Accountability is painful. It feels unnatural to have to hold someone else accountable. And yet it’s present on high performing teams. The classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, points out that accountability is necessary for a team to achieve sustainable results.
We’ve run the Five Behaviors program for many years now. It’s based on the book and helps teams work better together. It’s clear that accountability is a key sticking point for many teams.
Why? Because of two big issues.
Many leaders see accountability conversations as unpleasant, so they avoid them. Since most situations requiring an accountability conversation don’t get better on their own, the leader has to have a stricter more urgent conversation later. That feels even more unpleasant. And the cycle goes on.
A key leadership competency in high performing organizations is to have an accountability conversation when it should be had.
Imagine if every leader in your organization exercised that behavior? The impact could be incredible.
This is step one in developing greater accountability inside the organization.
Step two is to then encourage team members to hold each other accountable. Now we’re back to the same cycle of putting the conversation off because it feels unpleasant.
The way to make it less unpleasant is with repetition and a sprinkle of emotional intelligence. The more we hold each other accountable in a natural sounding way with an interest in being a resource if needed the better off it’s likely to go.
What’s also important is for the team to stay focused on goal achievement. It’s not about you dropping the ball, it’s about us moving forward toward the goal we’re all committed to. If there’s something holding you back from effectively moving toward that goal, I want to help.
Accountability conversations often feel personal. Work to develop patterns of speech that keep it from feeling personal.
You might start with, “I noticed we might be off our timeline on the X project.”
Then, follow up with,
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Are there any resources you need that I can look for to support you on the X project?”
“How are you feeling about your role on the X project? Should we change anything to ensure we stay on track with the timeline? I know it’s pretty aggressive.”
If we have a healthy team where people like working with each other, then these types of inquiries aren’t likely to trigger defensiveness. If they do, then team meetings where accountability is openly discussed and rules of engagement agreed upon should be had.
If the leader models timely and emotionally intelligent accountability conversations and the team follows suit to develop peer to peer accountability capacity, you’ve laid the groundwork for sustainable results.
If you’re striving to put accountability into your workplace but find the process challenging, we offer solutions built around a proven CAN DO framework. To find out about CAN DO, and to learn about our entire range of executive leadership coaching services, schedule a meeting time through our calendar or complete our contact form.
To further assist you, we’ve prepared an Accountability Self-Assessment tool to help you evaluate how effectively you take ownership, follow through on commitments, and hold yourself and others accountable. We also prepared a downloadable guide for 7 Tips for Building a Culture of Accountability.
Here are more resources related to this topic:
Articles:
- Building a Culture of Accountability in Your Organization
- Leading by Example: How Leaders Can Shape Their Organizational Culture
- The Role of Team Training in Building Company Culture
- Creating a Culture of Coaching in an Organization
Guide:
Videos:
- Five Steps to Greater Accountability in Your Organization
- Don’t Panic! How to Stay Accountable in 6 Common Tough Situations as a Leader
- Accountability in Email and Working With Friends!
- Do you have Accountability in Your Organization?
Photo copyright: Featured photo is from ©Mikhail Nilov via Pexels. Secondary photo is from ©Pavel Danilyuk via Pexels.
