On Friday, May 2, 2025, members of the Associated Construction Contractors of New Jersey (ACCNJ) filled the room to participate in their Educational Workshop Series: Employee Accountability: The Nuts and Bolts of Delegation and Coaching for Better Performance.

Accountability is critically important to the union construction industry and vital to maintaining a safe environment across our workplaces. It ensures our workers take responsibility for their actions, decisions, and commitments, and are willing to explain or justify them. It involves taking ownership and ensuring follow-through, fostering trust and order in personal, professional, and societal contexts. Rather than focus on the traditional command and control approach, focusing on accountability as it pertains to safety will lead to better results.

The timing couldn’t be more appropriate, with ACCNJ’s Safety Day, focused on accountability, scheduled for May 7 during Construction Safety Week. The program, capped at 30 attendees, sold out the week before, with participants including business owners, CEOs and CFOs, human resources professionals, and project managers.

“Accountability is the foundation of any high-performing workplace. When employees are held accountable for their tasks and outcomes, they take ownership of their work, make better decisions, and ultimately contribute to the overall success of the team,” said Jack Kocsis, CEO, ACCNJ. “It's not a punishment Being accountable for yourself is what makes others live up to the same standards.”

Learning not only to hold themselves accountable, but how to inspire others to be accountable for themselves, Audrey Halpern with Business Training Works delivered a course that motivated, educated and provoked a tremendous amount of conversation on the ways in which we can make accountability a positive attribute when driving our teams to success.

Participants walked away more confident than ever and ready to share their knowledge with coworkers. "We've had employees at every ACCNJ Educational Series Workshop, and they just keep getting better," announced Amanda Myer of Vericon. She continues, "We look forward to the next program in August."

ACCNJ’s Educational Workshop Series began last year, with other past workshops including Email Etiquette, Change Navigation Skills, De-Escalation, and Blueprint Reading. A workshop on Listening is slated for August and a second De-Escalation workshop will be held in October. ACCNJ looks forward to announcing additional learning opportunities.