Imagine a soccer game, where no one keeps score and the referee never blows the whistle. Everyone just runs around doing whatever they want, and no one knows who’s winning, losing, or even breaking the rules.
That’s what a lack of accountability in the workplace looks like. And it’s more prevalent than you might think.
Most CEOs (96%) say they have the right people with the right capabilities to support the company’s future vision, yet there is a disturbing disconnect between CEOs and their level of confidence in leaders cascading down from the C-suite.
For example, while 76% of CEOs felt their COO was a highly effective partner, only 64% could say the same for the CFO, and just 54% agreed that board members and other key leadership positions were aligned on the company strategy.
It’s not just CEOs — more than half (52%) of employees don’t understand their company’s goals, and only 40% say they understand their own connection to corporate objectives.
In a high-accountability culture, everyone sees the destination, owns their role, solves problems, and does what it takes to get there together. Accountability becomes the framework for communications between people and within groups for discussing expectations, activities, and results.
There are three steps you can take to equip leaders and managers at any level with an understanding of how to foster accountability in themselves and across their teams.
1. Create an Accountability Mindset
A study on organizations found that 46% of employees look to company leaders and managers to be effective role models for positive cultural habits like building respect and making ethical decisions, yet only 25% say their leaders are able to “walk the walk” and inspire.
It’s key to educate leaders about how to hold themselves and others accountable effectively in a principled and positive way. This includes the importance of creating experiences that build a culture of accountability, communicating strategic direction and vision, identifying and modeling the traits of being a change leader, as well as developing the financial acumen to understand and link individual performance to business outcomes.
An accountability mindset is about empowering managers to ask themselves questions like “What am I modeling when a project misses the mark?” or “How do I respond when someone drops the ball? Do I default to blame, or curiosity?”
2. Drive High-performing Teams
Successful leaders excel at defining goals that are specific, achievable, repeatable, and trackable — helping teams thrive when everyone knows what success looks like and how to get there together. They also explain the deeper purpose behind each goal, leading to a stronger commitment and shifting the team’s mindset from just getting tasks done to genuinely engaging with the work.
To navigate performance issues, leaders benefit from a practical approach to coaching — one that begins by listening, identifying the root issue, guiding the conversation with curiosity, and testing solutions in real time. This, combined with open dialogue that helps uncover and reshape limiting beliefs, creates an environment where accountability feels like empowerment.
Great teams weave accountability into the everyday. They don’t just track progress, they talk about it. They don’t just ask who is responsible, they ask “What else can I do to achieve our results?” And they normalize feedback, not as a criticism, but as a powerful tool for growth.
3. Lead Change Effectively
You can enforce policies and restructure roles, but if your people aren’t invested and engaged, momentum for any initiative fizzles.
Adaptive company cultures and leadership teams embrace change as part of developing a mentality of growth. When employees know how their work impacts their organization, 82% say they are more engaged and 20% are happier.
Leading change effectively requires more than strategic planning. It demands visible, accountable leadership. When leaders consistently align words with actions, they build trust and reduce resistance. This credibility becomes a stabilizing force, enabling teams to navigate uncertainty with confidence and commit to transformation at every level.
Strategic leadership training tools such as change management simulations can give confidence to managers as they work on developing the skills to empower their teams on the development journey.
Accountability is Your Culture’s Secret Weapon
Accountability serves as the linchpin of a robust corporate culture, directly influencing employee engagement and organizational performance. When employees are entrusted with ownership of their responsibilities, they exhibit heightened commitment and initiative.
And the business impact of accountability and its connection to employee engagement are clear:
- 18% higher productivity
- 23% higher profitability
- 21% lower turnover
Leadership development is foundational to cultivating a culture of accountability. When leaders are equipped to model ownership, transparency, and follow-through, they set the standard for organizational behavior.
Companies that invest in leadership capability building are 3.4 times more likely to achieve workforce resilience and business growth. Effective leaders don’t just drive outcomes—they shape environments where accountability is expected, trusted, and intrinsically linked to strategic success.
By developing their skills, they can communicate with impact, develop critical decision-making skills that will accelerate progress against key results, and lead through change.