A leader is ultimately accountable for everything that happens in a team.
We’ve all heard the quote: “A fish rots from the head,” and we have seen the public shaming that occurs when leaders don’t take accountability. When Scott Morrison, former Prime Minister of Australia, departed for a vacation to Hawaii in late 2019 whilst much of Australia’s east was experiencing ravaging bush fires, he was met with significant levels of resentment and disappointment upon his return. Here was a leader who left his country in the midst of a crisis. There are always two sides to every story, and perhaps the then prime Minister of Australia had full trust in his team and emergency services to be able to manage the crisis in his absence. However, the public however did not see it this way. They saw a leader absconding from his leadership responsibilities and avoiding accountability. This was made worse every time Morrison failed to accept his poor judgment and ultimate lack of accountability. As Peter Parker said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Accountability for a team’s performance, reputation, and behavior fit within the leader’s primary remit. This creates a huge burden for a leader. You can’t be everywhere all the time. Therefore, how can you possibly be accountable for everything that happens in a team?
The balance here is to promote both trust and accountability in your teams. A lack of accountability is rarely intentional, states Melissa Raffoni. She puts it down to issues such as a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities, limited resources, a poor or unclear strategy, or unrealistic goals.
Let’s look at trust and accountability in teams.
High trust environments create the conditions where teams and individuals prosper. Decisions are made by the right person in conjunction with the relevant team members. Information is shared willingly and openly, and this transparency means that information is widely held and understood. Communication is a key focus at all levels. Leaders trust their teams and therefore share accountability with them for team performance, focusing on what the team does and how it does it. The why is communicated first, before the what and the how. Leaders trust that team members will ask them if they are unsure about anything, and they know that other team members will be able to offer support and assistance because it is about the team and not the leader. These types of leaders feel their worth in focusing on the legacy they leave and what type of team they create.
In a low trust and low accountability environment, Micromanagers relish in the control they have in these teams. They love to be across all the details and find their worth in what they know. This ultimately slows down the team because nothing gets done unless the leaders tell you it can be done. Every decision is painstakingly slow and provides limited time and space for consultation. Leaders here are likely to have observed behaviours in other leaders that don’t promote trust and accountability, or they work in organisations where the culture is unhealthy. People that work for micromanagers usually don’t thrive professionally and it can impact them personally, too.
Where there is mid to high-level trust and low accountability, these teams are often happy for a short period of time. They tend to get along well and focus on developing their relationships sometimes at the expense of getting the job done. Just like cruise control in a car, there’s not too much effort here, but of course, at some point, you need to come out of cruise control and respond to the changing traffic conditions, or of course, you’ll crash. For a leader, whilst it’s comfortable in cruise, it’s ineffective in promoting accountability and, therefore, high performance. These types of leaders find their worth in the quality of relationships, which is not bad unless there is a limited focus on accountability and getting the job done.
Finally, where we have leaders that feel a high level of accountability for themselves and the team but have low trust, we find ourselves with a stressed out and potentially burned-out leader. This leader finds their worth in what they do. They typically shoulder all the accountability and may feel low trust in the team, so they don’t share much accountability. This might look like a lack of delegation, not sharing information, and communicating on a need-to-know basis.
We want leaders that are focused on developing teams that have high trust, high levels of engagement, a focus on development at the individual and team level, and avoidance of blame. We want psychological safety to always be at the forefront of everybody’s mind, not just the leaders.
Monitoring both trust and accountability and ensuring that this is a focus for the entire team and not just the leader will create a high-performing team.
Rita Cincotta writes, mentors, and speaks on individual and team performance, leadership development, resilience and new ways of working. She works with organisations to develop human centred solutions that help people and businesses to thrive.