One business thrived in a stable economy due to its strong accountability culture. This worked well in a steady, ordered times, but it struggled to collaborate effectively when faced with challenges that required greater cross-functional work, as teams preferred to stay in their own siloed comfort zone.
On the other hand, the highly collaborative business found itself slow to market due to a lack of clear decision-making processes – involving many managers in many meetings. Everyone felt highly involved, but no one was really sure as to how decisions should be made.
The key takeaway from this example is the importance of finding the right balance between accountability and collaboration (see diagram 1). This balance is crucial for organisations to remain competitive and agile in today’s fast-paced world.
Another common challenge is faced by organisations that embrace a matrixed or networked way of working, that can lead to confusion over accountability, and specifically who should make the decision, and how the decision was made. Leaders accustomed to full control can struggle to influence others in a matrixed environment, which can lead to a rejection of this way of working, resulting in disruption across the business and in some cases, leaders needing to exit the company.
Meanwhile, organisation charts don’t help – they can be messy or unclear, with a greater attachment made to the person rather than the role. Also role descriptions that are often out of date, and not read anyway… This can result in peers finger pointing at each others’ functions, rather than their own (see Mike Thackray’s article on how accountability done poorly can induce defensiveness), or assuming accountability rests with an inanimate steering group rather than seeing a specific individual as the accountable person, who uses the steering group as a means to bring people together and get decisions made.
So how can you create an organisation that supports a culture of accountability, that provides clarity as to who is accountable for what – both horizontally between the leaders, and vertically down the line. And what does this mean to have accountability?
In Mark Goodridge’s article, he usefully differentiates between ‘accountability’ and ‘responsibility’:
“Responsibility is for those aspects of the business an individual has under their control or influence, assets, budgets, people, relationships. Accountability is much broader, it is for outcomes, indirect control, influence, stakeholders..”
To create an organisation where accountability is clear and effective, it is crucial to align the organisation with the strategy, clarify role accountabilities, and foster agility to adapt to changing market conditions
To create an organisation where accountability is clear and effective, it is crucial to align the organisation with the strategy, clarify role accountabilities, and foster agility to adapt to changing market conditions. This approach, known as the Aligned, Accountable, and Agile framework, helps organisations design structures that support accountability while allowing for flexibility and innovation.
- Aligned to the strategy – supported by effective business planning process and systems of control
- Accountable – clarity of which role is accountable for what
- Agile – able to flex and adapt to changing market conditions
This then maps down from the organisation to the individual accountable holder, where we ensure that each accountable holder has sufficient (but not necessarily total) decision-making authority to deliver on their accountabilities:
- the key outcomes that the role is accountable for
- the decision authorities it has to enact that accountability
- the tasks it is responsible for delivering
- the behaviours needed to engage with others to make wise decisions and take them with you along the way.
But mapping individual accountabilities and decision authorities is only part of the equation. To ensure buy-in and success, organisations must co-create the organisation design with leaders, establish clear lines of communication and collaboration between accountable holders, and engage stakeholders in the decision-making process.
This means:
- Co-creating the organisation design with the leaders to ensure there is buy-in to the logic of how it has been put together
- Demonstrating a clear line of sight between the organisation design and role design
- Ensuring that the accountable holders who interface with each other do so effectively by personally ‘contracting’ with each other in how they will work together to deliver on their respective accountabilities. They also need to develop the skill of engaging with their stakeholders so that they understand and commit to delivering the required outcome rather than just focusing on their task.
Building a culture of accountability combines clear structures and processes with effective communication and collaboration. Finding the right balance between accountability and collaboration, is the start of building an accountability culture – establishing the necessary building blocks upon which the culture can thrive.
GARY ASHTON, Partner
Gary leads OE Cam’s Organisation Development practice and consults across both public and private sectors. He has undertaken a variety of governance and performance improvement projects including Board evaluation and development, re-designing and implementing governance structures, and improving non-executive / executive relationships. He also works with clients on major organisation change to structures and processes, post-merger integration, and improving joint venture organisation capability.
