&8220;I can&8217;t help it if my department made an error on that shipment. HR never hires good employees for us.&8221; &8220;It&8217;s not my fault that the customer cancelled that order. Sales failed to give me a complete rundown of the situation.&8221;

We see it all around us. Playing the victim is now in vogue, and personal accountability: it just doesn&8217;t seem to exist anymore.

Lack of personal accountability is one of the most difficult challenges that businesses face today.

As a leader, you have a grand opportunity to make personal accountability part of the way your department or team does business each and every day.

Start by examining your own behavior. Be certain that your actions and words are not creating any wrong impressions with your staff. Think back over recent situations involving other parts of your organization. When something went wrong, did you step up to the plate with a &8220;let&8217;s fix this problem&8221; attitude or did you go off immediately and start blaming the other department?

Once we are certain that our own level of personal accountability is where it needs to be, let&8217;s begin examining the members of our staff. Here&8217;s a tip. Listen to the way employees speak about other units or about the company itself. If you hear staff members referring to others as &8220;they&8221; and not &8220;us,&8221; you know immediately that you have an accountability issue that demands attention.

When things go wrong, consider carefully how each individual reacts. Do you see employees charging ahead to address the situation or do you hear them whining and making excuses? Look for is the glass half-full or is the glass half-empty attitudes. You can answer these questions successfully only if you have invested time in building strong relationships with your staff.

Once your identify someone who is not accountable, you need to begin coaching this person at every opportunity. This means helping the employee examine each situation from the perspective of, &8220;Who&8217;s really at fault here?&8221;

In answering this question, we can help the employee frame his or her perspective differently and see how he or she can develop an attitude of personal accountability.