From someone else:

Accountability must work in all directions. Holding subordinates accountable is easy; holding your leaders and your peers accountable is harder, but critical. They should know that you expect them to have the highest standards, and they should hear about it (politely) when they don’t. When you are in charge of a good team, they set the expectations for you at least as much as you set the expectations for them. I recently fulfilled a long-time wish when I entirely skipped the first PT formation to go out for breakfast, something I’d never done before in my whole career. I was more than a little sad that no one called to check on me. Later, I learned my absence was noticed, but no one felt they had the authority to call me out on it, so I had some discussions with the relevant people. It was a good breakfast, but a better teaching point, I hope. Holding your leaders accountable, perhaps by asking the hard questions in the meetings, tells them what your expectations and needs are and helps keep them on the straight and narrow. When as a leader you don’t get any feedback, it’s very easy to wander far afield. Everyone… needs someone to hold them accountable.

From Reflections on the Conclusion of a Military Career, by Ben Steele. Full remarks at the Angry Staff Officer blog.

I prepared and scheduled this blog more than a month ago. Since then, I have experienced first hand the consequences of holding a supervisor accountable. There’s nothing easy about it. But for all the reasons stated above, I did it. And will continue to do so.