· 4 min read
Psychological safety is the foundation. Accountability is the work.
Automatically translated from German.
The first building block: psychological safety
Psychological safety does not mean harmony, it does not mean taking the soft approach, and it does not mean lowering standards. It means: in this team, I can admit to a mistake, ask an uncomfortable question or break bad news early on – without suffering any negative consequences as a result.
Amy Edmondson (external link, opens in a new tab), who coined the term, explains it better in eleven minutes than I could in three pages. If you’re only going to watch one thing on leadership this week, please make it this:
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And then? Accountability.
This is where it gets interesting. Because psychological safety alone does not make a high-performing team. It makes for a pleasant team. What comes next – and immediately afterwards – is accountability. And this is precisely where I have a problem with my own mother tongue. Because the German term is “Rechenschaftspflicht”.
When I first read the word, it put me off. "Rechenschaftspflicht" sounds like an audit, like filing cabinets, like someone calling me to account. It sounds like something that happens to. Control rather than leadership. I worked this through with my coach (Dr Gerhard Kettgen). The result was two flipcharts, which I have been using time and again ever since – because they get straight to the heart of the difference. Flipchart 1: The expectations of modern leadership
Five requirements that go hand in hand – and a sixth that underpins them all. What matters to me here is that accountability is not presented as a moral appeal, but rather as a Craft. Taking responsibility and delegate. Provide guidance and Act consistently. Generate momentum – towards a goal: ‘Active commitment with impact’. Flipchart 2: The new dimension of responsibility
This chart changed everything for me. Accountability can, in fact, be interpreted in two ways:
- Passive: I am being held to account. It’s someone else’s turn. I’ll wait and see what happens.
- Active: I am obligated (responsible) to deliver the outcome. It’s my turn. Always.
The difference is not linguistic; it relates to attitude. And that is why my German interpretation of ‘accountability’ is not ‘Rechenschaftspflicht’, but rather: Responsibility as Obligation.
Accountability is a word that managers understand. Those who take responsibility do not simply pass tasks on to others. Those who take real responsibility and understand the obligation do not look for excuses, but for solutions. Those who take responsibility remain involved even when the task has long since been handed over to someone else. And – this is the good news – responsibility with obligation is not something that is assigned to me. I take it on myself.
Why the order matters. Taken together, these two foundations paint a simple picture:
See also my explanation of the ‘High-Performance Team’ module on the page “Lead My Team (external link, opens in a new tab)". Psychological safety without accountability leads to the comfort zone – it’s pleasant, but nothing changes. Accountability without safety leads to the fear zone – things do change, but nobody tells the truth any more. And whatever is kept hidden in the fear zone will resurface later. Usually at a higher cost.
Therefore: first, ensure safety. Then demand accountability – starting with yourself.
Three questions to take away with you
- 1Safety: When was the last time someone on my team gave me bad news early? If you need a moment to think about it – that’s the answer.
And, how did I react to that? - 2Personal view: Am I (!) currently waiting to be called to account, rather than being proactively accountable?
- 3Craft: What result am I personally accountable for over the next 90 days – one that is so clear I could write it down and show it to someone?
Leadership is not a state of being, but a daily choice. This is one of the most important learnings.
Learn to serve and protect.
Dr Peter von Wartenberg (07.22)
The two facilitation charts are visual representations of flipcharts from a coaching process. You are welcome to reuse them, provided you cite the source.
Book recommendation
For those who want to explore this in more depth: Henry J. Evans, “Winning with Accountability – The Secret Language of High-Performing Organisations” (external link, opens in a new tab)". A concise, highly practical book. No flashy models, just clear language and agreements – who, what, by when, and how we’ll know it’s done.