I handed it over to so-and-so, he is responsible now”.

Accountability came to bring a greater range of resources to managers, enabling them to motivate and captivate their employees , stimulating unified cooperation, in which everyone is united by the ultimate goal.

With this transparency, accountability manages to unite the team, making everyone feel responsible for the success achieved. This makes the relationship with stakeholders transparent .

What behaviors are characteristic of accountability?

In order for accountability to be built within an organization, it is important that certain behaviors are nurtured — all with a focus on seeing the situation, assuming responsibilities and resolving and taking action.

In this sense, there are  behaviors that need to be absorbed into corporate governance, showing, once again, the need for leadership in the implementation of this culture.

See which are the destructive behaviors that hinder the success of teams in companies:

• lack of initiative;
• attachment to complaints;
• peer exposure;
• dependency.

Now, see what are the behaviors that differentiate the culture of accountability:

• focus on realistic actions;
• individual responsibility;
• thinking in the collective;
• initiative in resolutions;
• self confidence;
• awareness of their role in organizations.

It is crucial that employees internalize their responsibilities and assume a commitment to the company and to themselves, because as a central agent of this tool, the professional must, par excellence, adopt proactive postures in favor of the success of his career individually, of the team collectively and of the company in terms of organization.

In this context, the biggest challenge for companies is to find talents that are professionally engaged and imbued with pro-actively carrying out their activities.

One way to attract this type of person to your team is the development of a strategic management of Human Resources , where Human Organizational Development is very well aligned in the organization and the recruitment and selection process is supported by behavioral and personality tests that indicate the real professional profile of a candidate.

Because, for these attitudes to take root, it is necessary that all team members have ethical values, formalizing a responsible culture in organizations. This process will have the expected results with joint actions between employees, managers and partners. Thus, for the team to be more aligned, it is fundamental to have constant feedback, updating its employees on what is happening and on how their position is important for the whole process.

In addition, it is part of the leader’s attributions, in implementing accountability, to protect and encourage the excellent professional performance of the entire team, thus making the individual importance of each employee evident and demonstrating that personal and business results will only be achieved positive with the commitment of the whole team.

Basically, accountability changed the view of the corporate universe, implementing realistic actions with a focus on engagement, demanding and improving the commitment of human capital and transforming the sense of responsibility of professionals within an enterprise.

Obviously, once implemented, these actions need to be measured and analyzed to verify whether the strategies are guaranteeing the required objectives. This is one of the ways to follow the progress of actions.

Often, this task is not an easy one, so having the support of an expert is essential to start these actions. This professional will be able to have a broad view of the company and design specific stages in the reality of your enterprise.

It will empower individuals, making them more determined and focused on the global objectives of the enterprise, constantly contributing to the innovations not only of the company, but of each individual. In this way, the turnover of the organization will decrease.