Why Your Team Doesn’t Take Accountability (and How to Fix It for Good)

1. The Frustration: The “Why Is No One Taking Ownership?” Moment

Over the past year, I’ve worked with more than 30 ScaleUps—companies with ambitious goals, driven leaders, and teams that should be thriving. Yet, the most common frustration I hear from CEOs and managers is:

“Why do I have to chase everything?”
“Why does no one take ownership?”
“Why does it feel like I’m the only one who truly cares?”

You’ve tried everything—KPIs, an inspiring vision, team meetings, maybe even performance bonuses. Yet, without your constant push, things don’t move fast enough, don’t get done completely, or don’t happen at all.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. In fact, this is the #1 leadership challenge in fast-growing companies.

2. The Great Accountability Myth: Why This Isn’t a “People Problem”

Many leaders believe:
❌ “I just need to hire better people.”
❌ “Some people naturally take ownership, others don’t.”
❌ “Maybe I need to be stricter, push harder.”

After hundreds of deep dives into ScaleUps, I can tell you—this is wrong.

Accountability is not a personality trait. It’s a system.

When accountability is missing, it’s not because your people are lazy or unmotivated. In 9 out of 10 cases, the problem is structural: how work is defined, how expectations are set, and how feedback loops operate—or more accurately, how they don’t.

And here’s where the Working Genius framework comes in.

One of the biggest hidden reasons teams struggle with accountability is misalignment between work and natural talents. If you’re expecting people to take ownership of work that doesn’t fit their Working Genius, it’s like expecting a fish to climb a tree—it won’t happen, no matter how many reminders, KPIs, or performance reviews you throw at them.

3. The 3 Reasons Why Your Team Doesn’t Take Accountability

🔴 1. Unclear Expectations → “I thought we were doing this later?”
Most teams aren’t intentionally avoiding responsibility—they just don’t have a crystal-clear understanding of what ownership actually means. You think you’ve explained it well, but somewhere between your words and their execution, it gets lost.

🔴 2. No Measurable Goals → “We’re trying our best, but how do we know if we’re winning?”
As a KPI Alchemist™, I’ve seen too many companies where ‘accountability’ is tied to vague ambitions like “We want to grow.” But accountability without specific, measurable results is like playing a game without a scoreboard.

🔴 3. The Wrong People on the Wrong Tasks → “This is just not my thing.”
Not all accountability issues come from a lack of discipline—sometimes it’s a mismatch of Working Genius.

For example:

• If you assign an Invention Genius to maintain a repetitive system, they’ll struggle to follow through.

• If you expect an Enablement Genius to push deadlines and drive results, you’ll get hesitation instead of execution.

• If you don’t have someone strong in Tenacity, tasks will always remain ‘almost done’ but never fully completed.

Accountability isn’t just about discipline—it’s about matching people with the work that energizes them.

4. How to Fix Accountability for Good (Without Micromanaging or Nagging)

After 18 years as an entrepreneur and hundreds of deep dives into ScaleUps, I’ve learned one thing: accountability isn’t built by pushing harder—it’s built by structuring smarter.

This is how an Accountability Alchemist™ approaches it:

✅ Clarity above all else: Set expectations so clearly that there is no room for “maybe.”
✅ Measurable targets: KPIs that trigger real ownership, instead of vague “let’s do better” statements.
✅ The Right People in the Right Seats: Assign work based on Working Genius strengths, not just job descriptions.
✅ Automatic feedback loops: A system where results are visible, and underperformance doesn’t go unnoticed.
✅ Psychological safety: Not to celebrate failure, but to fix it—without blame games.

5. Time for a Reality Check: What Does This Look Like in Your Team?

I don’t need to include a call-to-action here. You already know if this is happening in your company. The question is: what will you do about it?

Will you keep firefighting, hoping your team ‘gets it’ someday?

Or will you start systematically building a team that owns their work—by structuring accountability around clarity, measurable results, and natural Working Genius strengths?

It’s up to you.

Jeroen Volk RA MSc – Business Alchemist