An Elegant Accountability Practice for Today
Leaders often ask about ‘holding people accountable’. What they sometimes mean is, “How can I pressure resistance into compliance and still be a nice person?”
Accountability increases resistance when it’s coercion wrapped in cotton candy.
Being ‘held accountable’ sounds like working at gunpoint. It doesn’t have to be that way. Accountability isn’t arm twisting.
Elegant accountability:
#1. Practice personal responsibility.
Make yourself accountable to…
- Know, respect, and maximize the top strengths and talents of everyone on the team.
- Focus on the welfare of others. Accountability makes you a tyrant when you don’t care for people.
- Bring vitality. Team energy hinges on the interactions you have with people.
#2. Leverage aspiration.
Shift your thinking from external coercion to internal drive.
High performers love being held accountable. They enjoy achievement. They look for weight to carry. Responsibility means work matters.
#3. Use a simple elegant practice.
One of my clients occasionally CC’s himself when he emails the supervisors he leads. He files his copy of the email in his follow up folder.
His team knows when he CC’s himself he’ll follow up with them in the near future.
If you use the CC-method:
- Do it for yourself. You lose credibility when you don’t follow up.
- Explain your strategy to everyone.
- Always follow up when you CC yourself, always.
- Don’t overuse the CC-method.
Holding people accountable in healthy ways makes work meaningful.
Still curious:
Mastering the Art of Creating Accountability
How to Hold People Accountable
Cotton candy image comes from A Person Holding a Pillow
When I coached college hockey, I had one player who used denial and made excuses for his mistakes. He didn’t like being held accountable. When I started videotaping games and highlighting his issues, he had no where to hide.
Holding people accountable is a way of letting them know you believe in them and will require them to meet your standards.
Thanks Paul. It helps when we can verify what’s happening. It’s surprising how we don’t see ourselves. And sometimes it’s hard for us to learn how. Nothing like video evidence.
When you believe in people, you believe in their abilities. If they can’t deliver on what you need because they aren’t able, they have the wrong assignment (making room for stretch assignments).
EXCELLENT READ!! Thank you for the nuggets! “Accountability makes you a tyrant when you don’t care for people.”
Thanks Rosanne. Delighted to be of use. Cheers.
Give people a chance to have input in that accountability – “when do you think you can have that done?” “Is that a realistic timeline given your other tasks?” “Is there something that needs to be put aside now to make this a priority?” It goes along with the caring for people. It shows that you recognize that you see how busy they are and want to hold them accountable for this as a priority AND allow them to have a say in where it fits in their schedule.
Thanks Mary Ellen. Wonderful insights. You’re prioritizing people. Frankly, we all work harder for people we believe care about us.
I believe a key element of accountability is clarity. Make it easy to win. Help the person understand specifically what success looks like and then make sure they have all of the resources and support needed to achieve it. As you pointed out, competent people enjoy being held accountable.
On the other side of the coin, ambiguity breeds mediocrity. When people don’t understand what they’re going to be held accountable for, is impossible for them to successfully achieve it. Also, failing to hold one person accountable can have a negative ripple effect across the rest of the organization. You owe it to that person, and everyone else, to hold yourself and others accountable.
Thanks for another great article Dan!
Spot on Dan! If we UAE with the intent of betterment for Team and individual purpose we can achieve more than shaming them into remission. Work with the good for all approach and we all win. Practice what we preach has worked for me often.
Glad Technology is working again.
Cheers
Thanks Tim. Good to see you today. Work for something good like the betterment of the team…. It’s too easy to get carried away by things we don’t like and forget the positive outcomes we’re reaching for. Work in positive ways to achieve positive outcomes.
Brilliant John. Tragedy waits when people don’t know what they need to do to achieve desired outcomes.
The idea of consistent accountability really speaks to me. Don’t play favorites. When you say you’re going to do it, do it.