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How often do you hear yourself or someone else complain that this person or that person isn’t “being held accountable?” Or find yourself mustering up the gumption to “hold that person accountable?” It’s really a fool’s errand. At the end of the day, personal accountability is the only real accountability. So that means you can’t really hold other people accountable.
Are we just supposed to sit back and let people drop the ball and pick up the pieces for them? The unequivocal answer to that is no. Instead, tackle the issue vs. the person by following these tips.
Own your role as a manager. When you take on the role and responsibility of being a manager of others, you have to own what happens on your watch. When a manager points the finger at their employees, they instantly lose credibility with their leadership and their team. Part of being in a manager’s role is being able to handle the pressure that comes with being accountable for the results of the team not just yourself. If you’re not up for that kind of pressure, it’s very understandable. But then you should be accountable and not take a role you’re not prepared to commit to.
Role model personal accountability. As a manager, you’re bound to make mistakes. Instead of trying to cover that up, use it as a chance to role model what taking personal accountability looks like. Demonstrate what learning from your mistakes looks like and how you own the outcomes of your choices. To learn more about how to take personal accountability, read the companion article, “How to Use Personal Accountability as a Gateway to Stress Management.”
Invite feedback and receive feedback from your team. Managers that ask for feedback from their staff are, unfortunately, rare. Managers who know how to receive feedback from their staff are even more rare. Thus, most staff don’t believe that a manager is actually interested in learning from their team. You will need to solicit feedback frequently. You will need to demonstrate that you care more about learning about their perceptions and experiences than having your ego stroked.
Help people face the reality of the outcomes they are producing. Instead of trying to hold employees accountable, focus on helping them deal with the reality that they are creating. Avoid the lectures that start with a list of “shoulds.” You should do this and you should do that only makes the person feel nagged or lectured. It rarely leads to higher levels of accountability. But clarifying the current reality of an outcome they produced and delegating the ownership of solving for that puts them in a position to make a choice. Either they step up and take accountability or they choose to avoid responsibility.
Be accountable for making management decisions. Once you’ve delegated the decision making around the outcomes you have to then make management decisions. If they choose to avoid reality and they don’t make the changes needed to support the team and the work, then you must decide what to do next. This may include a write up, removing them from key responsibilities or even letting them go from their job, if appropriate. You are helping them fulfill the direction of their choices. If they choose to help the company grow then how do you help them do that? If they choose outcomes and behaviors that hinder the company’s success, how do you help them fulfill the path they are choosing?
Celebrate personal accountability. Acknowledge people for taking accountability. Make sure that you reward accountability for positive and negative outcomes. That means inviting people to celebrate when they’ve done great work as well as celebrating when they’ve learned from their mistakes.
Use postmortems to learn vs. blame. There is an art to going through the wreckage of a mistake. The focus should be on the effectiveness of choices made, awareness of information and identifying mindset shifts. That is very different than a witch hunt for the person in the wrong.
Make it safe to surface issues early and often. As a manager, it’s critical to make sure people feel safe to discuss and learn from mistakes. Most issues get blown way out of proportion or are allowed to fester for so long the damage is irrevocable. When you make it safe to bring up problems to you, even if you are at the center of that problem, you ensure you aren’t managing blindfolded.
If you want a team that is fully engaged, willing to think outside the box and take personal accountability, you have to leave room for people to be human and learn from their mistakes. A great mantra for the team could be to make sure that each mistake is unique, different and a result of a glorious attempt to deliver greatness.
