Accountability

The following blog is the 8th in a series on "Leadership of People and Culture". This contribution comes from a blog posting by Christian Muntean.

A supervisor is stressed by employees who frequently show up late to work. Their presence is necessary for others to do their work. So, 15 minutes of tardiness pushes an entire team back in their schedule. This happens several times a week.

A CEO feels like she never has time to really focus on what is important. She works long hours and is proud of this. But she feels like she is always playing "catch-up." She also allows a constant flow of interruptions throughout her day. It's rare that she is able to pull 30 minutes of uninterrupted time together to really concentrate.

An owner is struggling in his business and doesn't understand why. Revenues are high but there is never any money. He often needs to forego paying himself to cover payroll. As a small business, the bookkeeping is minimal with informal financial management. However, due to requirements from a lender, they undergo an audit. It reveals embezzlement from an employee.

The common missing ingredient: Accountability

Accountability, done well, protects others. It protects the investment of time, effort, and skill that your team puts into accomplishing projects. It protects resources. It allows for margin and predictability. It creates and supports healthy boundaries. Why let that be robbed?

Many leaders struggle with building cultures of accountability. As a result, they spend an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources chasing after their tails. 

This is usually for four reasons:

1. They want to be liked: Most leaders I meet don't want to be the stereotypical "mean" boss. They don't want to confront. They don't want to say, "No" or "Not now" or "Hurry up." They are afraid that if they hold others to account, they'll be viewed as that mean boss.
2. It takes work: To create a culture of accountability requires leaders to take time to clearly define their expectations. Many leaders find this difficult. It takes less effort to have fuzzy goals with vaguely communicated expectations. This creates the perception of direction without having to do any heavy lifting.
3. They view accountability as "conflict" and conflict as "wrong: "Similar to wanting to be liked, many leaders view checking in on progress as a confrontation. Or a conflict. They are uncomfortable with this because it feels wrong. So, they try to avoid it.
4. They don't want to be accountable themselves: Many leaders don't particularly want to be accountable for their own actions or decisions. Why be the boss if you have to report to others? Or be disciplined? Like it or not, their own lack of accountability defines the values and culture—sets the pattern—that others follow.

Accountable for what?

One reason people don't like accountability is that they've often experienced being held to account for insignificant things, while what is important slips by. That's frustrating. Structure accountability to be rooted in your organizational values and the results (or outcomes) that you are pursuing. This is the "why" that people like to talk about. Your values and your purpose. They should orient and inform and give a reason for building accountability.

Specifically, there should be accountability in these three areas:

• Ethics: Teach or define what is expected in terms of ethical behavior. Don't tolerate or excuse a lack of ethics. You can teach skills. It's very hard to teach character. Act ethically and expect the same from your team.
• Attitude: One person's poor attitude is rarely contained to one person. It's felt by and impacts other employees, customers, and partners. Granted, attitude is fuzzy and not always easy to define. However, the impact of poor attitude has hard numbers: Dollars missing from the bottom line, turnover, hours spent in conflict, lost customers, goals left incomplete.
• Performance: The clearer you are about what good performance looks like, the easier it is for others to get there. The clearer you are, the easier it is to measure (for yourself and for your employees). Clarity supports high performance. It also makes it easier for you to diagnose and address issues that are preventing high performance.

How to build a culture of accountability: Five Tips

By definition, a culture is a set of shared beliefs and behaviors that stem from shared values and world view. To create or reshape culture, you need to evaluate your own values or worldview around accountability. If you struggle with it or find it creates some kind of cognitive dissonance for you, you will struggle to make it a reality organizationally.

So, pay attention to your own responses to accountability.

1. Accountability starts from the top. As a leader, the more you allow yourself (your ethics, attitude, and performance) to be held to account, the more naturally everyone else will as well. A lack of accountability within a team or organization is nearly always indicative of a lack of accountability on the part of leadership.
2. Accountability should be focused on values and purpose: Major on the majors, minor on the minors. Shape accountability to be in alignment with your stated values and purpose (goals or outcomes) for your organization. Those are majors. Don't confuse small acts as minor issues. If the time someone shows up for work doesn't impact anyone else, doesn't violate your organizational values, nor detracts from accomplishing your purpose—then it really doesn't matter much. But if showing up late negatively impacts others, violates your values, or makes it harder to accomplish your purpose—then it matters a great deal.

Deal with it.

3. Get comfortable with forthrightness: I like the word. It's not used very often. It means: "To be direct, straightforward, honest." I'm not a huge fan of beating around the bush or avoiding issues. Both approaches tend to hurt people. Even though they are usually pursued out of a desire to avoid something that feels like conflict. They don't work. It's an important leadership characteristic to be forthright. Knowing how to be forthright without also being rude or overbearing is an important leadership tool. My book, Conflict and Leadership, provides a practical guide and even scripts to help you learn how to be forthright effectively.
4. Clear indicators of success/metrics: One of the biggest challenges around accountability is we never actually put a sharp point on what success looks like. Many executives and owners (I hear this regularly) will tell me, "I'll just know it when things are running right." Fine. Maybe you will. But no one else around you will know how you know. They won't know what you expect. They won't be able to measure progress or lack thereof. Truth be told, neither will you. I always push back when given that answer. One reason I ask this question with a client is that I know my services will be evaluated. I want it to be explicitly clear how. I have no interest in leaving the interpretation of my success vulnerable to someone's bad day. The other reason is, I want crystal clarity on what I'm working towards. Over time, on a long project, it can be easy for focus to wander. Clarity in expectations brings us all back.
5. Planned check-ins: Schedule check-ins regularly. The frequency and length should match the need. I recommend keeping things as short as possible. But at the beginning, meet more frequently and back off as seems appropriate. This does a couple of things:

•  It makes sure the check-ins happen. For the most part, these kinds of conversations tend not to happen unless they are scheduled. The can gets kicked down the road and either everyone forgets what was agreed on or frustration on someone's part forces a (less effective) conversation.

• It depersonalizes accountability: With clear metrics and scheduled times to report—the personal element of accountability is largely taken out. Don't let the only time you talk about progress be when you are frustrated about something.

• Take the fear out of accountability: Accountability is just checking in. It's just a conversation. But, for many people, it feels like a confrontation. That triggers all kinds of emotions—often fear. As a result of fear, people avoid the conversation until they are frustrated or angry enough to have it. Not helpful.

Also, most employees indicate wanting to know about their progress and how leaders feel they are doing. Generally, employees will say they don't have all the feedback they want. Planning these conversations makes it just part of the routine. It's not like being called to the principal's office.

It's simple. It's about communication.

I'm just talking about communication. Being clear. Making it normal to talk about expectations. Structure helps.

Make your life easier. Regain traction. Build accountability.