Workplace accountability can be a difficult topic for managers to tackle. Employees who lack accountability have the potential to negatively impact a project, a department and even an organization. What do you do when an employee isn’t living up to his or her potential?

Being clear might be the key. This edition of TRIO offers three clear ways that managers can help create a culture of accountability.

1. Set Clear Expectations

It’s difficult to hold employees accountable for something if they don’t know what is expected from them. When creating a culture of accountability, it is important that supervisors define what an employee’s specific goals are, provide a deadline when jobs should be complete and explain how the manager will measure success. Good leaders frequently provide the parameters and then leave the rest of the details up to the employee. When there is a culture of accountability in the workplace, employees know what is expected from them, and they have the autonomy to develop a plan to meet the desired outcome.

2. Give Clear Feedback

As a supervisor, you already know that it’s more important to be honest than nice. Clear feedback allows supervisors and employees to address shortcomings and discuss missed expectations. It also provides an opportunity for employees to ask for help and to ensure that they have everything they need to successfully complete the task. Communication is key in any work environment, but it is essential in workplaces that value accountability.

3. Implement Clear Consequences  

If you’ve laid out the expectations and provided feedback along the way and an employee still doesn’t meet the expectations, you need to follow through with what you’ve mutually agreed upon. If you don’t, you risk sending the message that it’s okay to not meet expectations. However, if you believe that there was still a lack of clarity with the employee, it might be worth considering whether you need to revisit this process again.

Interested in learning more about creating accountability in your workplace? Join us for the upcoming HR Matters series session on Creating a Culture of Accountability where you’ll learn how to create higher levels of ownership and joint responsibility that can lead to your team achieving key results in the workplace. Call 405.377.3333 with questions or get registered here. To find out about more courses like this sign up for our monthly newsletter.