How to effectively model behaviours to drive accountability, trust, and high-performing teams

Keywords: rolemodel, leadership, highperformance, sustainablesuccess

Date: 5 March 2025, WorkLife Digital

The current business landscape places immense pressure on leaders to deliver results and continuously grow the business. Simultaneously, this must be balanced with the need to support mental health, manage workloads and prevent burnout. The solution lies in fostering a culture where accountability and compassion reinforce each other. Leading by example is the foundation of this approach, building trust, enhancing psychological health, and driving lasting productivity and impact.

Research highlights the critical role of mindset in shaping how employees perceive accountability. Punitive accountability, characterised by reprimands and blame, creates a threatening environment that stifles growth and innovation. In contrast, a "worthy challenge" mindset views accountability as an opportunity for development and learning, fostering a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.

Leading by example is paramount in cultivating this growth-oriented accountability. When leaders embody the principles they preach, they build trust and inspire their teams to embrace challenges, learn from mistakes, and strive for excellence. This approach directly impacts psychological health and engagement, creating a positive feedback loop that drives productivity and impact.

Here are three key habits that leaders must model to build a culture of accountability, trust, and high performance:

1. Think ahead: Demonstrating foresight and empowering your team

Thinking ahead involves anticipating potential challenges and proactively equipping your team with the tools and knowledge to overcome them. When leaders demonstrate this habit, they show their teams they are invested in their success and are not setting them up to fail.

How to lead by example:

Communicate proactively: Share your vision for projects, outlining potential obstacles and strategies for navigating them.
Provide necessary resources: Ensure your team has the tools, training, and support they need to succeed.
Offer guidance and mentorship: Share your experiences and insights to help your team anticipate challenges and develop solutions.
Encourage open communication: Create a safe space for team members to voice concerns and ask questions.

By consistently thinking ahead and preparing their teams for success, leaders foster a sense of security and confidence, which encourages employees to take ownership of their work and embrace challenges.

2. Own your commitments: Building trust through reliability

The second habit, owning your commitments, is about demonstrating reliability and integrity. When leaders consistently follow through on their promises, they build trust and set a clear standard for accountability.

How to lead by example:

Prioritise and manage your time effectively: Demonstrate that you value your commitments by meeting deadlines and fulfilling your obligations.
Be transparent about challenges: If you encounter obstacles that prevent you from meeting a commitment, communicate proactively and offer solutions.
Take responsibility for your actions: Acknowledge your mistakes and take steps to rectify them.
Hold yourself to the same standards you expect from your team: Demonstrate that you are not above accountability.

When leaders consistently own their commitments, they create a culture of trust and reliability, which fosters stronger collaboration, increased engagement, and a shared sense of responsibility.

3. Anchor on solutions: Fostering a growth mindset through learning and improvement

The third habit, anchoring on solutions, is about shifting the focus from blame to learning and improvement. When leaders respond to failures with curiosity and a desire to understand what went wrong, they create a safe space for experimentation and growth.

How to lead by example:

Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities: Encourage open discussions about failures, focusing on identifying root causes and developing strategies for improvement.
Promote a growth mindset: Emphasise the importance of continuous learning and development.
Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing: Create opportunities for team members to learn from each other's experiences.
Celebrate both successes and learning moments: Recognise and reward both achievements and efforts to improve.

By anchoring on solutions, leaders cultivate a culture of psychological safety, where team members feel comfortable taking risks, admitting mistakes, and seeking help. This, in turn, drives innovation, problem-solving, and continuous improvement.

Leading by example is not simply a matter of telling people what to do; it is about embodying the values and behaviours you want to see in your team. By consistently demonstrating foresight, reliability, and a commitment to learning, leaders can build trust, strengthen psychological health, and create a high-performing culture where accountability and compassion coexist. This approach not only drives greater productivity and impact but also fosters a more engaged, resilient, and fulfilled workforce.

WorkLife Digital is a global mental-wellbeing consultancy driven by the mission to improve the sustainability of businesses. Our psychological wellbeing tool, Worklife Quotient (WL-Q), is modelled on cutting-edge scientific research and provides organisation-wide measurement and intelligence on the mental wellbeing levels and psychological resilience of staff. WL-Q also assesses the impact of organisational practices (i.e. people and culture, leadership styles, organisational purpose and values, social impact) that have a direct influence on staff wellbeing and provides strategic recommendations on addressing risks and promoting strengths.

For more information, get in touch at lisa@worklife.digital