“A culture of ‘accountability’ is the most important element in ‘making things happen.”
Yapp
The Accountability Ladder describes the hierarchy of consequences if someone achieves or doesn’t achieve an outcome. It’s intended to be illustrative, not comprehensive, and it provides benchmarks for the impact of different actions.
Eight Basic Rungs by Martin Zwilling
1. No accountability, person totally unaware of failures. These are business people, whether they are employees, managers, or entrepreneurs, who don’t have a clue about what is required or the devastation they leave behind. Usually, these people think they are doing a great job, and are totally oblivious to their unhappy customers or cash drain.
2. Use blame and complain in lieu of accepting accountability. Some business people always play the victim, finding someone or some natural force as the cause for all their failures. An example of this would be finger pointing at unfair managers, blaming economic downturns, and irrational customer expectations for missed commitments.
3. People deliver excuses rather than results. It’s easy for an entrepreneur or an employee to convince themselves that they would have been successful if they had more time, received more funding, or had the proper training to do the job. Usually, the real culprit is procrastination, lack of focus, or low productivity and lack of metrics.
4. Wait and hope for a miracle. Entrepreneurs with the mantra “if we build it, they will come,” and executives who don’t communicate their expectations, fall into this category. Employees can’t be accountable if they don’t know what is expected of them. Entrepreneurs won’t be successful if they have a passion, but no plan and no target.
5. Accountability starts by acknowledging reality. Business people at this level recognize the magnitude of the workload and the specific tasks required for success. Smart entrepreneurs know they must deliver a quality product, develop a winning business model, and attract real customers. All that’s left is to commit and deliver.
6. The next step is to accept ownership and responsibility. Moving forward into the business realities requires courage, commitment, and determination to succeed. If the motivation is not strong enough, it’s easy for people to fall back down the ladder and cover their lack of ownership with excuses, blame, and complaints.
7. Apply known solutions to predictable tasks and challenges. Most good employees and executives perform at this level of accountability. They admit to owning the situation and pride themselves on their professional abilities. Yet, when the totally unexpected happens, they may be quick unload the problem up the line, or fall off the ladder.
8. Accept total accountability and make it happen. These are the cherished entrepreneurs who succeed despite tough odds, and the employees who come up with new approaches to delight your customers, achieve breakthrough goals, and develop innovative new products for markets you never imagined.
Additional Reading
Accountability: The Key to Driving a High-Performance Culture by Greg Bustin
Point of Reflection
“You are accountable for your actions, your decisions, your life; no one else is, but you.”
Catherine Pulsifer