Whenever you find yourself understanding and accepting your responsibilities, you are holding yourself accountable for the actions you take, regardless of consequence or success. And with that self-accountability follows the opportunity to establish a culture of accountability within your team itself.

It may sound easy, but it can take a lot of personal development and understanding of your own goals and values before that culture can be brought into a larger group of people. As a leader, you have to know what kind of leader you want to be in order to adapt to the needs of your team as a whole and as individuals. This means, when at the starting point of your road to forming an accountable team, you must hold yourself accountable to them first.

So what does this mean?

Well, there are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if you are on the right track to an accountable team culture:

  • What is your leadership style and how does accountability fit into it?
  • Are your goals and expectations of your team realistic? If they aren’t, what are some things you can do or change about your current standards or processes to encourage and support your team members?
  • How do you connect with your team on a group level, and individually? How open are you with them to let them know you understand and have empathy for them? Do you notice how they interact with each other and how that might affect the team?
  • Do you acknowledge their individual perspectives and remain impartial when assessing their work or professional development?

The more open, adaptable, and clear you are with your team on your goals and expectations as a leader, the more open, adaptable, and clear they can be in return with their expectations of you and each other.

Just like other crucial aspects of a successful team, like trust, respect, and feedback, accountability is a two-way street. In order to be accountable to others, you must first hold yourself accountable to yourself. How you go about planning, reaching, and maintaining your own personal and professional goals and expectations sets an example as to what you expect from your team, and what they should expect from you.

By establishing accountability as a key factor of success at a team level, your team can thrive knowing that the level responsibility, trust, and support are set to a standard where everyone knows just how important they are within the team. It’s up to you, as a leader, to set the tone and determine where to start and the best way to continue keeping everyone accountable for themselves and each other.