Do you check the oil?

Management science has been continually evolving to try to help leaders implement strategies to increase employee effectiveness. Terms like empowerment, team building, and coaching are peppered throughout the literature. Today’s leadership word is accountability.

We have all heard it: “you need to hold your people accountable”. As we evolve our approach to make employees more effective, why does “holding people accountable” sound so demeaning?  Is it any wonder that “holding one’s feet to the fire”, another phrase that more forcefully describes holding people accountable, is rejected and generally ineffective anyway?

Holding people accountable seems to imply that our employees are irresponsible and can’t be trusted. 

Yet, accountability is very important and it’s something we must achieve. When people are accountable, they make commitments, follow through with those commitments and build trust with their team. People around them then believe that they are capable of success.

So how do we inspire accountability in our teams without burning their feet?

I propose that accountability is not a tactic. Instead, it is the consequence of something bigger than we as leaders must inspire: ownership.

I have heard it said that holding people accountable inspires ownership – but I think it’s the other way around. You can hold people accountable for showing up on time, but can you hold them accountable for caring? According to “The Florence Prescription” by Joe Tye, a culture of ownership requires commitment, engagement, passion, initiative, stewardship, belonging, fellowship, and pride. It is these characteristics on which we must concentrate if we want a culture of ownership that will result in accountability.

Ownership results in a more committed workforce and a more productive organization.

Holding people accountable is good for following rules, and people follow rules because they have to – or face consequences. You must file taxes by April 15th. You must return a rental car on time and with a full tank of gas. But ownership brings with it an automatic accountability because people are invested in something that they own or is part of their identity. When is the last time you checked the oil in a rental car?