The document provides 7 tips for building accountability in employees. The tips include letting employees know you expect them to take responsibility, giving clear goals and latitude in how they achieve them, easing direction as competence increases, resisting solving problems for employees and instead turning it back to them, asking questions that focus on thinking process rather than details, and recognizing and acknowledging when employees take responsibility. Following these tips can help create a culture of accountability that benefits both managers and employees.

1. By: Ian Cook, CSPBy: Ian Cook, CSP
PrincipalPrincipal
Fulcrum Associates Inc.Fulcrum Associates Inc.
How to Build Accountability in your PeopleHow to Build Accountability in your People
7 Tips7 Tips
Welcome to

2. Benefits to having Accountability in
your organization:
 Frees you up to do your critical managerial work
 Less stress, when you can confidently rely on
others
 Faster development of staff to full performance
levels
 Confident, engaged employees inclined to rise up
to their full potential
 Unit productivity rises due to an overall culture of
personal accountability

3. Tip #1
Managers are problem solvers. Their default style, honed over
many years, is to take responsibility and come up with
solutions to problems. When coaching your staff to be more
accountable, however, you must overcome any needs you
have to relieve your own anxiety that is triggered by
questions unanswered and decisions unmade.
Get over your need to tell your staff
what to do and how to do it.

4. Tip #2
Early on in your working relationship, tell your employee
that you expect him to come up with most answers to work-
related problems and that you want him to take prime
responsibility for his work performance, career aspirations
and job satisfaction. That said, however, you will still be
there as a support, coach and advisor.
Let them know you expect them to
take responsibility.

5. Tip #3 Give the clear goals and a lot of latitude
around how to achieve them.
You have a major role setting–with employee involvement,
ideally–their work objectives and performance standards.
Beyond that, however, let them choose how they will
accomplish their work goals. If they go off track or fall
behind, you can always step in and lead a discussion about
what they could do differently to recover.

6. Tip #4
Situational Leadership® teaches that the amount of direction
and support you give an employee around a particular task
depends on her (1) motivation & self-confidence and (2)
competency to perform it. Employees may well require your
active involvement with new responsibilities but as soon as
they don’t, get out of the way!
Ease off your direction as soon as
they start to get it right.

7. Tip #5
When an employee brings you a question or problem that she
should be able to handle…and you solve it…everyone feels
good and we can all get on with our work. But you are
building dependency, not accountability. Instead, ask her for
her ideas.
Resist solving their problems; turn it
back on them for the solution.

8. Tip #6 Ask questions that focus on their
thinking process, not the details
First of all, get her to identify what she wants from you…
the solution? advice? ideas? or perhaps just a sympathetic
ear? Then, invite her direct involvement with questions
such as “What have you tried or considered? What might be
a solution or course of action? Where could you get that
information?”

9. Tip #7
Recognize and acknowledge when they take responsibility.
It requires courage to take on accountability. After all, you
could fail. So, whenever an employee does step up and take
responsibility for solving a problem, improving his
performance or identifying his career aspirations and
possible development plans, this is precisely the kind of
behavior you want encourage and reinforce.
Recognize and acknowledge when
they take responsibility.

10. Fulcrum covers these tips–and much
more–in depth in our comprehensive
management development program,
The Skillful Leader
Call us to bring this series of workshops into
your organization, or to have us customize a
learning solution to foster a culture of
accountability.

11. For other tips, articles and book
reviews for managers and leaders go
to.
www.888fulcrum.com/free_resources.aspx
For answers call:
Fulcrum Associates Inc
888-385-2786
Or visit: www.888fulcrum.com