First you need to decide if accountability is missing from your organization or even in certain pockets of it. John Miller, author of “QBQ – The Question Behind the Question” gives some guidelines in this respect:
Is there a tendency in your company to assign blame? Is it always someone else’s fault? This can be on an individual basis or by department as in “we did it right, but they screwed up”.

Do some employees feel they are victims? Do you hear “why doesn’t anybody tell us what’s going on?” Or “why do we have to go through all these changes? We are doing fine without them.” Do employees use procrastination as a weapon? Do people delay activities or push deadlines further away from the agreed upon date and justify it by saying “it doesn’t matter because nobody will notice anyway” or “even if I keep the commitment I won’t get any rewards”?
Do they make excuses for their performance by blaming it on incidentals, such as not having the right tools, or not getting help from others?

Do your employees look at work as a burden dropped upon them that they cannot escape from, rather than enjoying what they do? I don’t mean to be altruistic, but unless employees show some signs of enjoyment or at least acceptance of their job, chances are they will resent being held accountable or working in an environment of accountability.
OK, now you know that you don’t have the accountable organization that you need. How do you build company-wide accountability?

Check back later this week for part II of this article and learn the best ways to start implementing accountability in your own company or business.

If you would like to learn more about implementing accountability in your organization, you can do so now by reading the SkillBite “Accountability In The Workplace” at our website by going to https://resources.skillbites.net/accountability-in-the-workplace/