Feb 13, 2015 By Lauren Bishop

Behind the Scenes: One Startup's 3 Principles for Accountability

in Featured, Sales, Small Business

For organizations of all sizes – startups to Fortune 500s – employee accountability is an ongoing struggle. When accountability lacks, companies deteriorate to negativity and finger pointing. Once this happens, the morale and productivity in a company plummet.

But far too many employers have this false idea that accountability is innate – like rhythm or pitch. When they hire a new employee and see them duck from responsibility, employers throw their hands up and think nothing can be done.

If you are one of these employers, listen up!

It is the culture you create for your company that determines whether or not an individual will value accountability. Our company has the opportunity to be housed in the Atlanta Tech Village alongside 200 other startups. Through collaboration with these CEOs and innovators we have learned these principles to build and sustain a culture of responsibility.

1) It Starts at the Top

Accountability trickles down from the leadership level. If the leadership in a company doesn’t hold themselves accountable for their own actions, their team members won’t either.

It’s refreshing to see the head of a department respond to an email asking, “What happened here?” with the response, “I dropped the ball on this one. Here is what we will do…”

When it comes to accountability, you can’t live by the old adage “Do as I Say, Not as I Do.” If you want a workplace of responsibility remember, your employees will model your behavior.

2) Trust and Transparency

According to Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, trust is the foundation for success. But building trust within your dream team is easier said than done. Trust is only achieved with transparency, honesty, and admission of failure.

The best companies operate under 100% transparency.

Without any background information you can walk through our doors and learn the state of our company because the latest metrics are plastered on television screens in every room of the office.

Transparency not only holds employees accountable to a company’s objectives, but builds confidence among the staff and leadership. Employees in our office know the numbers are accurate because they watch them accrue every day on the screens.

Transparency can also come in the form of weekly emails. Every Sunday a company-wide email goes out detailing the progress of each department. It includes the names of all sales and account reps and the numbers they produced for the week. Everyone in the department knows where they stand — who is leading the pack and who needs to work a little harder. These weekly emails create friendly competition among the guys and girls on the sales teams. To be in sales you need a competitive edge, right?

In addition to transparency, trust is built on on humility and admission of failure. From a young age we're taught that success is our only option. But companies where “failure is not an option” have employees that worry about the consequences of defeat — resulting in a lack of accountability.

There’s this fear of introducing an idea and being mocked or ridiculed by coworkers. Your company will thrive in an environment that encourages team members to take risks, make mistakes, and acknowledge the wins and losses that come with them.

3) Morning Meetings

Many companies in the Atlanta Tech Village have adopted the Scrum methodology because of the emphasis it places on communication and collaboration. There are several aspects of the Scrum methodology but none are as useful to employee accountability as the morning stand-up meetings. These meetings are broken up by department and last only 15 minutes. In the meeting each person says:

What they have completed since the last stand-up
What they will complete before the next stand-up
What roadblocks (if any) are in the way of completing these tasks before the next stand-up

Voicing your daily goals allows your coworkers to hold you accountable throughout the day to complete your tasks. For example, if you find yourself wrapped up in an intense game of PacMan— it’s happened to all of us— your team is there to check in with you.

“Hey, Greg. How is that infographic coming along? I have some time available today to proof it when it’s done.”

Like a fishing rod, your coworker reels you back in to focus on the important work at hand.

Take a minute to think about your company culture. Is your leadership setting an example of accountability? Are transparency, trust, and humility held in high regard? Don't give up on team members who drop the ball, but use these tools to create a workplace that fosters responsibility and increases productivity.