The things you might be missing when holding yourself and others

The things you might be missing when holding yourself and others accountable

by Bron Stephens

Why accountability matters

What I’ve found over time is that most leaders understand the need for accountability and not all leaders hold themselves and others accountable. Accountability sits at the heart of trust, trust in our businesses, trust in and from our teams and trust in ourselves to meet our commitments. If we’re not accountable, and we don’t hold others accountable then there can be no trust. I’ve heard it argued that people can trust you even if you don’t meet your commitments or hold others to meeting the commitments they have made and I want to pause and really explore that for a moment.

If you make a commitment to another person out loud to do something by a certain date and then you don’t, it’s obvious that this erodes trust. What’s perhaps less obvious is when you don’t state it out loud and it’s an expectation none-the-less. Our people have expectations of us everyday that we’ll create a safe and fair workplace; that we’ll meet the agreed standards and values of the organisation; that we’ll get the results and support them to get the results required by the organisation. Their implicit expectation is that everyone shares the work and you as the leader carry the accountability for making sure that is achieved fairly. People also look to you as the beacon of the values and the decision making. That doesn’t mean that you are the only one who makes all of the decisions, merely that you’re accountable for ensuring a decision is made and understood.

Without this basic level of accountability your people can’t and won’t trust you and that will show up in a myriad of different ways. The most impactful way is that people, including you, won’t feel safe to be vulnerable and vulnerability is at the heart of authentic leadership, creativity, problem solving and psychological safety.

What accountability isn’t

Accountability is not a blame game or wandering around calling out everyone and everything that isn’t going the way it should be. Accountability is also not the sole responsibility of the leader to be and hold others accountable. However, if the leader doesn’t, it’s unlikely anyone else will either. More importantly, accountability isn’t micro-management, in fact it’s the opposite of micromanagement, it’s setting the parameters and then handing off to the other person to figure out the how and deliver in a supported manner.

Finally, accountability doesn’t exist if the other party doesn’t understand or agree what they are being held accountable for including the specific task, timeframe, big picture alignment and progress milestones.

The elements of accountability

In a post Covid world where hybrid and work from home arrangements are commonplace and expected, being able to set and hold accountability effectively has never been more important. All too often when we’re setting up ourselves and other people to deliver against commitments we focus on the task, the timeframe, and the person responsible, this limited view is a recipe for failure. By understanding and mastering all the elements of accountability you’ll be setting a strong foundation for trust and developing a strong team who get great results.

Make accountability a personal priority – Foster a “we’re all in this together” environment and be prepared to get your hands dirty. Employees will follow a leader who is willing to get down in the trenches and work alongside them toward a common goal. 1: Leaders are more effective in building a culture of accountability in their organisation when they are willing to be held accountable by others. In personality psychology, this concept is known as internal locus of control. According to Psychology Today “someone with an internal locus of control will believe that the things that happen to them are greatly influenced by their own abilities, actions, or mistakes. A person with an external locus of control will tend to feel that other forces — such as random chance, environmental factors, or the actions of others — are more responsible for the events that occur in the individual’s life.”
Ensure big picture alignment – Clearly communicate the logic behind company initiatives aligned to vision and purpose and provide employees an opportunity to share their own feedback and ideas for achieving them. It’s easier to build engagement and instil a sense of ownership in a project when employees feel like they had a voice in the process. By telling the story of the ‘why’ and linking back to how something relates and contributes to the organisational vision or purpose people will understand the importance of a task and be more engaged and invested in its completion.
Define the level of Delegation – Ensure you are clear on the level of delegation you are assigning to the other party, so they are clear on their level of ownership and autonomy and your expectations on updates and input. Use these 7 levels of delegation to be clear on your intention and communicate this to the other person and you will improve the outcomes. You may start at the lowest level of delegation when someone is learning the ropes and as trust and knowledge builds move up the levels. I always include a warning about levels 1-3 to be cautious not to make people feel micromanaged and ultimately maliciously comply or comply without connection to the outcome so you end up with a different outcome to what you were seeking, this is where the full requirements of accountability are even more important.
1. Tell: I will tell them what to do and how to do it (authoritarian) to get the outcome I need. This is good for quick tasks and with new/junior staff members, it should not be driven by you being time poor rather by the type of task.
2. Sell: I will try and sell it to them by explaining all of the benefits and getting their buy-in to achieve the outcome
3. Consult: I will consult for their input and then decide on what the task is and how it should be done to get the outcome
4. Agree: We will agree together what should be done and how it should be done
5. Advise: I will provide my input and advice but they decide what and how it should be done to get the outcome
6. Inquire: I will leave the decision making process to the other party and inquire after the decide what they are going to do and how they will do it.
7. Delegate: I will fully delegate the task and leave them to execute. I may or may not require them to update me on completion
Set a hard deadline – Set hard deadlines for projects and key tasks, but also take time to identify potential obstacles to meeting those deadlines and ultimately agree the timeframe with the other party by defining what needs to stop, start and continue to enable prioritisation of any urgent requirements. Set expectations and communicate a process for discussing extensions if challenges arise. By effectively delegating you will be able to define this more effectively. To deepen commitment to the deadline, use questions like:
- When do you want to come back to me?
- What do you need from me to be successful?
- What is your level of commitment to completing this project/task in line with the agreed deadline?
Create micro-goals – On larger tasks and projects agree key milestones along the way to achieving an overall goal. Track progress toward achieving each one so you can celebrate often.
Check for clarity – When assigning a new task or project, focus on the outcome you are seeking and ask your team member to repeat the request as they understood it, create the space for questions, and share allow them to share their initial thoughts about how they will approach it (note the delegation level will determine how deeply you probe here, this is more about opening the space at levels 6 and 7). By taking the time up front to ensure alignment you avoid gaps and misaligned expectations in the long run. To fill these gaps and reduce ambiguity, try to be as specific as possible with the big picture and outcome you are seeking.
Give regular, constructive feedback and coaching – Set regular catch-ups in line with the micro-goals and let your team member drive the discussion – stay curious. Take the time to update not only on their progress but on identifying anything that may prevent success and identifying specific actions items to ensure success. Even when you have fully delegated something, on extended projects and programs the opportunity to offer support, check in and celebrate should be welcome and create increased commitment. It also creates the opportunity for any renegotiations required to achieve the desired outcome.
Celebrate success – Recognise through praise and celebration completion of projects, tasks and commitments. Even on small accountabilities met, recognising success is important to embedding behaviour. It’s also great for morale and ensuring the right balance of reward and recognition is in place.

By ensuring you create the time to step through each of these 7 elements you’ll be setting your people and yourself up for success. Don’t fall into the trap of being “too busy” to address each of these. When we don’t hand over accountability effectively, including defining delegation and outcomes the work comes back to us incomplete and we end up spending even more time addressing issues down the track. Take the time to get it right first time!

What erodes accountability

Ever heard the saying “we accept what we walk by”? That’s especially pertinent with accountability and unspoken expectations and it can snowball over time. Sometimes, the lack of accountability starts with individuals who fail to meet expectations and nothing is said, other times it manifests at the team or company level by simply “accepting the unacceptable.” Left unchecked, these bad organisational habits can weaken clarity about roles and responsibilities and further erode accountability. This in turn erodes trust and organisational performance as people see this happen, notice the lack of consequences and accept this as the norm.

When a business operates with unclear priorities or vague expectations, accountability at work weakens or falls apart altogether. Expectations that aren’t communicated can grind progress to a halt. Not only do these implicit expectations result in confusion over tasks, they also cause tension in relationships. This, of course, can lead to distrust within the organisation.

Accountability is valuable leadership and requires strong consistency and follow-through from both leadership and employees. The challenges and barriers are real and, for most, difficult to overcome. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the effort.

Consequences when accountability isn’t met

The good news about accountability is that most people want to do the right thing, and if they have clear expectations set will generally do their best to meet them. I believe everyone turns up to work with a genuine desire to do good work and as leaders it’s our responsibility to use visionary and purpose led leadership to inspire this.

Accountability can be confronting for those who’ve never experienced it before. I will never forget one of my direct reports saying to me “when you called out that I hadn’t done what I said I’d do, I feel like you were blaming and shaming me (I’m a big believer in Brené Brown’s work if this sounds familiar)”. As we got into it and I explored this feeling with them, what became obvious was that it wasn’t anything I had said or done. It was her own intrinsic motivation kicking in and feeling shame for not meeting the commitments she had made. Avoiding this feeling is the ultimate motivator and as long as your own motivation and actions are clean and you’re steering clear of finger pointing and shaming people, people will find their own way to accountability when you hold it.

When we take the time to step through the full 7 elements of accountability, 9 times out of 10 letting people know that they haven’t met their accountability and therefore expectations will result in a surge of their intrinsic motivation to succeed and do good work. When that fails you may need to fall back on extrinsic motivators such as performance management and other factors but this should be a last resort and only after a careful assessment of our own accountability and use of the elements has been reflected upon and discussed for any gaps with the other person.

Where to from here

If you currently don’t hold people accountable and/or know that it’s not the norm where you work, be conscious of the effect that suddenly starting to hold accountability can have. Talk to your people about your intention to do things differently and share what the can expect to see from you and why in the future.

Start with yourself and role-model what accountability looks like. Make commitments and make sure you meet them or follow up the same way you would like your people to if a deadline will be missed. Educate your team about the levels of delegation and your expectations for each and make sure that you share in the learning journey with them.

If you already work in an accountable environment, check in on your use of the 8 elements and see what you could do to be even more effective.

Embedding Exercise

To get started I’ve included some simple steps to help you get started and ramp into creating a more accountable leadership style and team.

Week 1 – 4: Reflection – Each week for 4 weeks identify a situation when you have been accountable and what you achieved/the result was, how it felt and how others responded. What did you learn from this?

Week 4- 8: Practice – Each week for 4 weeks hold someone in your team accountable by using the 8 elements to set accountability for a task including setting a clear expectation, time frame for completion and delegation level. Create a checklist of the elements to make it easier to track each element while you’re learning.

Week 8 – 12: Praise – each week for 4 weeks as people take on their accountabilities and you become more aware of them, praise three people for meeting their accountabilities – the more publicly the better!

Week 13: Reflection – At the end of the 12 months take the time to reflect on your experience with accountability and what you’ve learnt. Consider how you’ll continue to improve and identify what you’ll do differently before continuing to build your practice of being and holding accountability.

If you’d like some support getting started or want to talk through accountability, feel free to book in a free discovery call with me to talk it through.