Taking Ownership

How to Create a Culture of

Accountability in the Workplace

JULY 14, 2016

Speaker: Molly Kelley

Moderator: Brandon Laws
Housekeeping
• 45-minute presentation; 15-minute Q & A
• Enter questions in the chat window for Q&A
portion
• Slides & Recording Available 24-48 hours after
session
• 1 HRCI Credit available for attendees. Email
Brandon.Laws@XeniumHR.com to get certificate
• Get alerts about events, webinars and podcast at
xeniumhr.com
Meet your
presenter,
Molly.
• Sr. HR Business Partner at
Xenium HR
• Works with various small and
medium sized businesses
across many industries
• Trainer for Xenium clients and
guests
• Loves to read; frequents
HBR.org and is an NPR super
fan
Definition of accountability :
the quality or state of being
accountable; especially: an
obligation or willingness to accept
responsibility or to account for one's
actions
Merriam Webster Dictionary
 the WHY
• Managers increasingly report a
perceived lack of employee
accountability

• Employees feel there is a lack

of leadership accountability

• Coworkers report their

colleagues aren’t accountable
to one another, the work or the
company
Impact of Accountability
Void
Accountable Cultures Have…
• improved performance
• greater employee participation and involvement
• increased feelings of job proficiency
• a heightened commitment to the work at hand
• added creativity and innovation
• leading to higher employee morale and job
satisfaction, and deeper employee engagement
 Employee

Manager

Culture
Accountable Managers
Leadership’s Role In Building
Accountability
• Managers are responsible for accomplishing results
through others; often via relationship-building and their
demonstration of high trust and personal integrity

• Leaders have the greatest initial influence on company

culture

• While held to the highest standard of accountability,

sometimes leaders abandon responsibilities in these
areas; the weight of leadership becomes an excuse
 Accountable Managers Ask
Themselves
1. When did your performance expectations not
match the results?

2. What could you have you done differently to

attain your expectations?

3. Do you continue to enforce the missing

element(s) in your work?
“Great management can only be
attained by those who are able to
manage themselves before managing
others... Without accountability, the
ability to manage doesn’t exist. Great
management is holding yourself and
those around you accountable to
deliver results.” - Greg Llopis
Language of Accountability

• Mistakes? What mistakes?

• They made mistakes.
• Mistakes were made.
• We made mistakes.
• I regret the mistakes that were made.
• I made mistakes; we all did.
• We are addressing the mistakes and working
to ensure they don’t occur again.
• I own the mistakes and am actively working to
ensure they don’t occur again.
• I own our mistakes and am actively working to
ensure they don’t occur again
Accountability to Goals
• Involve employees goal setting
• Coach, but encourage independence
• CONSISTENTLY monitor progress towards
goals
• Provide needed training and resources
• Establish a framework for independent problem
solving (GROW model)
• Incentivize and recognize positive
performance, both formally and informally
Accountability to
Self
• Did I work as hard as I could have?
• Did I set and maintain high standards
for myself?
• Did I spend enough time to do quality
work?
• Did I regulate my procrastination,
distractions, and temptations in order
to complete my work?
• Did I make good use of available
resources?
• Did I ask questions if I needed help?
• Did I review and re-review my work for
possible errors?
• Did I consider best practices for similar
work?
• Is my work something for which I am
proud – that I would proudly show to a
large, global audience?
Cultural Accountability
“Accountability means people can
count on one another to keep
performance commitments and
communication agreements.”

- Mark Samuel,
The Accountability Revolution
Strategies: Build Accountable
Teams
• Model accountability, collaboration & trust within your leadership team
• Establish and clarify expectations (ex. values, agreements, Xenium
Promise)
• Clearly defined roles and accountabilities
• Hire accountability values
• Provide ongoing communication skills training
• Practice recognition and improvement
Summary of Key Points

1 Create a culture that makes

accountability as easy as breathing

2
Hold leaders to the highest
standards of accountability, and
support them in ongoing efforts to
maintain that standard

3 Hire, reinforce and reward individual

employee accountability
Resources
– The Accountability Revolution by Mark Samuel
– QBQ! by John G. Miller
– Crucial Accountability by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny,
Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, David Maxfield
– http://www.clomedia.com/2015/01/29/want-results-fix-
accountability/
– http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/07/17/great-
management-boils-down-to-one-major-thing/#2f09a9dd36c5
– https://hbr.org/2012/11/one-out-of-every-two-managers-is-
terrible-at-accountability/
– https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-ways-to-create-an-
ownership-mentality-within-your-team
Questions for
Molly?

Speaker Moderator

Enter your question for Molly into the

chat window on the gotowebinar panel
Thank you!

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Brandon:
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