The Human (other) Side of Accountability

by Dr. Chantal Levesque
Research Strategies, Inc

What does accountability mean to you? In today’s business world, accountability means to meet a certain standard of performance, to produce a product of high quality, or to perform a required task in a certain way. It could also mean to be responsible; that is to arrive at work on time, not waste time on the job, and be efficient. In sum, accountability is to comply with expected behaviors. As generally understood today, for managers in charge of employees, accountability is a process that involves setting standards, monitoring the relevant results, and then providing direction and feedback to employees. Using this framework, problems with task performance and the ability to meet standards come from a failure to define what constitutes adequate performance.

Typically, accountability comes with some form of reward. If you meet a certain standard of performance, you will customarily obtain a reward for that performance. This could be a paycheck, a bonus, a raise, or even a company trip. Furthermore, the common notion of accountability makes it a public affair. People are accountable to others. How does it feel to do something the way it should have been done? Think about it! It probably feels like you did what you were supposed to do. You reached the goal and you accomplished the task. Although this type of accountability is prevalent in the workplace, it is not the optimal way to foster peak performances or employee’s motivation. Doing something because you have to, because you should, or in order to obtain a reward is an extrinsic form of motivation. Of course, if as a manager, I impose a strong enough control on your behavior, you will do what I want you to do for fear of losing your job or in order to obtain the promised reward for good performance. But will that ensure that you like your job? Will that translate into job satisfaction for employees? Absolutely not!

By imposing unnecessarily strict standards and controls, managers are obstructing their employees’ ability to realize the highest level of motivation; intrinsic motivation. By controlling, demanding, imposing, and holding people accountable to an external and often arbitrary standard, managers are not fostering people’s intrinsic motivation which would inherently make them want to do their best work.

Here is the key point for managers; by actually imposing strict controls and standards, they are affecting their company’s bottom line. Employees begin to work only for the rewards, not to help the company grow and prosper. It costs a lot of money to maintain this kind of accountability system! The first chance that a controlled employee has, they will leave the organization to go work for another. At the very least, they will be resentful while they comply with demands and onerous standards.

Why not provide choice and options to employees? In the context of the prevalent accountability model, providing choice to employees means that the employee can choose whether or not to meet the criteria of performance. Essentially, they choose to keep their job or not keep their job.

What about doing something good when nobody else is watching? Doing something right even when there are no external standards? Are people accountable to someone then? Imagine doing your best just because it’s important for you or because producing high quality work defines who you are. Take a moment to think about that! How does that feel? How does it feel to produce your best work because this is what you want to do? You do your best work and you try your best because doing any less than that would not be acceptable… to you.

A different understanding of accountability is one where the human side of accountability is emphasized. This would mean to be accountable to yourself as a person. It would mean to do something because you are built to do it. Because it is your passion. Because it is your calling! If you are not living up to your potential then you are not accountable. It’s a different kind of accountability. It is internal accountability. Imagine someone doing a really good job as a computer technician, earning a good living, doing what is required on the job, rarely if ever missing work, never being late, always putting in the required number of hours, and ultimately being accountable to his employer. This person might still not be accountable to himself if he does not feel like he is meeting his full potential!

As human beings, we are built to self-actualize. We are engineered to achieve our highest potential! This is what, as humans, we strive to accomplish and what Maslow’s hierarchy of needs illustrates. Now consider this: If we were all doing what we were built to do, if each of us were functioning from our true sense of self and accessing our passions on a daily level, why would we need a reward for doing it? Rewards would be unnecessary. Therefore, the bigger the reward you give to someone for doing a task at a certain level of performance, the more you are sending the message to others that this task is not worth doing yourself! If it a task worth doing, people would want to do it voluntarily. Is this not the concept of the Olympics? How much are Olympians paid to participate in the games? Nothing! Yet, most people would dream of being an Olympic athlete! When do teams choke under pressure? They often fail when they begin to focus more exclusively on winning the game instead of playing it well. The reasons for performing well begin to shift from an internal focus of accountability to an external focus of accountability.

Rewards are demotivating!

On fundamental level, externally imposed standards, controls, monitoring, supervision, and rewards are demotivating. These external incentives are most of the time perceived as a way to control behavior. People are inherently resistant to control. Put in place by managers, these external incentives clearly send the message to employees that they are not motivated enough to do a good job on their own. They need to be motivated! Most managers believe that employees would not perform well if the external standards were not present. But what if the majority of employees wanted to perform well just because they like to do their best? Just because it’s part of who they are to produce quality work? If this is the case, strict external standards, control, and rewards, will contribute to reduced motivation.

So, if one can’t be extrinsically motivated to perform their best, how do we motivate people in general to strive for their own level of perfection? We simply create an environment that will activate individuals’ internal accountability. The recipe for internal accountability is as follow:

COMPETENCE = Mastery of Skills
AUTONOMY = Choice, Volition
RELATEDNESS = Connectedness

How do you activate the highest level of motivation in employees? How do you create internal accountability? Simply create an environment where all employees have access to the necessary training to perform their respective jobs effectively. Just show them the ropes! Imagine yourself as a manager. If you did your homework and hired the best employee who applied for the job, should you have to teach them any more than this? No! Providing the specific training related to your organization so they can do their job competently is not only appropriate but sufficient!

Next, create an environment in which employees are provided with choice and options. Again, if you hired the best employee who applied for the job, you probably thought this person was smart enough to make good decisions on their own. If an employee prefers to come in at 6 am, leave at 2 pm, and the work still gets done, why not let her? Ask employees for their opinions on how best to approach a problem. You will be surprised with the solutions they come up with. Create an environment where employees understand why they are doing the things they are doing. Let employees take ownership of their behaviors and own performance. Let them have autonomy.

Finally, create an environment in which employees can have meaningful relationships with their co-workers and a respectful and trusting relationship with their employer. If employers create environments where employees can feel competent and autonomous, they will also feel more loyal to the organization they work for and their employer.