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Issue #34 | Oct 2026

Hello Reader,

There is a sentence every CEO has heard at some point:

“It wasn’t really my fault.”

Sales blames Operations, Operations blames Procurement,
Procurement blames the supplier, Finance says the numbers were already visible.

And everyone has a perfectly reasonable explanation.

The problem?

The outcome still didn't happen.

Because there is a fundamental difference between being responsible for a piece of the work and being accountable for the outcome.

When everyone is responsible, nobody feels truly accountable.

Meet Rakesh, MD of a growing manufacturing business.

The company had a clear target for the year:

Improve on-time delivery from 82% to 95%.

It sounded straightforward.

Sales had to give accurate commitments. Planning had to schedule correctly. Procurement had to ensure material availability. Production had to manufacture on time. Quality had to release finished goods quickly. Logistics had to dispatch efficiently.

Everyone had a role.

And everyone had a KPI.

Yet three months later...

On-time delivery was still at 83%.

So Rakesh called the leadership team together.

Rakesh asked who owned the delivery outcome. Nobody answered.

That silence told Rakesh everything.

They had responsibilities everywhere.

But they didn't have clear accountability for the outcome.

The target belonged to the organization.

The activities belonged to different functions.

But nobody had clear ownership of making sure the whole chain worked together.

And that meant something subtle had happened.

Everyone could successfully complete their part...

while the customer still experienced failure.

Rakesh redesigned the way the team looked at accountability.

The question was no longer: “Did your department complete its task?”

It became: “Did we achieve the outcome?”

For every critical outcome, they defined four things:

The Outcome

What exactly are we trying to achieve?

The Owner

Who is ultimately accountable for making it happen?

The Authority

Does that person have enough authority to influence the outcome?

The Review

How frequently will we review progress and address deviations?

And perhaps most importantly:

Accountability did not mean doing everything yourself.

The owner could, and should, depend on others.

But there could only be one clear owner of the outcome.

Slowly, the conversations changed.

Instead of: “Production didn't give us the material.”

The conversation became: “We missed the delivery target. What needs to happen across Planning, Procurement and Production to recover?”

Instead of defending functions...

leaders started solving for outcomes.
​

🧩 Our Solution: The Accountability Equation

Responsibility vs Accountability

Responsibility asks: “What part of the work am I supposed to do?”

Accountability asks: “Am I owning the result?”

You need both.

But they are not the same.

A project can have ten people responsible for different activities...

while having one person accountable for the outcome.

The Accountability Test

For every important business outcome, ask your leadership team:

1. What exactly is the outcome we are trying to achieve?

2. Who is the single person accountable for it?

3. What decisions can that person make without escalation?

4. Which other people or functions must contribute?

5. How will we know early that we're going off track?

If the answer to Question 2 is:

“It depends...”

you may have a responsibility structure.

Not an accountability structure.

Coach’s Note

Accountability is often confused with pressure.

It isn't.

It is clarity.

When people know what outcome they own, what authority they have, and how progress will be reviewed...

they don't need to spend their energy protecting themselves.

They can spend it solving the problem.

Because:

Accountability isn't about finding someone to blame when things go wrong.

It's about making sure someone is clearly empowered to make things go right.

And the real test of accountability isn't: “Who was responsible?”

It is: “Who owned the outcome?”

Previous Newsletters:

Everyone Is Busy. But Are You Moving in the Same Direction? Read article

What Are You Assuming That May No Longer Be True? Read article

VIJAY JOHAR​ Founder and Business Coach | Pro Growth "BE BIASED TOWARDS ACTION"

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