Accountability is something that, as a business owner, you might have heard of before, but even if you know what it is, do you know how to ensure your employees are accountable? It’s such an important thing when it comes to creating a strong, productive, harmonious team, but it’s not always so easy to put in place, and as their boss, it’s one of your jobs to do it.
That might sound hard, or perhaps even impossible, but the good news is that making your employees more accountable can be done, and it only takes a few simple strategies to get it right. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at how to make your employees more accountable so you can make the changes you need to right away and have a far more efficient business as a result. Read on to find out more.
Set Clear Expectations
Just because you know what you mean and what you want people to do that doesn’t mean everyone around you does, which is why the first step in creating a culture of accountability is to make sure everyone knows exactly what they’re expected to do. You’d be surprised how often employees are just bumbling along and not quite sure what they’re meant to be doing because their boss hasn’t explained it and they’re afraid to ask – and that’s not a great way to run a business for plenty of reasons. In the end, that’s just going to lead to confusion, frustration, and missed deadlines – disasters, in other words.
That’s why you need to set specific, measurable goals for your team and make sure they understand what they need to achieve – get them to a point where they’re comfortable asking for more guidance and help if they need it because that’s far better than the mistakes and bad feeling that will come otherwise. Remember, no one’s perfect and no one knows everything, and it’s actually a good sign when an employee asks for more clarification about something.
Make Progress Visible
Something else that can help a lot when it comes to making your employees more accountable is to make their progress visible – not just to them, but to everyone. That’s where tools like safety scoreboards can be useful, for example; they’ll show everyone that each individual member is being careful and safe in their jobs, and that’s going to boost morale and help everyone stay on track, not to mention the fact that it’s going to keep people happy in their jobs if people aren’t getting hurt.
You can also track the progress of other things, like sales, projects, invoicing, and so on – show everyone where the business is and don’t keep things hidden, and it could make a difference. If you’re not doing so well, it’s a great way to encourage people to do more, and if you are doing well, it’s going to help them stay focused.
Lead By Example
Finally, as the boss you need to lead by example if you want your employees to do the same – your actions pretty much set the tone for everything and everyone, and if you’re accountable for your own actions, it’s going to help everyone else do the same thing.
You’ll need to own up to mistakes, be transparent about your goals, and show commitment to reaching them and you should see your team do the same.
