Can success be measured by accountability and ownership?

Ownership and accountability set our ways of working apart from so many others. We’ve recently heard this sentiment expressed when engaging with our international partners. This is definitely a gold star on our foreheads. What does accountability and ownership mean, and how do we replicate it to keep this as our “edge”?

It means that no matter whether you are a team member placed at a client on a team or in a department to help with their day to day delivery or if you are placed on a product build team, you take your role seriously. 

For most, this means making sure you are doing everything in your power to deliver quality output that meets the requirements (obviously), but this also means when you see a problem, you raise it. You go out of your way to overcome it. You ask for help. You harass a senior until they help you. You OWN your work because you will be held accountable for why a ticket/item is late, incomplete, or does not meet expectations. This might sound like too much for a regular person to take on, but what this attitude toward the work actually creates is an environment where you can trust your employees to represent you well, and you can trust your people to do the job competently and to get it done on time.

For leads and seniors who might be subject matter experts, this also means creating environments with open and regular communication. It's forging relationships with the right people like product owners, stakeholders, other team leads and other consulting house representatives. Forging these relationships helps us treat each other as teammates and not competitors. It removes many more blockers, rather than create them. 

Leads are also expected to raise red flags about tech, people, and decisions, sometimes to the client and sometimes internally, depending on which is appropriate. We do this, not to be the nah-sayers but to ensure all known or discovered issues are dealt with to the benefit of meeting the goals on time or making well-informed decisions about trade-offs. 

Is this always a comfortable process? No. But here is why I like this process: It creates strong leaders and empowers everyone who works for us to have their say. Too often, everyone keeps quiet in retrospectives and refinement sessions (yes, we work in a lot of SAFe Agile environments). We do not keep quiet but rather we raise our hands and ask the relevant questions. And often, I’ve heard feedback that a lot of people wanted to say something but didn't feel empowered to do so. 

Does this mean every project is hassle-free? No. And does it meet the original deadline? No, of course not. We are realists; things happen, and bank security councils need to approve things. But this is a function of being a human in a world with other humans running projects. 

While this approach is not for everyone, I believe everyone will learn valuable skills and lessons from trying their best to be owners of their work and taking accountability for the things within their control. 

I believe this is why so many of our projects and people succeed in places where others would stagnate or grow disillusioned. And so, to answer the question, yes, I do believe success for us can absolutely be measured by ownership and accountability.

If you are looking for tech partners who take their responsibilities seriously, Retro Rabbit is the place I’d send you. (Clearly I have no bias here.)