Here are 5 ways you can go from the blame game culture to positive accountability
- Align expectations
Make sure that your team knows what you expect from them and what they can expect from you.
Have an honest conversation about these expectations regarding roles, progress, productivity, and communication. This helps you and your team be on the same page. Thinking people should automatically know what is expected of them without talking about it is a sure way of increasing frustration both from you and your team. Communication is key. - Listen to concerns
Make sure that you have your team's commitment to what your organization is trying to achieve. If not, your team will likely not perform or even resist your leadership. When you ask for their commitment, listen to their concerns and find a way to support them or remove barriers that might affect their commitment negatively. - Cultivate a problem-solving mentality
If mistakes are punished, your team will be more likely to try and hide them instead of bringing them to your attention. Make sure you as a leader are open to feedback and communicate a mentality of "how do we fix this together". Mistakes should be a learning opportunity, not a blame game, and knowing your team culture is more focused on fixing mistakes than placing blame will make them feel more confident and productive. You should talk with your team about how to react to mistakes and how to communicate with respect when it does. - Encourage constructive feedback
It is important that feedback is delivered with the goal of improving skills and processes. It can be a difficult and a touchy subject but an important part so that your team culture may thrive. It can be detrimental if people don't speak up because they don't want to be unpleasant or because they feel attacked when receiving feedback. Talk with your team about how they feel most comfortable with receiving criticism. The Sandwich Method can be helpful. - Walk the talk
Make sure that you, as a leader, are a role model of positive accountability. It is important that you are honest and if you make a mistake, own it. "I made a mistake and here is how we are going to fix it".
