Accountability works best as a self-reinforcing system.

When a leader does a good job setting expectations and making it visible that accountabiliy will be held, individuals will be able to understand what to hold themselves to and peers will know what to expect of each other. Accountability for behavior is a better focus than on results. Escalations stem from lack of accountability. Accountability requires expectation setting happen, though.rL1


  1. Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, 1st ed (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012). (See notes.)