The Ripple Effect: How a Lack of Accountability Undermines Your Workplace

What Is Accountability? More Than Just Responsibility

What is accountability? The Merriam Webster dictionary says accountability is an “obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.”

In the workplace how important is accountability? In short, EXTREEMLY important.

The Warning Signs: Examples of Accountability Breakdowns

To make this point, let’s share some examples of the LACK of accountability in the workplace. (Names and details have been changed to protect the guilty!)

Example 1: Foster and the Missing How-To Guides

The employer dictates that all employees will complete a “how to guide” on how to perform their primary job tasks in their absence. In addition, once completed, people have been assigned as backups for absences, and each person is supposed their backups. During monthly staff meetings the project is discussed, and many members of the team share their success stories, share where the guides are housed and explain how they can vacation in peace.

Foster has been with the employer for 20 years. He’s stuck in his ways and has zero intentions of completing how to guide or training anyone. He doesn’t want to be replaced. He’s fearful that if someone else could do his job, the employer might decide they should do it full time and will be let go. As a result, Foster makes sure he doesn’t take long vacations. And plans them around the tasks that are time sensitive. Nobody has asked to see his guides or follow up with who has been trained, so Foster remains silent.

Example 2: Kringle and the Productivity Problem

Many of Employer G’s employees work out on the road. They work individually or as small teams most days. Often these individuals are given general areas to work on, performing specific tasks, like patching potholes in this region, picking up trash along these roads, or grading roads in this area. None of the tasks can be supervised directly in an efficient manner because each task and assigned sections of road have varying amounts of work, metrics are basically impossible to create.

Most employees of Employer G know their work directly impacts their communities and works extremely hard to be as productive as possible to make the biggest difference that they can. But Kringle is struggling in his personal life. He’s distracted at work and isn’t productive. When assigned tasks he does the bare minimum. Co-workers struggle when they work with Kringle because, so little gets done or he won’t help and do his share of the work.

With either of these examples, what are the results of these actions (or inactions). Face value, one instance of either of these situations can look like no big deal. But what are the true ripple effects of the lack of accountability?

A lack of accountability can kill organizations and the satisfaction of employees within them. There are five categories of consequences: organizational impacts, team dynamics, individual impacts, leadership consequences, and work culture consequences. All these consequences directly impact each of the others like a horrible cycle.

Organizational Impact: The Business Costs

The organizational impacts are large and far reaching.

Declining Performance Standards

Overall productivity and quality standards decline along with the overall performance of employees. As employees realize there’s no accountability or consequences for performing poorly, their motivation to work hard and be dedicated to the organization declines. With that decline in performance comes decreasing quality standards overall.

Financial Consequences

As you can imagine, the declining performance and quality standards will cost any organization money. Beyond those losses, there are missed deadlines, poor work quality and a decrease in efficiency. All these cause financial losses that some businesses cannot recover from.

Reputation Damage

Another organizational impact that must be fully understood is the damage to the company or organization’s reputation. The declining performance and declining motivation will result in inconsistent work product, which will further damage the reputation.

Team Dynamics: Eroding from Within

The Trust Deficit

Team dynamics will be destroyed through lack of accountability. When members of the team are not held accountable, other members of the team will lose trust in leadership and in their co-workers. For teams to be effective, there must be trust.

Growing Resentment

Beyond this loss of trust will come resentment. When a member of a team is not held to the same standard, other members will resent them, and interpersonal conflicts will increase.

The Downward Spiral of Expectations

Finally, the lack of accountability will move the bar for expectations lower and lower. The lowest performer will set performance expectations. In a high performing team, the bar will be raised higher and higher as teams work well together. In a team with a lack of accountability, the opposite will occur.

Individual Impact: How Employees Disconnect

Motivation Meltdown

Lack of accountability will sever the motivation, incentive to grow and meet goals, and the engagement levels of individual employees. As employees see or feel that expectations are not clear or that there aren’t consequences for not meeting them, their motivation to perform will dwindle quickly. This builds on what I just mentioned about the expectation bar being set by the lowest performer.

Stalled Professional Growth

Along the same vein, employees won’t have the motivation to learn and grow if they aren’t held to expectations (accountability). Think of yourself…if there’s no benefit to investing in working hard to grow your skills or knowledge, why put in the effort? If nobody recognizes or appreciates that effort, why would you do it? Further, without accountability mechanisms, employees struggle to determine what truly matters, so goals are seldom set and if they are, progress is infrequently made towards attainment.

The Path to Disengagement

Finally, individuals in low accountability organizations will be taught to be disengaged. They won’t see their efforts matter or be recognized, so they won’t care. They will learn helplessness from their leaders.

Leadership Consequences: Authority Undermined

Credibility Crisis

The lack of accountability in leaders is detrimental to their success. Leaders that don’t hold team members accountable consistently will lose all credibility with their team. Beyond credibility, they will lose their ability to influence others.

Decision Paralysis

Leaders without accountability will face decision paralysis. There will be no ownership without accountability so decisions will go un-made. Delays will become the norm and making decisions will likely be avoided at all costs.

Management Burnout

Going along with this decision paralysis is management overload. Due to the lack of accountability, the resulting conflicts, work that remains undone, etc.... falls on the managers shoulders to do themselves. This leads to overload and results in burnout very quickly.

Cultural Effects: The Organizational Climate Shift

The Blame Game Culture

The workplace culture in an organization without accountability is also affected negatively. Without accountability, when problems arise, the blame game kicks in. There’s a ton of finger pointing and few resolutions. Because of all the finger pointing, employees don’t want to take risks for fear of being blamed if something goes wrong.

Innovation Avoidance

True innovation is risky. Innovation requires employees to step outside the box and try something new. In low accountability environments the benefits of stepping outside the box are so limited, the rewards are not worth the risk.

The Talent Exodus

Turnover in this type of environment is high. When employees don’t feel valued or needed, they will leave. Contributions must be recognized to build a strong culture, but for that recognition to mean anything, the low performers must also be recognized and addressed.

Bringing It Full Circle: Revisiting Foster and Kringle

So, now that we have all the ripple effects of low accountability, let’s go back to our two examples.

What Foster's Situation Really Costs

Our first example was Foster, who had not developed his how-to-guides nor cross trained anyone in his department. What are SOME of the ripple effects of low accountability in his situation?

• Organizational Impacts – The potential financial impacts of this situation are large. Foster cannot take vacations because he has no back up. The potential for burnout in this situation is extremely high. Beyond burnout, if Foster was to get sick, Foster’s responsibilities could not be easily picked up by a teammate, potentially missing deadlines and costing substantial losses.

  
  

• Team Dynamics – Foster is not being held accountable to complete his assignment. The team will be aware that he hasn’t completed the tasks assigned as none of them have been trained. They will also notice that he is not participating in the conversations. The team will lose trust not only in their leader but will feel resentment towards Foster for not complying nor being held to the same standard that they are.

  
  

• Leadership Consequences – Foster’s leader will have lost credibility through not holding him accountable. The leader’s level of influence will also begin to dwindle.

  
  

While one single act of defiance won’t single handedly cause all these impacts to occur, these situations seldom handle in a vacuum. Meaning there are likely several other similar behaviors happening at the same time, there have been other similar situations in the past, and/or there will be more in the future.

The True Impact of Kringle's Performance

In our second example, Kringle isn’t performing. He’s getting away with doing the bare minimum and none of his teammates want to work with him. SOME of these ripple effects of low accountability that are likely to occur from his situation are very similar to those of Foster. In addition,

• Individual Impacts – By getting away with this behavior now, Kringle will likely continue to be a low producer into the future. Assuming his personal life problems are addressed and corrected later, his productivity won’t improve dramatically. Additionally, the co-workers that witness his behaviors will no longer feel motivated to be productive as there’s no benefit from busting their butts. They are recognized (or not recognized) the same way as Kringle.

  
  

• Work Culture Impacts – Hard working, dedicated employees that want to make a positive impact on their communities will leave the employer if they are going to get lumped in with Kringle’s behaviors. They won’t want to be categorized in the same way as him.

Looking at these examples of people not being held accountable points out the impacts in an interesting way. Think of examples in your own life. Remember that one mistake or a leader’s singular misstep in holding someone accountable isn’t a reason to write them off.

Building a Culture of Accountability

We can always learn to do more or do better. This information and these examples are not to help to point out those that are doing something wrong. These are to raise our awareness to be able to learn and grow. Here are five ways to build that culture of accountability.

Set clear expectations for yourself and your team. Write out your goals and expectations. Make sure every member of your team is familiar and comfortable with the expectations that you have set. Each person on your team needs to be able to define what you would consider “good.” Whenever possible create measurable guideposts to ensure that expectations are being met successfully. These guideposts ensure that everyone involved defines success in the same way.

Implement regular check ins with your team. During projects or in general. These check ins don’t have to be long. A quick, brief meeting, held on a consistent schedule helps keep your team on track. Talk about progress, obstacles that team members are running into, and encourage members to ask for any and all support they may need. Make sure that anyone that requests support receives that support and is approached in a positive and productive manner. Discuss challenges that have been faced as well as how they are overcome, what achievements have been met and what the next steps are in the process.

Create accountability partners. You’ve probably heard about accountability partners in learning new things, creating new habits or in starting an exercise regime, but the term is helpful in so many areas. Accountability partners are helpful in teams and projects. With accountability partners, make sure you’re accountable to each other (duh right?!?!), but really, make sure to schedule quick check-ins with each other to review progress and see what is next. In some situations rotating partnerships on a timed basis can help build team-wide accountability.

Set a consistent and predictable consequence/reward system. If someone misses a deadline, skips out on a commitment, or otherwise misses the mark, there are clear, fair consequences. On the opposite side of the coin, when someone meets their deadline, hits it out of the park, or succeeds in other ways, there are clear, meaningful ways that accountability is recognized.

Be the model/example. Showcase your leadership in accountability. In your check ins and meetings, leaders should report on their progress, commitments, struggles and accomplishments. If a mistake is made or a deadline is missed, own it! Demonstrate how you can effectively address the mistake and learn from it. Your team will follow your leadership when you are open, honest and transparent in how you work.

Accountability in Action: How Foster's Situation Could Improve

Utilizing these tools, how can a leader help address Foster’s refusal to work on the project?

1. Set clear expectations and a timeline for progress for Foster.

   
   

2. Not specifically mentioned before, Foster’s concerns and fears about being replaced or training his replacement is valid. Addressing that elephant in the room will likely assist in turning the attitude around.

   
   

3. Specifically define the first team mate that will be cross trained with Foster and for which task(s). Make that teammate Foster’s first accountability partner and ensure a timeline for check-ins is set.

   
   

4. Have regular check in meetings with the entire team. Talk about progress, expectations, challenges, and needed support. Require participation by all team members.

   
   

5. Define a consequence and reward system. If the first deadline is met, how will you reward Foster? If the first deadline is NOT met, what will the consequence be?

   
   

6. Finally, fully participate in the check in meetings. If you have other staff meetings, ensure you’re fully participating and holding yourself accountable for being on time, sharing your successes and challenges.

   
   

Turning Around Kringle's Performance Through Accountability

Similar to Foster, a leader can assist Kringle in developing accountability.

1. Set clear expectations for Kringle on how to behave at work. We now understand that personal lives and work lives are not separate, but we also must set the standard for what is and is not acceptable in the workplace. If you have an Employer Assistance Plan (EAP) make sure Kringle has the information and has the opportunity to utilize it.

   
   

2. Further, set clear expectations for work product. While it’s mentioned that these job types are hard to create specific and measurable metrics of success, guidelines should be put in place and a supervisor should be able to see progress each day. While time consuming, this situation requires “trust but verify” to be put in place.

   
   

3. Accountability partners in Kringle’s situations can be very helpful, but can also prove to be a bit difficult for the partner. If possible, partnering with a person of authority to start would be helpful. Otherwise, the accountability partner may be in a difficult position.

   
   

4. Have regular check ins with Kringle to ensure that the expectations continue to be clear and understood. Find out what success Kringle has had, challenges he has faced, and what progress looks like. While Kringle’s situation isn’t an ongoing project, it’s work product in general, these check ins will work similarly.

   
   

5. Set the reward and consequence structure based on the expectations you have set with Kringle. Make sure to hold him accountable. While a leader should never knit pick an employee, they must be vigilant, even when positive progress is being made to ensure the success continues.

   
   

6. As always, be the example and demonstrate what you want to see from Kringle. You must make sure you’re working hard in your position and not skirting your responsibilities.

   
   

Your Accountability Journey: Reflection and Next Steps

Now, think of examples that you have in your life of situations that individuals and/or leaders who hold themselves or others accountable in a positive way. OR the direct opposite, examples of poor accountability. Comment on the details so we can all learn more about accountability and how we can all do better!

And, as always, carry social kindness with you everywhere you go. The world needs you and your positive mindset!