Personal Accountability: 40 Useful Performance Feedback Phrases

Personal Accountability is the feeling that you are entirely responsible for your actions and consequences taking ownership without blaming others.

Personal Accountability: Exceeds Expectations Phrases

• Takes responsibility for seeing efforts through to making tough decisions or completing tasks and projects
• Supports and helps other employees in their work in order to contribute to the overall success of the company
• Presents oneself as a credible representative of the company and demonstrates a commitment to delivering on one's duties
• Demonstrates clear understanding of the overall company- its goals, function, competition, purpose, etc.- that increase one's interest and commitment
• Looks beyond the requirements of one's own job description to offer suggestions for problem-solving and improvement of overall company operations
• Takes personal ownership in the company's success and accepts full responsibility for oneself and contribution as a team member
• Consistently delivers on commitments in good time and meets commitments to others
• Always presents oneself in a way that is consistent with the good image the company wants to portray to the public
• Commits oneself to the company goals and finds ways to get the team members more involved towards accomplishing the company's objectives
• Takes own responsibilities seriously and consistently meets the company's expectations for professionalism, service, and quality

Personal Accountability: Meets Expectations Phrases

• Takes ownership of personal or team performance and helps team members to achieve their goals or improve their performance
• Does not dismiss the importance of one's own responsibilities in the company, and the connection between one's job and customers' perception
• Holds oneself and others accountable for making principled decisions and addresses unethical and unsatisfactory behavior head on
• Always presents a competent, calm and professional image to customers and other company's employees
• Exceeds one's commitment to others by frequently setting realistic team goals and projects before deadline
• Lives the company's values and consistently maintains one's ethical principles even in the most challenging situations
• Generates enthusiasm among the team members for accomplishing common goals that elevates the team and ensures the company success
• Presents oneself as a polished employee who exemplifies credibility and success and inspires other employees to be more professional
• Admits misjudgments mistakes and errors and informs others when one is not able to meet a commitment
• Gets to work on time every day and completes all the assigned tasks on time with minimal supervision

Personal Accountability: Needs Improvement Phrases

• Does not fulfill commitments made to other employees, supervisors, peers and customers
• Does not make personal sacrifices like getting to work early or leaving late to complete a task or to handle challenging schedules, goals, and budgets
• Does not acknowledge responsibility for failures and mistakes and always blames others when things don't turn out as expected
• Does not create own processes and timelines for getting things done thus keeps on missing deadlines
• Does not express concern for doing things better or producing quality work
• Meets company's goals but does not help other employees to do the same to improve the company's productivity
• Lacks confidentiality thus is not entrusted with sensitive information either by the manager or other employees
• Does not observe punctuality; always gets to work late and misses important meetings and appointments with team members and clients
• Lacks clear vision of where the company is headed and the goals that need to be accomplished
• Pretends to know everything and does not let other employees know when one does not know how to go about doing something

Personal Accountability: Self Evaluation Questions

• Can you describe a time when you were asked to handle a tough problem which challenged your personal accountability? What was the outcome?
• Give an example of a time when despite carefully planning, things did not turn out as expected or went out of hand. What did you do?
• Describe an occasion when you chose not to complete a task, for whatever reason. What happened?
• Can you describe a day when your supervisor was absent, and you had to make tough decisions? What are some of the decisions you made?
• What steps have you taken to improve your effectiveness in the company, workgroup and your career?
• What are some of the special responsibilities and assignments you have been given in the past that are not part of your routine?
• Describe a time you reacted to pressure situations or short deadlines. How did you do it?
• Can you think of a time when you have motivated yourself to finish unpleasant tasks? What steps did you take?
• Would you rather design procedures and plans or implement/manage them? Why?
• Describe a time when you had to admit to your supervisor that you had made a mistake. What happened?