JOSÉ LUIS ORTIZ FLORES

We´ve heard before, in different situations, the importance of having “accountability” in our organization but, how does that really mean? What does it require to have accountability in your organization?

You can be “accountable”, people can “trust you”, your boss or your team may be confident that constantly you “do your job”. But what characteristics make someone accountable for an organization? Some people say it´s a combination of commitment, proactivity and responsibility. 

Now, you may be thinking on situations when you were accountable, or maybe you are thinking on people that you know they are accountable.  So, does accountability depend on your personality? Maybe, the problem is that an organization cannot rely on the “personality” of each member of the organization to have accountability.

An organization should have different factors in its “organizational culture” and in its “organizational model” to propitiate accountability in its day-to-day operations.

People may be “committed” with your organization and even may be “proactive” with the actions they think must be done. But that does not guarantee efficacy; it is not correct that people do “what they think” must be done, or do “what you tell them to do”; but “do what it must be done in order to achieve the organization´s objectives and goals”; you need to institutionalize accountability. 

So, the first thing you must have, in order to have accountability in your organization is CLEAR OBJECTIVES AND GOALS for each area and for each member of your organization. In order to take these objectives and goals to the day-to-day operations, these and the specific functions and responsibilities may be described in a manual (ORGANIZATION MANUAL). 

Then you need a PROCESS OR A SYSTEM TO KEEP TRACK OF THE GOALS’ PERFORMANCE (that may be supported, or not, with an IT system).  That way, the commitment, proactivity and responsibility of your team have a focus, a path that must be followed to be not just efficient, but effective (https://redintegralis.live/2021/01/24/discover-and-focus/) .

There are many methodologies that can help an organization to keep the track of its objectives and goals performance, an example is the Balanced Scorecard.

But there is a saying: “Culture kills Strategy”. Your ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE must “wrap” these strategies in order to assure an environment that protects and promotes accountability, a culture with values as respect, trust and empowerment (https://www.cascade.app/blog/creating-a-culture-of-organizational-accountability) .

With these basic administrative elements your organization may have a team that is accountable, regardless of the personality of its members. The importance of having accountability in your organization is that your objectives become more realistic and more feasible to be achieved in a more efficient way.