What Are Underperforming Leaders Costing Your Organization?
Firstly, I want to say this isn't going to be an attack piece on leadership, but a discussion around some interesting stats and information regarding leadership performance, accountability, and the impacts these have on an organization, its performance, and its employees. Although if you've been subscribed long enough, you'll know that I state things plainly and directly, with the goal of clarity and thinking through solutions, not playing tit-for-tat. or finger pointing. Keep that in mind as you read through the rest of the article.
In writing this article, I attempted to find research and data on leaders holding themselves or other leaders accountable, and I couldn't find much- and this further supports the idea that this conversation needs to be a bigger part of organizational development spaces.
For now, let's consider these statistics:
In Gallup's 2026 study of more than 23,000 U.S. adults, accountability was ranked the lowest of the competencies measured, and fewer than half of leaders rated themselves good at it.
An LHH survey of 1,900+ HR leaders and executives found 52% were satisfied with senior executive accountability, but only 31% with mid-level managers, and down to 30% for frontline managers (meaning mid-level and frontline managers rated the accountability of senior execs lower than HR- an interesting but not surprising find.)
A 2026 PwC survey found that boards actually do see the lack of accountability but typically don't change anything or do anything because of the culture of collegiality (protecting peers from accountability).
Addressing leadership underperformance (which is what a lack of accountability produces) isn't discussed as much as managing employee performance, and there are many reasons why- but avoiding the conversation may be costing your organization more than you realize.
The Avoidance of Discussion Around Leadership Accountability
Why is leadership accountability such a taboo topic?
From a social perspective, most people cringe at not only the thought of being held accountable, but also at holding others accountable- when there are power imbalances, shared interests, or when they like the people they need to hold accountable.
So, leaders will struggle to hold their peers accountable because of camaraderie and shared interests/goals, while mid-level or front-line leaders may struggle to hold their leaders accountable due to fear related to power imbalances in the social/organizational system.
There are also biases at play, with senior level leaders biased to hold leaders accountable for poor results that impact the bottom line or company image, while avoiding accountability to standards and responsibility to employees and customers.
Leaders also protect one another- even when they observe their colleagues out of alignment with values and expectations, they will rarely do or say anything to hold them accountable.
What is This Costing Your Organization?
The costs associated with a lack of leadership accountability are often "hidden"- because they connect to common people issues within organizations, which then translate into hard costs for organizations.
That translating piece is the what is often missing in many boardrooms and meetings- the ability to understanding the connection between leadership mindsets, leadership behavior, leadership decision-making, employee behavior, and organizational outcomes. These do not act independently of one another- any action along that chain impacts all other pieces of the chain. Knowing, understanding, and leading with this knowledge in mind is leadership accountability 101.
When leaders lack accountability, they often stop making decisions and behaving in ways that are best for the organization, and become disconnected, which leads to:
Unclear expectations (used intentionally by some unaccountable leaders for plausible deniability and control) can cause unnecessary bottlenecks, toxic work environments, lack of psychological safety (being fearful of messing up when you really don't even know what the expectations really are), mismanaged workloads and unrealistic expectations based in idealism versus reality. None of these contribute to healthy work environments, and thus impact productivity and costs across the board (redoing of work, time wasted in pointless meetings, inconsistent performance, training new employees due to high turnover, etc.) - things often associated with employee accountability rather than leadership accountability.
Leaders making poor decisions and pushing consequences downhill- for example a company losing money from a poor decision, and employees losing their bonuses as a result. This of course has wide implications, from losing key employees, reduced productivity, lower engagement and lower motivation. These are directly tied to output and the bottom line.
Leaders often judging themselves by their intentions, not by their actual outcomes or results, which is what disconnects them from the realities they create in the organizations they manage. They instead focus on protecting their reputation/authority rather than their responsibilities as leaders (to all stakeholders, not just the board or investors).
Leaders being measured by short term results and not by their impact on people or the business means leaders often function by looking up, and not down or out, contributing more to the disconnect I mentioned earlier, and creating critical blind spots in judgement.
These outcomes shift trust and morale (in a negative direction), cause employees to disengage and employee ownership becomes impossible. Execution stalls or happens slowly, and a culture of blame and resistance evolves, consuming all creative energy and forcing people to play survival games versus putting their energy toward progress and innovation.
I work with organizations to help them see this gap, how it impacts their outcomes, and to develop organizational awareness, which help leaders recognize how their behavior and influence extends beyond short term results or the bottom line. If you're interested in learning more let's have a conversation.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
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