One of my major principles during my years as an organizational director was to never want to hear the phrase:  “It’s not my job!”…from anyone employed in our group.  I believed in and managed the team with a common sense approach of shared accountability.  The every day result was an excellent increased operational knowledge of all aspects by all employees, plus a more unified strive for better performance “score” from every sector of the agency.

Would my:  anti-It’s not my job? approach work as well today…well maybe?  But today I believe our workplaces have become more “specific-skill” driven thereby calling for the need of an Accountability Diversified strategy.  Let me explain.

First, let me say that total organizational accountability is still NOT a solo function.  However, with the greater influence and impact of distance-businessing….virtual meetings…remote learning…and basic working-from-home occurrences, sharing accountability at the “workplace” has had to adapt accordingly and hence Accountability Diversified has become an option.

As was stated earlier Accountability Diversified makes allowances for less in-person, historic information-sharing practices.  This happens when greater responsibility is assigned to leaders to:

• Not treat any individual or group in a “special” way
• Heighten the understanding of performance factors for the entire agency
• Encourage every employee to “stretch” their skills in multiple accountability areas
• Avoid resistance to change
• Strengthen the sense of empowerment among all
• Make product/service quality and quantity a common thread within agency-wide communications
• Not allow progressive organizational joint ventures/partnerships to suffer

Bottomline:  Accountability Diversified does NOT enable specific-skilled employees to adopt the “It’s not my job!” mentality at any time.  Rather their special contribution to an organization will place them in an even greater ACCOUNTABILITY position when regularly communicated by LEADERSHIP!