Accountability and Organisational Culture

The ongoing conversation about accountable leadership is important. Being accountable in leadership should be a given. Yet accountability can be problematic for some leaders. It’s wrapped up in notions of self-awareness, service-based leadership and responsibility. Accountable leaders demonstrate positive leadership behaviours and lead happy and motivated teams which is reflected in high performing organisational cultures and quality in service delivery. Being accountable in leadership roles operates as a check and balance against autocratic and stifling styles of leadership which are anti-growth in personal and organisational terms.

When there are external frameworks that provide objective measurements, it can be easy to assess leadership, but when there is a culture of lack of accountability, the culture, work practices, staff morale and the way services are delivered will inevitably be compromised.

This week one of England’s largest NHS Trust has been found to have such a culture of bullying it could put patients’ lives at risk. An independent review of the NHS Trust concerned, found "extensive complaints" had been made by staff about the organisation's conduct and that "many were concerned about the 'toxic atmosphere and bullying’ at all levels of management.

The impact of poor culture is well documented, low staff morale, problems with recruitment and retention, and service problems but in this case a doctor is said to have committed suicide due to issues at the Trust in question. Mental wellbeing and quality of life are key areas that can be compromised if working in an environment with unaccountable leadership.

Leaders accountability for the culture of their organisation is rightly in the spotlight.

Leadership practices that contribute to toxic culture is so damaging that it must be challenged and the ideal of accountable leadership has to be taken seriously.

3 leadership behaviours that show unaccountable leadership:

1. Denial - pretending the problems do not exist, sweeping things under the carpet.

2. Deflecting – encouraging a focus on other issues rather than deal with the toxicity

3. Demonising - blaming other factors, or other badly behaved actors rather than facing up to the actual causal factors.

The stakes are too high to tolerate unaccountable leadership. The challenge for leaders is being self-aware and recognising these traits and committing to solutions to change.