Do You Have a Culture of Accountability or Blame?

Most managers know that a positive workplace culture is integral to the success of any organisation, even if they don’t necessarily know exactly what constitutes a positive culture.  Equally, some managers don’t recognise the indicators of a negative workplace culture, even though many are easy to spot.
 
One of the most obvious indicators of a poor workplace culture is the prevalence of blame. But even if it is spotted, it’s not always obvious exactly where this blame culture comes from? Sometimes it results from bullying leaders who create a culture of fear. Or conversely, it can result from a "good news" culture wherein the leadership is only interested in hearing positive news.  In these organisations employees tend to shy away from passing on bad news because it is common practice to shoot the messenger. All this despite the fact that the information locked within failure is crucial to improvement.
 
Blame as a norm in any organisation has a huge impact. Employees operate daily within the emotions of fear, anger and resentment. Which in turn create dysfunctional relationships, as well as creating poor employee morale. A blame culture reduces curiosity and encourages self-preservation rather than energy being focused on driving an organisation forward. It embeds bias as individuals continually defend their own positions, corrupting perceptions and assessments of important events. And if this wasn’t enough, creativity and innovation are inhibited as individuals are much less likely to take risks, favouring instead the avoidance of blame.
 
It’s impossible to make good decisions with poor information.
 
It is also clear that where there is blame, there is limited or no learning. Open minds start to close, inquiry tends to cease, and the desire to understand the whole system (people, tools, instructions and environment) diminishes. When people work in an atmosphere of blame, they naturally cover up their errors and hide their real concerns. And when energy goes into finger pointing, scapegoating, and denying responsibility, productivity suffers because the organisation lacks vital information about the real state of affairs. It’s impossible to make good decisions with poor information.
 
Even those individuals who wish to learn from mistakes fall into naming culprits when an organisation operates with a blame culture. They seek to identify who’s at fault and what is wrong with the supposed offenders. Only when they can name a fault with the ‘offender’ do they feel that they have identified ‘the root cause’. Changing them or getting rid of them (or simply being angry at them) somehow becomes an acceptable solution.  
 
The plain fact is that blame costs an organisation money.
 
Blame has real costs to an organisation. These might be via poor quality products or services, leading to lost clients. It brings about poor staff morale and leads to high turnover and weaker recruitment. Harder to calculate but often significant is the cost of missed problem-solving opportunities and lower innovation.  The plain fact is that blame costs an organisation money. But it doesn’t have to be this way. 
 
 
The ‘positive twin’ of blame is accountability. Accountability emphasises keeping agreements and performing jobs in a respectful atmosphere; blaming is an emotional process that discredits the blamed. A focus on accountability recognises that everyone may make mistakes or fall short of commitments.
 

 
Marilyn Paul, The Systems Thinker, 2018
 
In a framework of accountability, we are fully aware of our personal and organisational errors or shortfalls and view them as opportunities for growth. Accountability therefore creates the conditions for ongoing, constructive conversations. The qualities of accountability are respect, trust, inquiry, moderation, curiosity, and mutuality. Backed by evidence, a culture of accountability allows us to reveal more of the genuine root causes at play, understand a system better, and identify new actions and objectives.  
 
A structured approach to investigations and problem solving, such as a formalised Root Cause Analysis process is a powerful way to build a truly great workplace culture.