Creating a Culture of Accountability

Building a strong workforce is essential to long-term success, but while more companies are adopting flexible working conditions, including remote work, a hybrid workforce can make it more difficult to maintain employee accountability. To help facilitate conversations and build a culture of accountability, Express Employment Professionals created an accountability worksheet, which includes a template to help organize projects and check lists. And to go along with this employer resource, Express offers seven steps for building employee accountability. Check out a more in-depth version of these tips at ExpressPros.com/Accountability.

1. Make Accountability a Personal Priority

Foster a “we’re all in this together” environment and be prepared to get your hands dirty. Employees will follow a leader who is willing to get down in the trenches and work alongside them toward a common goal.

2. Ensure Big Picture Alignment

Clearly communicate the logic behind company initiatives and provide employees an opportunity to share their own feedback and ideas for achieving them. It’s easier to build engagement and instill a sense of ownership in a project when employees feel like they had a voice in the process.

3. Check for Clarity

When assigning a new task or project, ask employees to repeat the request as they understood it, and share their initial thoughts about how they will approach it.

4. Set a Hard Deadline

Set hard deadlines for projects and key tasks, but also take time to identify potential obstacles to meeting those deadlines. Then, decide upon a process for discussing extensions if challenges arise.

5. Create Micro-Goals

Together with your team, agree upon key milestones along the way to achieving an overall goal and track progress toward achieving each one.

6. Give Regular, Constructive Feedback and Coaching

Set regular status meetings and let your employee drive the discussion. The meetings only need to be as long as it takes to be updated on their progress, and should focus not only on progress, but on answering questions and identifying specific action items to ensure a smooth workflow.

7. Celebrate Success

At the beginning of a new project, plan a team celebration to take place following successful completion. Not only will the prospect of a party help motivate employees, but it provides a great opportunity to publicly recognize individuals for their hard work and commitment.

Project Accountability Template

Clear communication is a key to building accountability. However, ensuring all involved parties are on the same page isn’t always so cut and dry.

This template was designed as a resource to help organize your project status meetings and hold each other accountable to deadlines, commitments, and action items.

Download the Project Accountability Template and share it with your team, your department, or your entire organization!

And if you want to learn more about staffing solutions to help you build the most productive-and accountable-workforce possible, contact your local Express office.

How has accountability been prioritized in your organization? What steps have you taken to build a culture of accountability? Let us know in the comments section below!

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