How to Ensure Employee Accountability in the Workplace

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A cry we’ve heard many times from small business owners and managers is how to ensure employee accountability in the workplace. If you are in management, then you know; as a rule, most people hate micro-management.

In other words, employees don’t like someone constantly looking over their shoulders, telling them what steps to take next. In fact, even a child, doesn’t like someone constantly telling them what to do?

Surely, there’s a better way!

Employee Accountability Action Tools

The management method to ensure employee accountability, as well as keep hard feelings in check — is the “check” itself. With psychology in mind, would you agree that, in general, people LIKE the feeling of independence?  Well, if that’s true, wouldn’t it be more acceptable to employees to provide tools so they can manage themselves?

True Story Concerning Employee Accountability Tool

I will never forget the telephone call I received from one of our clients, concerning their Production Manager. Our new client, at that time, was frustrated to the point of removing their top manager, due to constantly having to remind the Production Manager what needed to be done. In other words, this owner was tired of “managing the manager” and constantly reminding the manager of things he kept “forgetting”; therefore, failing to do his job!

To give some context, just one week prior to this phone call, we trained this client on implementing the Daily Routine System for all her key employees. As a result, using the Daily Routine tool for this Production Manager gave her quite a shock, resulting in her phone call to me.

When I answered the phone, she whispered on the other end, to avoid anyone overhearing her conversation. “Philip, I can’t believe how one simple Daily Routine Checklist works so well. I’m so happy, my Production Manager is doing everything on his daily routine checklist without missing a beat, every day!”

The Employee Action Tool Worked!

Actually, I was not in the least surprised with the positive results. Like most people, the Production Manager didn’t enjoy “over-the-shoulder management,” although he also managed using the same unproductive method!

Her excitement reminded me of my own excitement, witnessing the same results when we first implemented the Daily Routine System in our printing company. Thereafter, when needing ANY reoccurring task performed in our company, we simply added an action prompt.

As a result, by simply placing a prompt on an employee’s Daily Routine Checklist, they were accomplished with ease and with no push-back. Which was extremely exciting!

More importantly, we didn’t have to keep reminding employees to do their tasks. The checklist managed the employee!

This one system put us one step closer to the goal of organizing our company to run like a well-run machine, whether I was there or not.

Other Accountability Action Tools That Work

Other action tools that ensure employee accountability without creating hard feelings are Quality Control & Service Control Checklists. More importantly, these control checklists work with provable results. Working in the same manner as Daily Routine Checklists, they are effective solutions, whereby employees manage themselves.

The Bottom line is, STOP frustrating employees with “over-the-shoulder management.”

The System Buster Locator is your follow-up tool for holding all employees accountable to all systems. In other words, it’s your corrective action tool, whereby employees know and understand there are consequences for NOT using company systems correctly.

Finally, employees should have two choices…

Employees decide to use these tools, giving them freedom to manage themselves; or, go to another company with “over-the-shoulder management,” and treated like children.

To be sure, it’s their decision!

From our experience, self-management is overwhelmingly preferred!

Did I mention? Great systems work!