Accountability - Who's Responsibility is it anyway?

We all want people to be accountable and take responsibility for things at work, and at home! But it's not as easy as simply giving instructions. This blog explores why and what to do differently.

“The drier’s broken”: an everyday lesson in accountability

While we were on holiday, my 20-year-old son looked after himself which included doing his own laundry. However, the weather wasn't great, so he decided to use the drier rather than hang things out.

Ours is a condenser drier, which means the water tank needs emptying and the fluff needs cleaning out after a couple of uses. He hadn’t done either. Eventually, it stopped drying the clothes and started leaking.

So when we go home, we were informed that the drier was broken. That was the explanation. He’d tried to do his washing, the machine had let him down, and there wasn’t much more to be done.

From my point of view, there were a few logical steps missing between noticing that it wasn’t working and waiting for us to return.

Had he checked anything? Tried to find out why it had stopped? Looked up what to do? Even sent us a message?

But it also made me realise what I'd assumed he knew, because it's obvious to me.

Using the drier seems straightforward when you’ve been doing it for years. I don’t consciously think through all the little jobs that keep it working. Had we ever properly explained those, or had we just expected him to pick them up?

There are two things tangled up here. One is knowing how to do a job properly. The other is taking some responsibility when it doesn’t go to plan.

He might not have known about the tank or the fluff. But he could still have taken a next step rather than leaving the whole problem for us.

And I suspect most of us have encountered a version of “the drier’s broken” at work.

“I sent the email.”

“The system wouldn’t let me.”

“They haven’t got back to me.”

All perfectly possible explanations. But what happened next?

That’s where a useful conversation about accountability can begin. Here are three questions worth asking.

1. Are managers clear about what someone is taking responsibility for?

There’s a difference between completing a task and achieving the result it was meant to produce.

Putting washing into a machine is a task. Having clean, dry clothes involves a little more.

At work, “send the information over” might mean exactly that. Or a manager might really need someone to make sure a colleague has everything they need to proceed. If they’re expecting the second, have they said so?

Managers don’t need to explain every tiny step to a capable adult. But they do need to check that the expected result is clear, and that the person has the knowledge and resources to achieve it.

Do the managers in your organisation agree what “done” looks like, or assume everyone means the same thing?

2. What happens when someone hits a problem?

Being accountable doesn’t mean knowing all the answers or fixing everything alone.

Sometimes the sensible next step is to ask for help. It might be checking the instructions, chasing a response or explaining that a deadline is at risk.

What matters is recognising that an obstacle needs a response.

“The system wouldn’t let me” might be a good reason why something hasn’t happened. It still leaves the question of what can be done about it.

Managers have an important part to play here. Do they help people think through a useful next step? Accept the explanation and let the task drift? Or respond with “just sort it out”, even when someone genuinely needs guidance?

Their response can influence whether people raise problems early, wait to be chased or quietly pass responsibility back.

What patterns do you notice in your organisation when work gets stuck?

3. Are managers supporting ownership, or taking responsibility back?

It can be quicker for a manager to sort something out themselves. They know what to do, they want it finished, and they haven’t always got the energy for a conversation.

But if they repeatedly step in, they can create a convenient arrangement: someone else encounters a problem, and the manager becomes responsible for solving it (which is where the link to Monkey Management comes in!)

Before long, the manager is frustrated that nobody uses their initiative, while the team has learnt that problems are best left for the manager to handle.

A useful alternative is to ask:

“What have you tried, and what could you do next?”

If the person doesn’t know how to proceed, the manager can help them work it out while leaving them responsible for taking action. That might mean showing someone how to maintain the drier, then letting them finish their washing.

Are your managers helping people become more capable, or becoming the person everyone depends on to get things finished?

Moving beyond “it’s broken”

Accountability becomes much easier to discuss when people look at ordinary situations like this. They can explore what was understood, what happened when things went wrong, and what each person could do differently.

For managers, these patterns offer a useful starting point. If they say “my team won’t take responsibility” they may need support with setting clear expectations, responding to problems or resisting the urge to rescue.

It’s worth exploring those habits alongside the behaviour they want from their team.

My new Accountability Power Hour helps managers and their teams explore these conversations through practical activities and everyday case studies. The ready-written training materials include facilitator notes, slides, a delegate workbook and supporting resources, making it easy to run a focused session on taking ownership and following through.

Explore the Accountability Power Hour to help your managers build accountability without taking everything back onto their own shoulders.

Categories: : Leadership, Management