What is the key ingredient to a sustainable, high-performance work culture?

A word that often elicits eye rolls - accountability. 

To have healthy work cultures, we have to take personal responsibility in how we show up and hold others accountable (in healthy ways) for how they are showing up. 

And I’m sure we’ve all experienced the spectrum of how accountability can be enforced. 

I’ve heard stories of supervisors who refused to “coddle” their staff and were downright cruel. 

I’ve also witnessed supervisors with permissive managing styles that closed the gap for their employee’s shortcomings by doing the work themselves. 

The truth is - accountability doesn’t have to be painful for anyone involved. 

Building accountability into your existing structures plus implementing some communication techniques make this process much easier and significantly less emotionally draining for both sides of the equation. 

In this series, we’re going to discuss all things accountability - the challenges, the nuances, and how it affects our work culture. We’re going to start with the most common response we hear when raising awareness of an issue in a dynamic: 

But it’s not my fault!

The reality of any situation: everyone is some part responsible

In any dynamic, no one holds the full truth alone. It’s rarely the case that one person is completely right and the other completely wrong. Each party brings their own perspectives, needs, and blind spots to the table. Recognizing that both people are contributing to the dynamic allows space for nuance—it shifts the focus away from blame and toward shared responsibility. 

When we step back and ask, What am I bringing into this interaction? What are they bringing? we can begin to see that both rightness and wrongness often coexist. Once we acknowledge that each person is bringing valid points, strengths and limitations, our perspective softens defensiveness and opens the door to curiosity, repair, and growth rather than stalemate.

Acknowledging that both people are contributing to the dynamic, we can move beyond the binary of right versus wrong and instead focus on shared responsibility - and a shared end result, one where everyone gets what they need. 

And I want to be clear, this doesn’t mean ignoring harm—it means recognizing complexity. By owning our piece and inviting the other to own theirs, we create space for deeper understanding, repair, and healthier patterns moving forward.

Why is it so hard to hold ourselves accountable?

Facing our own missteps is never easy. It requires us to admit when our intentions and our actions don’t align, and to sit with the discomfort of imperfection. Self-accountability asks us to face the gap between who we want to be and how we actually show up. That gap can be uncomfortable—sometimes painful—because it shines a light on our contradictions and limitations. Sometimes we resist because it feels vulnerable to admit we’ve fallen short. It’s often easier to excuse, justify, or avoid than to own where we fell short.

Accountability is not about shame or self-punishment; it’s about integrity and honoring the dynamic you’ve helped create. The more we practice naming our missteps with honesty and compassion, the more resilient we become. When we courageously name our own gaps with compassion, we build credibility and trust, both internally and with others. Over time, that honesty becomes a practice of integrity that strengthens relationships rather than a source of tension.

Sometimes it's hard to hold others accountable. 

Holding others accountable can feel daunting at times because it puts us in the position of confronting behaviors and acknowledging how we feel with people we may not fully trust. We may fear damaging the relationship, being misunderstood, or facing defensiveness. We want to address the behavior without harming the relationship.

Ultimately, accountability is ultimately a gift. It communicates that we care enough to notice, to engage, and to want better—for the person and for the collective. We’re giving ourselves and the other person an opportunity to grow and for the relationship to strengthen. There are a number of skills that help people give and receive feedback constructively. When framed as partnership and collaboration rather than punishment, accountability becomes a bridge to growth rather than a wedge of conflict while still addressing what matters.

Stay tuned to this series as we continue with more challenges to accountability in the workplace. 

Ready to evaluate accountability structures in your workplace?