One of the values we frequently see displayed in organisations is Accountability.
But what does that really mean?
The Oxford Dictionary defines accountability as “the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.”
Well, that was not a lot of help.
We work with many organisations that use the RACI principle to clarify roles and responsibilities:
- R – Responsible: the person doing the task.
- A – Accountable: the person ultimately answerable for the outcome.
- C – Consult: the people who should be consulted about the task, the approach or the outcome – preferably before the responsible person starts the work.
- I – Inform: the people who need to be kept up to date with what is happening.
We sometimes jokingly describe the A as the person who “takes the blame if it goes wrong”.
But perhaps that is part of the problem.
Accountability is not really about blame. It is about ownership.
RACI is only useful if we keep using it
When we say organisations use RACI, that is not technically always true.
Some use it very well. They assign roles and responsibilities, make expectations clear and regularly review progress.
More often, roles are assigned at the beginning of a new project or task and then everyone assumes that all is going according to plan.
The accountable person lets the responsible person get on with it. And that can be a very good thing. Giving people autonomy to make decisions and work in the way that suits them best can build confidence, capability and ownership.
The problem comes when autonomy becomes absence.
The accountable person may forget to check in and see that all is well. They may not have been clear about what they want to know, when they need to know it, or when challenges should be escalated.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have the micromanager who is constantly checking, questioning and sometimes interfering with the work along the way.
That creates a different problem. Instead of increasing accountability, it can reduce it. Why take ownership when someone else is constantly stepping in?
Perhaps healthy accountability sits somewhere between the two.
Enough freedom to take ownership. Enough clarity and connection to know that we are still working towards the same outcome.
So, what are we accountable for?
Accountability exists at different levels of an organisation.
Each individual is responsible for themselves: their behaviour, their choices and their contribution to the team and organisation, in line with their role and agreed expectations.
A team has collective responsibility for delivering its mandate to the organisation. Individual responsibilities matter, but so does the way those individual contributions come together to create the overall result.
The manager or leader is accountable for the overall delivery of the team or unit. They need to understand what is happening, who is responsible for what, where support may be needed and whether the outcomes are being achieved.
Part of their role is to smooth the path so that team members can do the work for which they are responsible.
That means leaders need to pay attention not only to people, but also to the processes, systems, resources and relationships that enable those people to perform.
They cannot control everything that happens within the system. But they can be accountable for the conditions they help to create and for how they respond when things do not go according to plan.
As Rick Warren puts it:
“Having authority implies accountability. If you reject the blame for failures under your watch, people reject your leadership.”
Freedom needs boundaries
There can also be challenges when individuals want to do things their own way.
We have just said that giving people freedom to determine how they work can be positive. But that freedom cannot be to the detriment of other people, the team or the task itself.
The same is true of decision-making.
The person doing the work needs to understand where their decision-making authority begins and ends.
Clear boundaries can actually create greater freedom.
If I know which decisions are mine to make, I do not need to keep referring upwards. I can act more quickly, take ownership and respond to what is happening.
And my leader is freed from making decisions that do not need their involvement, giving them more time to focus on the bigger picture, strategy and the future.
As Kevin Powers said:
“Freedom is not the same as lack of accountability.”
Accountability is something we develop together
Not everyone enters the workplace with the same understanding of accountability.
Our expectations have been shaped by our previous workplaces, our managers, our experience and sometimes our stage of career. What seems obvious to one person may not be obvious to another.
Rather than assuming that people should simply know what accountability looks like, perhaps part of our responsibility is to make it explicit – and to help one another develop it.
That might mean a manager having a coaching conversation rather than simply stepping in when something goes wrong. It might mean asking what got in the way, what could have been done differently and what support or clarity was missing.
And it certainly means leading by example.
If we want other people to take responsibility for their choices and actions, we need to be prepared to do the same.
To acknowledge mistakes. To learn from them. To say, “That was mine to do, and I didn’t do it,” rather than immediately looking for someone or something else to blame.
As Steve Maraboli reminds us:
“Wisdom stems from personal accountability. We all make mistakes; own them… learn from them. Don’t throw away the lesson by blaming others.”
From value to practice
Perhaps accountability is not something we can simply write on a list of organisational values and expect people to understand in the same way.
It needs clarity.
People need to know what they are responsible for, what decisions they have the authority to make, when they need to involve others and when they need to ask for help.
Leaders need to give people enough freedom to take ownership without stepping so far away that support becomes absence – or coming so close that accountability becomes control.
And accountability works both ways.
If I expect you to take responsibility for delivering something, I also have a responsibility to create the conditions that enable you to do it.
There are three questions you can ask yourself and your team today to develop a shared understanding of what accountability means for you:
- What is the difference between commitment, responsibility and accountability?
- How do we recognise accountability in ourselves and others?
- How can we hold ourselves – and one another – accountable in a way that strengthens rather than undermines trust?
Perhaps that is the real challenge of accountability.
It is not about who takes the blame when something goes wrong. It is about creating enough clarity, trust and ownership for people to take responsibility for making things go right.
Accountability is easy to agree with as a value. Living it together is where the real work begins.
When last did your team have an honest conversation about what accountability looks like in practice?
What might change if you explored not only what you expect of one another, but also what each person needs to take ownership and succeed?
At Chameleon Skills Consulting, we help teams turn shared values into shared ways of working. If accountability is something your team is grappling with, we’d welcome a conversation.
