As a Remote Manager, Accountability Starts with You

ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE WORKPLACE NEEDS A BIG COMEBACK, AND AS A LEADER, ACCOUNTABILITY MUST START WITH YOU.

A workplace culture of accountability means that everyone is responsible for their own actions, and the good or bad outcomes that result from those actions. However, with less face-to-face and more asynchronous communications prevailing in remote workplaces, some employees may be more likely to make excuses and defer commitments. In extreme cases, this lack of accountability can spread like a contagion to all levels of the organization.

As a remote manager, the lack of accountability can be frustrating. Some remote employees will simply avoid deadlines or make excuses at the last minute by sending text or email messages. Instant communication, online tools, and a laid-back attitude to work make it just a little too convenient to break commitments, and become less and less accountable. When remote employees become accustomed to getting a “free pass” on breaking commitments there are serious consequences to team effectiveness and results.

Everyone on your remote team needs to be held accountable to achieve the best results from your remote work. But that isn’t going to happen without you. As a remote manager, the first step to taking individual accountability to a higher level starts with you.

HOW TO HOLD OTHERS ACCOUNTABLE, BY APPLYING THESE ACCOUNTABILITY PRINCIPLES IN YOUR EVERYDAY WORK

Establishing a culture of accountability must be top of mind in any organization, no matter if it functions remotely or on-premises. Making accountability a norm, isn’t going to happen until leaders show others what accountability means and how it needs to be executed. As a leader, you must model the behaviors that you want to see in your team.

If you want to hold others more accountable, start with you, and show your team what it takes to be accountable for any outcome, good or bad.

According to research made by Cornell and Green Peak Partners “Great leadership skills are the abilities people have to use their soft skills in order to achieve hard results.”

As a remote manager, your technical expertise, the ability to lead projects, organize teams, and establish and execute work procedures (or your hard skills), will only drive great results, if you learn the top three soft skills that will make you an ”accountable” leader besides being a good manager! Those three skills are Awareness, Self-Ownership and Courage.

AWARENESS

You cannot improve or be accountable for things that you don’t know, so make sure that you ask the right questions, listen carefully and act upon them.

Act according to objective data, not based on assumptions. Always starts with a process of introspection, be a self-aware remote leader. Make evaluation on your personal strengths and weaknesses first, and evaluate whether your actions result in what your team and your customers expect from you. Collect feedback from colleagues, business partners, associates and customers. Use this feedback and your evaluations as a source of insight to increase personal and professional growth.

Make sure promises made are promises kept not just in the eyes of management but likewise in the eyes of your team and your customers alike. Be transparent with your team members and let them know the challenges you are facing so they are best able to help you. Be honest when you miss the mark, and set the example you want to see from your remote team.

SELF-OWNERSHIP

Focus on the solution, not on the problem!

Own each situation and be accountable to take ownership over any problem that might arise. When an issue arises, start with you first, ask what you could have done better, focus on resolving the obstacle and think about how to act in the future to prevent similar situations. To show the team what accountability means, as a remote manager you should do anything in your power to resolve the situation, without wasting time on blaming people or making excuses.

That’s how strong team bonds are created, and how to establish accountability in the workplace no matter if it is organized remotely or on premises.

BEING ACCOUNTABLE, MEANS BEING COURAGEOUS

If you want to guide your remote team to success by showing what accountability means, you must be resilient, make difficult decisions, embrace uncertainty and do the right thing regardless of consequences.

When complex business problems arise, as a remote manager, you need to be prepared to show the team how to get stronger in the midst of great challenges. That is the only way to give each team member confidence to be accountable for every decision or action they will make.

It takes courage to be transparent with your team and lead with accountability by starting with yourself. Take heart and know that how you carry yourself as a remote leader has a big impact on how your team carries themselves, and ultimately the quality of work you deliver together.

Bringing more accountability to remote work is a challenge facing many organizations. But that isn’t going to happen without remote managers taking personal accountability to a higher level. As a remote leader, accountability must start with you! Read this article to find out the secret to accountability for remote work shared by a Navy SEAL.