Team Accountability: Harsh or Helpful?

Every turn of the calendar people make New Year’s resolutions. Every election politicians say that the government leaders need to be held accountable. And every year organizations tell their leaders, “We need to hold our people to their words and actions.” Yet—just like New Year’s resolutions—these scenarios for accountability fall drastically short, as the mirror of accountability is often blurry with ego.

This means that as leaders we see ourselves as actually holding our people accountable and feel that it’s the others that are failing or not following through. Many leaders have a case of accountability myopia—they see themselves as doing a sterling job, and the truth is they are most likely falling short of their own expectations.

So, how does a leader become better at holding their team members accountable? The answer is to first understand why doing so is so important, which can help with the painstaking process of implementing an accountability practice. In business—just like in life—if a person believes in the reasons for the fight, they will fight!

Harsh or Helpful?

In businesses, leaders can sometimes use the excuse of wanting to maintain a cordial and non-confrontational relationship, so they may be hesitant to hold a team member accountable. Reluctance to hold an employee accountable has a negative organizational impact. From the efforts of religious leaders to their congregations to sports coaches to their teams, there are myriad examples in daily life of promoting a culture of accountability.

When you think about it, many great people in this world can point back to a person in their life that pushed them more than anyone else—the one who held their feet to the fire and provided “tough love” motivation that may have appeared harsh—but at the end of the day they made them who they are today. When you think of all of these examples, holding an employee or team member accountable is not malicious, it is an incredibly helpful act. As a leader we must care so much that we are willing to go through the extra pain and work to hold our employee’s accountable.

Lack of Accountability Leads to Failure

People often wonder why New Year’s resolutions fail; they fail because after the initial excitement of enacting personal change wears off, there is no framework for accountability. The same can be said for why businesses don’t hit their goals or reach their full potential. If holding a person accountable to their New Year’s resolution encourages growth, increases their confidence and positions them for success, the same be done at work. When great leaders become the person committed to making their employees better versus just more tenured, they start to become a great coach-of a winning team.

Actions to become better at holding your team accountable:

1. The “What” – “The best practice”.
2. The “Why”- “so we understand it, and believe it”.
3. The How – “so we know how to do it and understand the only thing stopping us is our excuses”.

1. What: Make it public; let the team know so you as the leader are accountable as well.

Why: When we publicly commit to do something we are more likely to stick to it.
How: Write down your expectations for the team, and write down what they can expect from you. Everybody must understand their expectations, so the team member knows what is expected from them and what they are going to be held accountable. As the leader it sets the standard that they are to inspect what is expected. In the expectations given to your direct reports, your boss and anybody else that has influence on you, they should include an expectation that they are to hold you accountable to holding others accountable. Trust that those that really care will let you know when you are not doing something you are supposed to be.

2. What: Write it down and post it on your wall for you to see every day.

Why: It is really easy to get busy and caught up in the daily grind of the job and slip up or forget. It is an “Out of sight out of mind” thing, especially when it is something as hard as holding people accountable.
How: Write it down and post it somewhere where you can see it everyday, make it into a poster, use post it notes, whatever it takes.

3. What: Make it priority as if your career depended on it!  (because it does)

Why: If we feel something is important we will do it.  The only reason we don’t do something or forget is because we don’t assign importance to it.
How: Like most coaching activities in business, there is no immediate consequence to not holding team members accountable, but there is immediate pain or work. So it is really easy to let the ‘urgent’ but not important things get in the way of us doing what is really important. Make accountability an urgent task, by understanding every time you don’t do it, the company, the team and you could have huge consequences, and worst of all you won’t see them until it is too late. Like a high school who doesn’t prepare for a test, they don’t see the first 7 days, but they will see when they flunk the test, flunk the class and flunk the grade.

At the end of the day, holding employees accountable is not a complicated issue or even an issue that is up for debate. Promoting an environment of accountability is a choice that leaders have to make each and every day. When accountability becomes a core principle, it is no longer a decision—it becomes the law, and it is our laws that creates successful actions.