When Guy was promoted from being a successful big fish in a small pond to being a peer with several leaders running a much bigger pond, it almost derailed him. He thought, based on history, that he was energized, hard working and successful. By contrast, peers thought he wasted their time with poor preparation, didn’t add sufficient value and made them work even harder to cover for his shortcomings.
Guy’s former leadership habits had left him with flabby accountability muscles for the heavy lifting of new challenges. Three core practices helped re-establish his success and the respect of peers. Check how well you use them.
What Worked: A Workout for Flabby Accountability Muscles
“Accountability” derives from the accounting practice of tracking “debits” and “assets.” For leaders, activities count as “debits” or costs because they consume time, resources and money. The value you produce from your activities counts in the “asset” column. Bottom line, Guy’s peers believed that he cost more than he added. His first step required that he understand his new world and what his new peers defined as “assets” and “debits.”
Don’t trust your definition of value. Just as beauty is defined in the eye of the beholder, your leadership value is defined in the eyes of your stakeholders. Guy listed 4 peers who depended on him. He suspended his own judgments and asked what specific, measurable “value” they expected and what they defined as too costly about his current style and work product. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the medicine helped him stop deceiving himself.
What you can do: Ask, “What 1 thing can I do to add more value to you and our team?” Financial results? Time saved? Information, opportunities or resources? Protection or support? Listen with sincere interest. You can guess what stakeholders want or show your commitment to meet their needs. You can negotiate, but ultimately finalize 1 or 2 clear value-producing changes you’ll make.
Follow Though, No Surprises: When Guy initially asked for guidance, he seldom used it so others stopped offering it. He grew more isolated and ineffective. To stop this vicious cycle, Guy chose to give their voices more weight than his own. He wrote down their expectations, checked for accuracy, explicitly said what he promised to do differently, and asked if they would tell him if he ever failed to deliver.
What You Can Do: Publish your workout records. At the gym, when your workout records are detailed, current and public, they keep you honest and progressing. Share new goals with a few trusted people and ask them to observe and score your performance monthly using a 1-10 scale. The discipline of keeping score will help you follow through and keep you and others energized.
Make Accountability Your Lifestyle: Success with weight management, staying in shape and leadership effectiveness results from changing lifestyles. Developing a reputation for accountability took Guy months of investment. He built a new habit of clarifying others’ top expectations, for meetings, for projects, before presentations, and then routinely followed up to check their satisfaction. Repeated practice built habit which became a trait.
What you can do: Stay humble. Stay proud. There’s little more gratifying than making a contribution that makes a positive difference for others. You will make mistakes, but humbly recover and quickly start again. Build a string of wins and your momentum will only grow.
What’s Next
Guy’s commitment to increase his “assets” and reduce his “costs” – as judged by his stakeholders — yielded new energy and results. Commitment by commitment over months, his contributions earned new respect and support. Others wanted him to succeed and were more help than he expected. Coaching helped him stay focused, courageous, discover best practices and keep going through ups and downs.
If you or a leader you mentor needs clarity about assets vs. debits, value vs. activity, and wants to build a reputation for delivering distinguished value, call me for a free initial consultation. I can help you and them build a new balance sheet of success.
Comments?
Do you have additional ideas for building accountability muscles? Add your comments below.
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All the Best,
Meredith Kimbell
President,Corporate Adventure
Executive Advisor, Strategy Consultant, Leadership Energizer
KE Photography by Kari Elliott
Picture Leadership Coaching Notes uses real or composite client examples drawn from 30 years of coaching and consulting with leaders committed to improve performance by solving their toughest personal, interpersonal and organizational issues.
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is copyrighted by Meredith Kimbell © 2012. All rights reserved. You may reprint any or all of this material if you include the following: “Leadership Coaching Notes” © 2012 Meredith Kimbell, Corporate Adventure, Reston, VA. Used with permission.”
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