Leadership in Business Begins With Accountability


by Conor Kindel


Good leadership is an essential ingredient not only to successful business, but in any organisation where people are united with a common goal and purpose. Leadership sets the agenda and the tone, facilitates solutions to problems, and carries the organization from one success to the next. On an individual basis, there are several ingredients that make a good leader, one of them being accountability.

Leadership through accountability is one of the latest fads in the business world. Truly, the idea is an old one. It has just been left behind over the years and is now being reintroduced. As business leaders are once again acquainting themselves with the idea of accountability, they are experiencing effective results to the point that they are implementing it.

Accountability when in the work environment means that each person, no matter what their position or seniority in the company, must upkeep a specific standard of work performance and ethic. When a worker does not meet that standard, accountability implies that he or she will be responsible for the bad work and do whatever it takes to fix the problem. Accountability also implies taking responsibility for mistakes instead of blaming others.

A worker who is accountable to himself and his supervisors is one who is trusted and given more responsibility over time. When leaders do not engage is proper accountability, the employees who they lead will eventually lose respect, and gradually will have none at all. For instance, a middle manager that is not committed to being responsible for his own faulty decisions will rather blame the problems on other managers or people whom he supervises.

Blaming leads to resentment among people who bear it and it chips away the respect that co-workers have for that certain leader. Leaders who also try to not be accountable quickly go to a place where their employees speak behind their backs, do not work as much as they should, and at times will even revolt openly.

Accountability is a vital component of leadership not only on the lower and middle supervisor levels, but on the senior level as well. Corporate officers, division heads, and boards all need to display accountability for their actions and decisions if they want to be successful leaders. From the bottom up, all of a company’s employees will use the example of their managers for help as to how they can fulfill their responsibilities. If senior management is not accountable, there is a slim chance that the average employee on the floor will do so. What is observed at the top will be justified for what is accomplished at the bottom.

Accountability is one of the most important and powerful leadership skills because it proves to employees that managers don't think of themselves as being superior to their workers. Such an attitude is much more likely to foster an environment of cohesiveness and respect among all employees. When they know that their leader holds himself accountable, they also know he can be trusted and that he won't demand more of them than is demanded of him. The business leader who practices an attitude of accountability is much more likely to be an effective leader no matter the circumstances.




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