Avoid Accountability At Your Peril: 4 Reasons Why Avoiding It is Bad for Business

Why do business leaders and employees avoid accountability? I think it’s because we are trained and conditioned by an old set of rules.

Old Rules: Avoid Accountability & Team Motivation

1. If you preach accountability, but do not embrace it for yourself – you will risk a dysfunctional and conflicted organization.
2. If you avoid accountability altogether, you have to give up the right to complain about your team and your business.
3. If you do not learn to motivate and inspire your team, you will have to crack the whip a lot and risk burnout for everyone.

Good News: We Are Undergoing an Accountability Paradigm Shift

1. If you embrace accountability for yourself and others and view it as a path to freedom and joy, life gets easier.
2. If you continually motivate and inspire your team, life gets easier.

Notice how the good news list is shorter and easier than the old rules list.

Life gets easier when you relax and embrace accountability.

Why do business owners and employees avoid accountability?

1. It may be temporarily highly uncomfortable – ‘The Truth will set you free but first it will p*ss you off’ – Gloria Steinem. People do not like dealing with accounting for their promises. Business Owners do not like dealing with the fact that they did not get clear promised actions – they prefer to stay comfortable in magically expecting employees to be ‘mature enough’ to lead themselves.
2. It lets you off the hook even if it means compromising on big visions, big dreams and goals.
3. You get to make someone or something else wrong.
4. You avoid potentially embarrassing conversations.

The list can go on for a while, but I will stop for the sake of brevity.

Next steps:

1. Get clear on your expectations and timelines for delivery.
2. Get clear on whether these expectations are clearly understood by your staff.
3. Get clear if you have a career pathway that your team is excited about for themselves – that you set reasonable and realistic objectives and that they are clear on what they get in return over time – acknowledgments, raises, promotions, etc.

Ready for more business strategies to help you and your team hold each other accountable? Contact me or follow me on LinkedIn.

Sunil Bhaskaran

Since 1991, I’ve been reflecting on, designing, and implementing methodologies and systems for bringing a transcendent, creative and innovative approach to critical aspects of entrepreneurship.