Poor accountability could be the single greatest threat to your company’s future – creating a culture of excuses, confusion, and inefficiencies – ultimately resulting in a poor performance.

According to Gallup, only 30% of employees are “engaged,” 50% are disengaged (just going through the motions) – and an incredible 20% are actively disengaged, or working against you every single day – all of which directly impacts a culture of accountability.

Accountability is a basic tenet of EOS^®. It’s essential to clarify who is responsible for what, top to bottom.

One of the challenges when creating a culture of accountability is to coach managers not to mistake blame for accountability. They are not the same.

Imagine you’re playing a sport but you can’t see the scoreboard. You don’t know the score; you don’t know how much time is left on the clock. You’re not sure if you’re winning or losing, and the frustrated coach tells you, “Just play harder.”

Many business leaders have worked hard to build their company's culture, only to realize that they've created a culture without accountability. There's a healthy work/life balance and employees enjoy being together, but productivity isn't as strong as it should be and no one seems to be on the same page.

Many leaders are afraid of being "the heavy" and ruining company culture by suddenly holding employees accountable for their work. How can you create accountability throughout your organization without damaging morale?

If you want to guarantee that you and your leadership team will never achieve your vision, get comfortable using the following phrase over and over:

“Kind of.”

Trust me, nothing will kill your company (and maybe you) faster.