The Policy Maker and the Increasing Demands for Accountability

According to vocabulary.com, a policymaker is someone who creates ideas and plans, especially those carried out by a business or government. A governor, a school board, a corporation’s board of directors, or the president of a country are all examples of policymakers. Policy refers to the plans that a government or business follows.

Gone are the days when employees, citizens or stakeholders in any business, organisation or country get excited by a mere policy document. The reality is that a policy document alone cannot guarantee implementation either from the policymakers or the people it was designed for.

Therefore, there is a need to pursue accountability from stakeholders at all levels. And in pursuing accountability, an organisation, business or country set itself up for sustainable prosperity and predictable progress. 

Here are a few reasons for the increasing demand for accountability in policy-making;

Promotes stakeholders engagement:                      

People engage more with the process and implementation of a policy they know works in reality, and are more enthusiastic towards playing a key role in any organisation that has a functional policy.  

In a bid to engage in the policy making process, stakeholders like employees and citizens take psychological ownership of their organisation in seeking out solutions that will promote the company or country. I.e if they are part of the policy making, they feel part and parcel of the organisation.

Conveys the deepest aspirations of the people:

Any policy that puts into consideration the people’s unique interests, concern, fear and deepest aspirations will surely command support, and thus demands accountability from policymakers and the people to work.

And on the other hand, people will feel disconnected from any policy that does not put into consideration their unique interest.

High-performance culture:

Accountability promotes an environment of exceptional performance. This is because accountability to policy documents helps to set a performance indicator, which drives the goals and objectives of businesses and nations.

Accountability empowers stakeholders in an organisation or business to not only recognize the critical gaps between current and desired results but also employ creative troubleshooting to develop and implement effective, innovative solutions to existing problems. 

Less blame, less conflict and less frustration:

There is usually less blame, less conflict and less frustration in an organisation where there is accountability. Everyone knows the company’s vision and their individual role in achieving the vision. There is no confusion as to who is responsible for any particular task.

Predictable future:

It is easy to predict the future of an organisation or business when stakeholders are accountable to the policy that guides the organisation. One of the most significant subjects of the recent elections held in America, and the aftermath was the fact that they have been able to build a strong system around their democracy, and a strong system is driven by a sound policy that works.   

Promote shared reality and future:

There is a sense of shared reality and future for stakeholders in any organisation, business or nation that hold themselves accountable to the set policy. 

Strong sense of accountability to a policy in an organisation erases the suspicion of any party being cheated.

Build trust and loyalty:

When the culture of accountability is upheld in an organisation, where members of the team know the rules, know they will be applied equally to all, and have transparency, it does encourage trust and loyalty. Also, people are more obliged to be subject to a system that works based on mutually agreed policy, than an individual discretion which is prone to change. 

Less authoritarian system:

It’s unlikely for an organisation that has a working policy in place to descend into an authoritarian environment. However, all stakeholders must consistently commit to the policy of an organisation or business to reduce the tendency of fallen into a dictatorial system. 

In essence, a policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes, and the only way to determine a working policy is to encourage accountability at all levels. And the demand for accountability from policymakers and stakeholders in any business or organisation can not be overemphasized, it will determine the overall outlook of the organisation, the kind of employees a business attract, the socioeconomics status of the citizens of a country and sustainability of a business or organisation.