Taking OwnershipHow to Create a Culture of

Accountability in the Workplace

JULY 14, 2016

Speaker: Molly KelleyModerator: 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

Culture

Manager

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 PointsCreate a culture that makes accountability as easy as breathing

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

Hire, reinforce and reward individual employee accountability

123

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-account

ability/– http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/07/17/great-man

agement-boils-down-to-one-major-thing/#2f09a9dd36c5– https://hbr.org/2012/11/one-out-of-every-two-managers-is-terr

ible-at-accountability/– https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-ways-to-create-an-owners

hip-mentality-within-your-team

Questions for Molly?

Enter your question for Molly into the chat window on the gotowebinar panel

Speaker Moderator

Thank you!

Articles, Whitepapers &

other free content at

xeniumhr.com/blog

Podcasts on iTunes, or visit

xeniumhr.com/podcast

Webinar recordings at xeniumhr.com/webinars

General Email:info@xeniumhr.com

Molly:Molly.Kelley@xeniumhr.com

Brandon: Brandon.Laws@xeniumhr.com