Making Accountability Trendy.

​It’s almost on-trend for employees to ask for flexibility and employers to give back with favourable perks. And while this claims to do wonders for our mental health, there’s always an elephant in the room when these are honoured.

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Will these perks benefit productivity? Do they show that we care for our staff? But most of all, can we trust that they will not be abused?

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Let’s take the simplest example of time flexibility - the comfort of arriving earlier to leave earlier. It’s probably something a lot of us take for granted in an office environment. But when these are not adhered to with respect, you could end up with half of the firm starting work at 10am each day and leaving at 3pm. Of course, this will badly impact collaboration and the general service you provide to others.

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What we’re not doing here is blasting every staff perk. In fact, it’s rather the responsibility and accountability that needs to be addressed.

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You may argue that sometimes, stepping out of line may not be intentional. Where am I going with this? – we all make mistakes. Cliché as it sounds, this is very true for us all. No one is perfect, not the CEO, or even CMO, and probably not even your Chairman.

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As employees or as employers how do we make a start on ensuring we are being accountable?

Remembering we’re all human.

This is the first step. We often get caught behind titles, hierarchies and closed office doors, but we’re all human.

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Admitting isn’t a strikeout.

Even with an ‘open-door-policy’ it isn’t easy to admit that we’ve bent the rules a little. But how?...

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… (by) Creating a mistake-policy.

We can all make admitting a mistake a little easier. Whether you openly let people know it’s okay to make a mistake, or if a colleague mentions something – tell them it’s better to be honest.

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Mistakes = better employees.

It might make sense to avoid those who make mistakes, but for those who take accountability and learn from bad experiences, actually make the best employees.

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Set meetings reminders 15 minutes before.

Accounting for lost time is everyone’s dream, but it’s very easy to get late. While most will just about ready themselves for a meeting at the O’clock, that extra 15 minutes gives time to prepare and more focused time at the meeting.