Maintaining accountability throughout your agricultural workforce is important. It helps increase employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

Sustaining a culture of accountability means employees perform their best work. This develops trust between your leadership team and employees at other levels.

Establishing a culture of accountability includes consideration of how each employee can take ownership of their job duties and responsibilities. This lets leadership find ways to define and sustain accountability throughout the organization.

Follow these steps to create a culture of accountability throughout your agricultural business.

Clarify Standards for Each Role

Communicate throughout your hiring process your definition of accountability. This makes it easier for candidates to understand what will be expected of them if they work for you.

Defining accountability in your organization helps employees take ownership of their performance and outcomes. Understanding the relationship between accountability and autonomy promotes self-direction among your workforce.

During the interview process, provide candidates with examples of accountability relevant to the position. This helps candidates understand what may be expected of them.

Consider how candidates respond to the standards you set for the role. This includes the questions they ask about the expectations.

See what previous employers share about a candidate’s performance. Determine whether your findings align with the expectations for the position.

Set Employee Expectations

Ensure managers set clear, attainable expectations for their employees. This helps employees understand their goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Knowing what success looks like lets employees more effectively perform their work. This increases employee engagement and productivity.

Ensure these expectations align with individual and team goals. Also, include a range of target numbers and deadlines to hold employees accountable for.

Employees should feel reasonably challenged while reaching these expectations. This elevates employee performance and pride in achievements.

Attaining expectations promotes a sense of ownership. This provides self-motivation for employees to maintain accountability for their actions and results.

Address Accountability Issues

Talk about accountability concerns as they happen. This can minimize their effects on your organization.

For instance, managers should let an employee know when they are not performing according to the standards shared with them. Managers also should provide examples of what accountability looks like for the role.

Encourage managers to coach their employees when they do not meet expectations. This reinforces what success in a position looks like.

Reinforcing standards for a role helps employees take ownership of their duties and responsibilities. It also increases trust and respect between employees and managers.

Looking for Accountable Team Members?

Morris Bixby Group can provide you with agricultural candidates who prioritize accountability. Learn more today.