I define team accountability as shared ownership of team goals.  In fact, what differentiates a team from a mere group of people IS their common interest in shared objectives.  Let’s say a group of VPs report to a SVP.  Even though every VP may not have a huge role to play in a project, if it’s a goal of the SVP, the entire team is responsible for doing whatever they can to achieve it.  Sometimes that means sharing resources, brainstorming ideas, or transferring budget to make sure the goal is attained.

Team accountability is important because otherwise team members operate in silos without regard to the impact of their actions/inactions on the team.  Without accountability, the organization loses the synergies that come from sharing experiences, ideas and best practices.  The diversity of thought is important to create the best solution.  Without accountability, team members may be overly cautious of sticking their neck out or being careful to avoid stepping on a peers’ toes.  But in actuality, the best solution can only be found through the sharing of ideas.  It’s a huge waste of talent, best practices and a variety of experiences if team members don’t contribute.

Some actionable and impactful ways to cultivate accountability include:

  1. Shared goals and success metrics – if multiple people own a goal, they will actively pursue it instead of waiting to be asked to contribute
  2. Successful teams have a process for defining the roles and responsibilities each will play.  One such tool is “RACI”.  For each goal, it’s important to define who is Responsible, who is Accountable, who is Consulted and who is Informed.  The responsible parties do the actual work, while the accountable parties are ultimately responsible for it getting completed.  For some goals, team members may play only a consultant role to contribute their expertise.  For other goals, someone who is accountable elsewhere will just be informed of the status of this project.  Team members play different roles on different goals.
  3. Accountable teams review top projects at each meeting.  If any are off track, the team focuses on what’s needed to course correct.  If on track, they move to the next item.  In this way, valuable meeting time isn’t spent reading out a list of everything that has been done.  Instead, we want to tap the wisdom of the team to address what’s not working by sharing ideas, resources, tools, etc.

Things to avoid with team accountability include:

  1. Lack of role clarity – if everyone is responsible for everything, nobody is
  2. Wasting time with status reports when things are on track.  As noted above, the team’s time needs to be focused on righting the ship if things are off track
  3. Ignoring interpersonal dynamics.  If there’s an elephant in the room, it needs to be addressed and resolved.  Avoiding difficult conversations can derail the entire project.

Contact Enerpace  at 630-832-4399  or on our Contact Us page about the Enerpace High Performance Team Program.