What are the best ways to foster a culture of accountability in your team?

Be clear with your team that you, as a leader, see mistakes as an opportunity to learn, develop and move on. Send that message visibly, then, if perchance happens, do what you say. Whatever you do, do not vilify - you will destroy the team if you do. Get it right, and they will walk over hot coals for you.

The most effective way is to operate through a chain of command with a leading supervisor accountable at every step. That supervisor must ensure his and by context, the overall desired outcome and risk assessments in their area of accountability.

It is important to create a culture where people are willing to admit mistakes and where they trust that honest mistakes will not get them fired. Admitting to the team when you make a mistake is key. But so is making clear that you will still trust and support your personnel even when they do make a mistake. Additionally, it is critical to develop a team culture that focuses on correcting mistakes and avoiding them in the future instead of focusing on blame.

As a leader, focus on the things only you can do first, but be honest with yourself on what those tasks are. You still need to create opportunities for your team to grow in the organization. By doing this, you can make clear-minded decisions that only you can make, and put your teammates in a position to understand the implications of their own choices.

As a manager, you’ve got to determine what kind of culture you want for your subordinates — are you the type to prefer they ask you for “permission” to do everything (and have limited to no operational courage to take initiative) — OR — Are you the type to prefer they ask you for “forgiveness” when they step out or over the line (and have limited to no operational discipline)? There is a measure of balance required for one effective emergency managers to have both with their teams. It’s just a matter of which side and how far your disposition rests.

A big part of a success story is the fact that it can provide invaluable lessons to everyone on the team. As with learning from failures, successes always provide ideas and insight for you and your team to use in the future to promote further opportunities to be successful. Your team was successful with that big project? Excellent! Now start taking notes as a team as to how you achieved that success, figure out what you can do in the future to promote more breakthroughs, and keep on innovating. Never rest on your laurels!

Here’s a big one for all time: praise members of your team in public; correct members of your team in private. Celebrate successes and highlight victories, but don’t disregard capitalizing on areas for improvement that present themselves. A huge opportunity for this is in AARs (After Action Reports) or a “hot wash” debriefing with team members, immediately following operational action, when they are still “warm” from the action — to discuss what went well and what can be improved on again next time, openly as a group and not singling anyone out individually.