Accountability as a leader

What is accountability, really?

Lets start with the definition: To be accountable is to be liable; called to account;

answerable. A synonym is responsible. Look closely at the definition, and you will note
there are two players involved, the one accountable for his/her actions and the one to
whom he is accountable. To truly be accountable requires action from the authority
holding you to answer for your actions or lack of actions. Thus, you can be listed on a
plan or to do list as being the one responsible, but if there are no consequences for not
fulfilling your commitment, then are you really being held accountable? I think not.

Researching the term on the Internet, it is interesting that most often it is used in a moral
or ethical context, talking about political and other leaders being held accountable for
their actions. I hold this concept in a much simpler context, namely, being made to honor
the agreements that one makes.

When accountability works

Think about it. What gives you peace of mind as a leader, supervisor or parent? It is
simply knowing you can depend upon others to do what they say they are going to do.
Imagine if that were the case with every employee and every responsibility or task that
needed to be done.

Example:Malcolm Forbes was once asked how he could be riding around Manhattan on
his Harley and flying around the world in balloons when he had a huge business empire
to run. He simply stated, I did my job. I suspect what he meant is that he assured that
everyone else was doing their job. In short, he had built a culture of accountability in his
organization.

I recently had lunch with a coaching client and listened to her relay the wins she was
experiencing. I have witnessed her transition from beating herself up for the failures of
her team, to seriously confronting her team members about non-performance on simple,
clear, short-term commitments.
What changed? She extracted very precise commitments from her people for action;
either a result or a change in behavior to get in line with policy. She put in place the tools
for accountability, namely, a clearly delineated strategic plan with quarterly
commitments for action by her team members and data on performance in each area of
the company. Lastly, she mandated policy in all areas of the organization to get the
norms she wanted clearly defined.

Over lunch, we reviewed her journey of confronting the one employee who chose to call
her bluff. Having no cards, he is now begging for his job back, but having learned that
his word cannot be trusted, she is not budging. What about the others we have talked
about, I asked. They are coming along, she replied. In short, her leadership actions
have sent shock waves through the troops. The old game is over, the new game is
accountability or no game at all.

I have no doubt that this shift in leadership action will have dramatic impacts on the
performance of the organization over time. Steven Covey said it well, Accountability
breeds response-ability.

How to get there from here

So how do you make that shift as a leader?

First, do a self-assessment. Are your people honoring their commitments to you, even
the little ones, e.g. being on time to meetings, getting back to you when they say they
will, etc. What are the consequences or learning for them if they are not? What are you
training them to do or not do by your actions?

Having done the assessment, is change needed? If yes, then go about putting in place
clear agreements you can hold others accountable to. If an agreement is broken,
demand that a new agreement be kept. If there is a pattern of broken agreements,
confront the employee and consider asking them to take some time off, at their expense,
to think about how they are showing up now and how they want to show up in the
future.

Also, make visible the commitments of team members by posting your strategic plan in
the conference room or holding regular team meetings to review progress on
commitments. Then, as you monitor the plan or the to do list as a team, others become
aware when team member X has not met the agreement. Reviewing commitments as a
team encourages accountability, as no one wants to be the odd man out who is not
getting the work done.

I found a great example that explains the distinction more clearly. A responsible sales
person will say I have to make 75 cold calls this month. And if they truly are
responsible, they will do just that. The accountable sales person will say I have to close
100K in sales this month. See the distinction? The responsible fellow may indeed
make 100 calls, perhaps even more. He may have $100K in sales, may have $0, but that
was not his job as he saw it. He was responsible only to make the calls. The accountable
fellow may make 50 calls, may make 150, may make 10. He is accountable for a result,
$100,000 in sales. And he works until the result is accomplished.

Okay, yes, you can switch the words around. Your salesperson could say he is
responsible for $100K in sales. To that degree it is a matter of semantics. The important
point is to get the distinction between a completion of a task and the result of it. Which,
of course, brought me back to my original question of improving completion rates on
strategic plans. At the end of my research, that terminology needed a fresh perspective
as well.

To be accountable means that your team is not only completing a strategic project, but is
assessing the impact of the project. If the project is not accomplishing the intended
result, an accountable team is able to make necessary revisions so that the goal of the
project is achieved. Regardless of the terms you choose, to get your team accountable
for results of tasks and not just completions of tasks is to get them, and yourself, to the
next step in reaching your organizations vision and goals.

As you go forward, remember that you should be on a journey to build a culture of what I
call, results not reasons. There will always be reasons as long as those are good enough
for you.

Is this easy? No. Straightforward, yes; easy, no. I struggle with it myself. But I know that
targeting accountability is one of the highest leverage changes a leader can make.

For a deeper look at the topic, we delved into accountability vs responsibility. You can
check that post out here. And, if you need help with accountability, consider getting a
coach to hold you accountable for the change you wish to make in your own
performance as well as those you mentor and lead. And, as always, if you have
questions or would like more information on coaching for accountability.

Holding others and yourself accountable is tough and not for the faint of heart. We are
happy to help you define and take the steps needed to move yourself forward in this
critical area of management.