Article: A great way to begin building accountability at work is seeking feedback from the people you work with. Depending on what your job entails, specifically regarding your position in a hierarchy, you can seek feedback from those above you, those on your level, and those under you. Your job may already have specific performance standards in place which are reviewed periodically by supervisors, but you can show your boss that accountability is important to you by actively seeking extra feedback about your performance. You might seek feedback regarding a specific project or assignment you recently finished, or you might want get a general idea for how you are doing. It’s also good to seek feedback from the people you work with day to day, even when they have no power or authority over you. You need to know whether the people you work with can count on you or not. Be sure to ask questions that are specific to get the feedback you desire. For example, you might say something like, "I worked really hard on that presentation, but I'd love some feedback on where I could improve. Do you have any input?" As a manager, or any upper level position, you don’t want to make all the decisions on your own and never ask how people feel you are leading. Approach subordinates in the right way so you don’t seem like you lack authority. Just be genuine and tell those below you that you want to know how they think you are doing at your job. Try creating an anonymous survey that you can distribute to your employees. This may provide you with more honest feedback because they will be less likely to worry about the comments they make backfiring on them. Asking your boss, peers, and subordinates for feedback on your performance is useless if you don’t take the feedback into consideration and find ways to implement it. Maybe you can’t do exactly what the critique entails, but you can use it as a springboard for making changes. Make sure that you do not take the feedback personally. Look at it as an opportunity to improve. You may spend a lot of time working with a team, and the results are the culmination of everyone’s effort. In some settings, it may be possible to hide or be a little dishonest about the work you accomplished. Being accountable means fully owning up to whatever comes of your work.  This is hardest when you have made a mistake or have not quite made the best of an opportunity you have been given. It may feel natural to shift the blame or make excuses that focus on outside forces, but being upfront and honest about your work is an important aspect of accountability. Owning up to shortcomings will show the people you work with and for that you are not trying to hide anything. When you do mess up, and you have to be honest with someone about the mistake, it is always good to have an idea or plan for how to remedy the situation. Being honest and owning the mistake is the first step, but there is most likely still something that needs to happen. Having a solution to the problem ready when you admit the mistake will help ease the tension and show that you are not giving up. If you work in an office and you usually have your door open, try shutting it for a couple days. An open door invites people to stop and talk, even if it isn’t about work. Closing the door more often will give you the privacy to focus more on work and less on interacting with people. Be sure to avoid digital distractions during this time as well. Log out of your social media accounts and shut off your phone. . In a given day of work, you might have five or more things that need to get done. However, not all of the tasks have the same level of priority. Get in the practice of working on the most important things first and putting off the things that can wait. For less important tasks, force yourself to limit how long you spend on them. Don’t spend a whole hour clearing out spam email if someone is waiting for an email response from you. Knock out an important task that you know will take a while, and then balance it with a short, lower priority task. Alternating in this way can boost your efficiency. At the end of the day, or periodically throughout the day, write down what you do and how long you spend doing it. You may be surprised where your time actually goes. It’s probably best not to show your boss this log, but it will help you see what is draining your time and you can work on reducing those time-wasters.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Seek feedback from your boss. Ask your peers how you are doing. Ask your subordinates how you can improve. Implement the feedback you receive. Be honest about the results of your work. Make time for solo work. Prioritize your tasks Set specific time limits. Keep a time log of how you spend each day for a week.