Improving Accountability

Leadership Coaching Notes May 2009

Improving Accountability

Dina was frustrated with the lack of accountability that too often sucked her into rescuing situations she thought others were handling. She hated the inefficiency, poor quality and broken teamwork it caused. When she started complaining about irresponsible people who didn’t follow through, I stopped her.  I asked 3 questions that left heruncomfortable, but a lot more effective in the end. Read on if you are committed to improving accountability in your organization.

What Worked – Answer these 3 Questions

1. How Clear Are Your Agreements? “Taking accountability” means making an agreement to deliver a specific result. No agreement, no formal accountability. Dina usually told others what she expected saying, “I need X.” She seldom asked others if they’d deliver X. Further, her speed, position and style made it tough for others to ask questions of clarification. She knew her exact expectations, others often didn’t. Dina also “updated” her expectations as she learned new information, but she forgot to update her people. She began to realize she was a big problem. What did she change?

What You Can Do: Think like a news reporter. Classically, a reporter asks “who, what, when, why and so what?” in order to tell a clear story. Assure your people can answer these same questions when you ask for accountability. Check: How consistently do you ask one person (not a group) to agree to deliver something? Do you tell or ask? Can the person accountable restate what they will deliver, by when and to what standards? Put your “issue” on the “front page” of their priorities by explaining the importance of their accountability to you, your clients, and the team. How often to you say how their work will help you and others take their steps?

2. Are They Ready to Take the Risk of Failing? Risk takers love the unknown, but many are still learning that level of confidence and resourcefulness. Many will hesitate to tackle a challenge until they think they have a prayer of succeeding. Dina realized uncertain people usually look busy or “try,” but often don’t do the hard work of succeeding. What did they need from her?

What You Can Do: Check confidence levels. Like checking your oil before a trip, check others’ readiness. Ask what they need to be confident of succeeding. More background? Expert help or additional resources? Re-prioritization of other deliverables? Time to ask questions if they get stuck? Check how easy you make it for others to ask for help. Sure, you will stretch them to learn vs. spoon feed them, but raise their confidence and you’ll raise accountability.

3. What Happens When They Deliver? Dina was typically busy with multiple priorities and often reviewed others’ work at the last minute, sometimes days later. If she was relieved that the work was good, she moved on. If frustrated at a last-minute surprise, it showed when she called someone to address the shortfalls. Dina realized that she taught them to expect no news or bad news. Neither encouraged top reliability and quality.

What You Can Do: Follow the Golden Rule. If you worked hard to meet a deadline, you would like some acknowledgement of your effort and contribution. How often do you say what you liked and appreciated? If the work didn’t meet expectations, you’d want coaching, not berating. How often do you explore what happened and what needs to change to improve success in the future? Assure you make new agreements to improve vs. rant about a past you can’t change.

Business Impact

Dina laughed when she admitted that it was easier to make poor accountability others’ fault rather than take personal accountability for changing her practices. But almost immediately, her investments to improve clarity, confidence and acknowledgement paid off with fewer surprises, less wasted time for corrections, and improved quality. With more successes over time, others more willingly accepted new challenges and eventually began taking accountability for things without waiting to be told. Her team’s performance earned Dina a new strategic assignment. She started it with new confidence and knew her people were well equipped to impress her successor.

What’s Next

If you or leaders you are helping to develop want to learn more specific ways to work with individuals and build a culture of accountability across your organization, please call for a free conversation about your situation and ways to achieve your goals. We are happy to re-connect with you and never too busy to talk with your referrals.

All the best,

Meredith Kimbell
Executive Advisor,Strategy Consultant
Corporate Adventure

Leadership Coaching Notes uses real or composite client examples drawn from 25 years of coaching and consulting with leaders committed to solving their toughest personal, interpersonal and organizational issues.
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is copyrighted by Meredith Kimbell © 2011. All rights reserved. You may reprint any or all of this material if you include the following:
“Leadership Coaching Notes © 2011 Meredith Kimbell, Corporate Adventure, Reston, VA. Used with permission.”