Accountability does not stop with yourself. It reaches everything you have influence over.
A leader is always responsible for the standard, the culture and the result of the team. Also when other people make mistakes. Especially when other people make mistakes.
Most managers point at their team when results disappoint. "They take no ownership." "They do not deliver." "They do not get it." Every sentence puts the responsibility on someone else. And every sentence makes the leader weaker.
A leader who points is not leading. They are explaining.
The question is never: what is my team doing wrong? The question is always: what did I fail to make clear? What am I tolerating? What am I letting happen?
The manager who complains that their team shows no initiative has not set the standard that requires it. The director who is frustrated about the culture in their organisation let that culture form. The founder who thinks their people show too little ownership has not created the environment where that behaviour is expected and reinforced.
This is not a question of blame. This is leadership.
Putting blame outside yourself makes you passive. It makes you a victim of your own team. And a leader who is a victim of their team is not a leader. They are a spectator with a title.
A real leader makes themselves accountable for the full result, not just their own part, the whole thing. That is what leadership is. Not the position, the accountability.
What do I have to do?
Stop being frustrated with your team. Start setting the standard your team needs.
Concretely
Look at yourself first. Before you judge your team's behaviour, ask yourself one question: which behaviour of mine makes this possible? Am I tolerating mediocrity? Am I communicating unclearly? Am I setting the example I expect? The answers are always confronting. And always useful.
Set the standard and live it. A team does not do what you say. A team does what you do. The standard you set with your own behaviour is the standard the team adopts. Not the standard in your presentation. The standard you show. Every day.
Stop tolerating what does not work. Everything you tolerate becomes the norm. Every time you accept mediocre work, every time you let a broken agreement pass, every time you fail to confront what needs confronting, you set a new standard. And that standard is lower than the last one.
Take accountability for the result of the team. Not partly, fully. Your team's result is your result. Not because you do everything yourself. Because you set the standard, decide the direction and shape the culture. When the result is not good enough, start with your own leadership.
Confront directly and clearly. Not from frustration and not from reproach, from accountability. Name what you see, name what you expect and name the gap between the two. No soft language and no diplomatic detours, direct and honest communication.
Accountability in leadership is the ultimate test.
It is easy to be accountable for yourself. It takes everything to be accountable for the whole.
That is exactly where a leader is formed.
Your action for the next three days
Pick one team member or one situation where you let the standard slip. Where you tolerated something that is not good enough. Have the conversation this week. Not next week. This week. Name what you see, what you expect and what has to change. From accountability, not from frustration. And take one honest question in with you beforehand: what is my part in this?