Every professional should know that their impact goes beyond an interview and a resume. Their values possess a very important role in their career trajectory. Any businesses’ success is also impacted by their values as well. Accountability in particular is one of the values that contributes to both the health of professional’s career and the longevity of a business. Without accountability, owners and managers would be unable to get their employees more motivated, thus limiting their levels of productivity overall satisfaction with their positions. Inability to adequately enable their employees negatively impacts an organization’s bottom line as well as its likelihood of expanding.
As it stands, most research points towards the fact that managers are having trouble keeping their employees accountable. Upwards of 80% of managers will report that the strategies they have in place to do so, fail. For employees, this can be very discomforting. In fact, nearly nine in every ten employees would report that their organizations are failing when it comes to holding them accountable and actioning them in a productive manner.
It’s impossible to establish an organizational-wide culture without starting from the top. For the sake of leading by example, executives of any organization must be able to demonstrate their accountability in every way they can. It’s important that when mistakes are made, leaders are the first to admit to their mistakes and take accountability in helping to solve whatever issue must be solved. Only after these issues are solved, and communication channels are opened throughout the organization, can the communication necessary be had to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
Organizational-wide cultures are fostered when leaders and managers are able to clearly define their company’s goals and expectations. This extends to existing employees who are already aware of the expectations the company has of them and new employees who are brought on throughout the company’s history. Both of these sets of employees must understand how their role supports the overall success of the organization in order to truly buy into their involvement. When hiring, it’s important that organizations look only to applicants with a similar set of values. The ability to admit to their faults and address their mistakes are the types of values that you’ll want employees filling out your organization to have.
As important as everything detailed above, an organization should be able to receive feedback and criticism from all levels of its employees. Conversations should never be one sided. Employees should be encouraged to speak up about any concerns they may have and should especially ask questions when they’re unsure of something. Getting this input from employees is what allows companies to continue to grow from mistakes and improve their culture as a whole. For additional information and strategies related to establishing a more sound company culture, consider taking a couple minutes to review the infographic highlighted alongside this post. Courtesy of Minute7.