As defined by dictionary.com, accountability is a noun, it’s a state of being accountable, liable, or answerable. Being held accountable does make some people squirm and in my experience, they either dawn a Teflon suit where nothing sticks to them or they deflect responsibility as if throwing a grenade at enemy lines. But accountability is crucial for completing tasks, delivering results, contributing to team success, and achieving business goals – the success and failure of an organization is dependent on accountability from the senior leadership team all the way down to each individual contributor. So why do so many leaders in organizations have difficulty holding team members to their word?
Over coffee, my Sunday morning ritual comprising of meeting up with a fellow leader to divulge the events of the past week-our “challenges” about work situations, and formulating strategies to conquer the work week ahead. Today’s coffee conversation was focused on his frustration with the attitudes and work ethic of several executives in his organization. He is new to the role and as a result of having to learn the lay of the land, he is finding there are many gaps in the business processes, lack of adherence to company values, and poor attitudes surrounding roles and responsibilities all of which is contributing to a less than stellar work environment and company culture. His team is amazing and he loves his role however much of his time is spent dealing with things that are outside the scope of his responsibilities and having to invest effort in non-value-add activities because team member’s attitudes are non-cooperative – it’s evident no one is held accountable and there are no consequences for poor performance. He’s learned this is not a new problem, but one that has been masked behind soaring revenue year after year and the obvious avoidance surrounding crucial conversations.
I pointed out to him, despite his frustrations, this indeed can be an amazing opportunity not only for him to grow and stretch as a leader (influencing stakeholders) but more importantly affect changing the culture by setting an example – be the change in the world you want to see. Let’s be real for a second, there is no organization that is absolutely perfect where everyone gets along – organizations are made of people and people have different perspectives, experiences, upbringing, attitudes, education, approaches, personalities, core values, etc. all of which contribute to the tapestry of an organization’s culture. Setting expectations through a defined set of company values that can be easily tied to performance is one method of creating alignment. This also defines the behaviours that should be demonstrated by everyone.
As the Night King demolished the wall with his dragon, this was a sign, winter was coming. Jon Snow and Daenerys had to rally every army in the seven kingdoms to play their part if they were to survive the Night King and his army of the dead. My fellow male warrior equipped with dragon glass and valyrian steel is using the company values of collaboration and teamwork as his weapons for affecting change by mandating his team to send out meeting minutes, actions with assigned owners, and timelines attached after each and every meeting. This may seem like good meeting management, nothing rocket science about this, however, this is a new behaviour unfamiliar to the various teams. This practice of meeting management, simple in its implementation actually creates alignment amongst team members, clarifies roles and responsibilities, assigns timeliness to deliverables, identifies roadblocks that need support to overcome, and creates communication for management. It’s a vehicle to drive results because there is no denying what’s written in black and white text in electronic form – this is a traceable record that can and should be used as part of a performance review.
As a leader, accountability starts with you. I have found holding myself accountable first demonstrates to my team and stakeholders my credibility for delivering results, it gives permission to my team to demonstrate the same behaviour and it proves my reliability and trustworthiness. It’s not always easy holding others accountable, but remember, as a leader there are things we must do that are not always comfortable and will not always be well received but is required to get the job done.
Reference Material:
https://www.inc.com/gordon-tredgold/7-truths-about-accountability-that-you-need-to-kno.html
Photo Credit: Instagram/HBO
