How should cross-unit accountability be implemented to improve performance?

• A. Accountability through leadership channels ensures consequences are applied fairly and improves cross-unit performance.
• B. Accountability is solely an individual's concern and should be kept private.
• C. Cross-unit accountability is discouraged to avoid conflict.
• D. The best fix is to outsource accountability to external consultants.

Answer: (A)

Cross-unit accountability works best when accountability flows through leadership channels that coordinate multiple teams. When leaders set shared expectations, define common metrics, and oversee how different units interact, accountability becomes a visible, fair, and consistent process rather than a collection of isolated individual duties. This approach helps align actions across units with the organization’s goals, clarifies who owns what in cross-functional work, and ensures that issues spanning teams are owned at the right level with the authority to implement solutions. It also creates a clear path for feedback, coaching, and timely intervention, so performance improves rather than deteriorates due to misaligned incentives or hidden blame.

To implement this well, establish joint goals and dashboards that reflect cross-unit performance, create clear ownership and escalation paths, and schedule regular cross-unit reviews. Use governance tools like RACI charts to define responsibilities, and ensure there are fair, consistent consequences and support mechanisms for teams that underperform or fail to collaborate effectively. Build in debriefs and after-action reviews to learn from failures and rapidly apply improvements.

Private, individual-only accountability misses the cross-unit dynamics and can foster hidden handoffs or finger-pointing. Discouraging accountability undermines collaboration and can allow problems to fester across teams. Outsourcing accountability removes internal ownership and can dilute the sense of responsibility leaders and teams have for jointly delivering results.