How can you encourage accountability?

Olivia Gauding 

og198415@ohio.edu

Accountability & Leadership

The Role of Leaders

A leader is not only someone who can see how things can be improved, but someone who can also rally together a group of people to make the improvements. According to the University of Southern Indiana, there are five roles of a leader:

1. The Motivator - A leader must be able to inspire others to be efficient, and beneficial to the team. 

2. The Mentor - A leader must encourage others in the right direction and inspire trust within the team. 

3. The Learner - A leader must be willing to further their knowledge, skills, and abilities. This is crucial to the sustainability of a team. 

4. The Communicator - A leader must be able to listen to others effectively and articulate to the team what has been stated. 

5. The Navigator  - A leader must create the goal for the team and properly direct them towards the goal.

In business, the leaders of a company are to decide the company’s cultural and ethical standards. According to the Public Relations Society of America, the CEO and PR Practitioner are two leaders with very important roles. The CEO is to create, encourage, and communicate the culture of the company. Then, the PR Practitioner is to communicate the culture and explain its purpose. It is crucial that the CEO, PR Practitioner, and other leaders hold employees in the company accountable.

Accountability 

If the CEO, PR Practitioner, and other leaders effectively communicate the cultural and ethical standards of the company, employees will understand what is and is not acceptable behavior. Although employees understand what is not acceptable behavior, they sometimes will still break the rules. 

According to the University of Southern Indiana, employees will break rules when they feel pressured by management to reach unrealistic goals, know management will overlook small but persistent breaches of policy, or if they feel as if their job is in danger. 

Picture source: partnersinleadership.com

To ensure employees do not identify with the above listing, Partners In Leaderships advise CEOs, PR Practitioners and other leaders to do these four things:

1.  Establish Expectations - A leader must identify what expectations they have in order to see their company succeed. 

2. What Expectations - A leader must express their expectations at the beginning of an employee’s involvement with the company. Expectations should be explained in a clear, concise, and memorable manner. 

3. The Purpose of Expectations -  A leader must be able to explain to employees why they should commit to the expectations. Having a purpose creates a sense of connection between the employees and the company. 

4. When Are Expectations Met -  A leader must address a deadline. Deadlines are best remembered if they are repeatable and have recurring events associated with them. 

When these expectations are established and explained, employees are less likely to break the rules. Leaders have a crucial role in ensuring their employees are being accountable and practicing acceptable behavior.