When Accountability Is Unclear, the Burden Falls on the Leader
When discussing leaders’ mental health, we often focus on heavy workloads, stress and burnout prevention. We pay less attention to how an organisation’s management culture and distribution of accountability affect a leader’s mental load. Yet unclear accountability can be one reason leaders feel they must stay on top of everything, check every detail and eventually do the work themselves.
When the Leader Has to Answer for Everything
Many leaders recognise the situation: tasks have been delegated across the team, but responsibility for making sure they are completed still rests with the leader. Deadlines pass, decisions stall and problems only reach the leader when they need an urgent response.
Dealing with occasional issues is a normal part of leadership. The problem arises when this becomes the everyday way of working.
The leader must constantly check whether commitments are being met, remind people of deadlines, resolve decisions others have left unmade and take on tasks that should belong to someone else. Their workload grows even though their formal responsibilities have not changed.
The impact goes beyond the time involved. Having to remember everything, monitor progress and anticipate potential problems requires attention and mental energy. When leaders cannot trust that agreed actions will happen without their intervention, both strategic focus and recovery from work become more difficult.
Accountability Takes More Than Asking People to Take Ownership
Organisations talk a great deal about accountability and ownership. Employees are expected to work independently, show initiative and take responsibility for their decisions and results.
But a sense of accountability does not emerge simply because a leader asks people to take more responsibility.
Researchers have examined organisational accountability as part of the working environment and relationships between people. It is shaped by expectations, opportunities to explain one’s actions and an understanding of how performance will be assessed.
In practice, several conditions need to be in place.
First, people need to know what is expected of them. A general task description or job description may not provide enough clarity. People need to understand the outcome they are expected to achieve, the deadline and the criteria used to assess success.
Second, accountability must come with decision-making authority. People cannot be expected to take independent ownership if every decision requires their manager’s approval or if they lack the resources and support needed to do the work.
Third, commitments need to be upheld. If deadlines, expectations and obligations are always open to renegotiation, with no meaningful follow-up when they are missed, accountability will not become part of the team’s everyday working practices.
This does not mean leading through punishment. A clear culture of accountability requires fair feedback, early recognition of problems and open conversations about why a commitment was not met.
Lack of Clarity Can Put Mental Health at Risk
Research has linked unclear roles and conflicting expectations to greater stress and poorer mental health among employees. This also applies to leaders, whose responsibilities often span team performance, employee development and everyday problem-solving.
When leaders are expected to deliver results but cannot influence the decisions or resources needed to achieve them, the mental burden can be significant. In these situations, better time management or greater personal resilience may not be enough. The way work is organised may need to change.
Sharing accountability also involves more than handing over tasks. It must come with decision-making authority, adequate resources and sufficient support. Otherwise, the burden is simply transferred from the leader to the employee.
A well-functioning culture of accountability should support the wellbeing of both.
How Can You Build a Culture of Accountability That Supports Leaders Too?
Developing accountability does not necessarily require major organisational restructuring. Often, change begins with reviewing everyday management agreements and practices.
- Make expectations specific. For every important task, clarify who is accountable for the outcome, what that outcome should be and when it needs to be achieved.
- Agree on decision-making boundaries. Employees need to know which decisions they can make independently, when to involve others and when to turn to their manager.
- Establish meaningful follow-up. Commitments need to be reviewed, but this does not have to mean constant checking. Regular reviews and clear milestones help identify problems before they become urgent.
- Avoid automatically taking ownership back. When an employee brings a problem to their manager, explore the options they see and the support they need before offering a solution. This helps the leader encourage independent action without making every decision themselves.
- Review the leader’s own responsibilities. If a leader is expected to deliver results but cannot influence resources, priorities or key decisions, their role also needs greater clarity.
Consistency matters most. A one-off discussion about roles or a single team meeting will have little lasting impact if everyday management practices remain the same.
Leaders’ Mental Health Is Also an Organisational Responsibility
World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October, provides an opportunity to reflect on how organisations support their people’s wellbeing. For leaders, the conversation often centres on setting boundaries, getting enough rest and managing stress.
These skills matter, but they cannot replace well-organised work.
Leaders’ mental health is also shaped by whether the organisation has realistic expectations, clear boundaries of responsibility, effective collaboration and working practices that do not require constant intervention.
When discussing leaders’ wellbeing, we therefore need to ask how they cope with their workload and why that workload arises in the first place.
A well-functioning culture of accountability does not mean that leaders give up responsibility. It means they do not have to carry sole responsibility for the entire team’s day-to-day work.
This is where the quality of leadership, organisational performance and mental wellbeing come together.
Change Starts with Intentional Leadership, and Support Can Help
At Smartful, we help organisations clarify roles and expectations and develop management practices that support both team performance and leaders’ wellbeing. Our experienced leadership partners, coaches and range of services help organisations strengthen their working culture, ensure accountability sits where it belongs and support wellbeing at work.
Together with Siffi, we have also developed the “Vaimse tervise majakas” (Mental Health Lighthouse) development programme to support the mental wellbeing of leaders and teams. It helps organisations build a more aware and supportive approach to mental health within their leadership culture.
Learn more about the programme.
Research and Further Reading
- Hall, Frink and Buckley (2017) examine how felt accountability develops and its potential positive and negative effects. Read the study.
- Schmidt et al. (2014) found an association between role ambiguity, role conflict and depressive symptoms in a meta-analysis of 33 studies. Read the study.
- Sawhney et al. (2026) synthesised findings from 515 studies and identified role ambiguity as an important workplace stressor. Read the study.