Holding others Accountable

Over the course of my career in human resources I have come across a multitude of theories and models for holding others accountable. Managers are expected to hold other people accountable to some degree, and HR coaches are expected to be provide the tools to drive this activity. There is a great deal of merit to what is being taught and written about on the subject, but it can be confusing to reconcile all of these approaches.

I submit that there are in fact many truths, but the biggest one is that leaders must first hold themselves accountable. That’s right, we have to make sure that we have done our part in being effective leaders before our fingers itch to point. This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but stay with me and you’ll learn how much easier it will be by starting with what you have the most control over - yourself.

First, it’s important to recognize that a profound change occurs when someone transitions to a leader role, especially if they were promoted for their technical abilities. Management requires separate skill sets, and title alone will not establish control or motivate people. The truth here is that communication, emotional intelligence, and self-security will be your most reliable go-to skills.

Second, the mere ability to exercise power over another’s career does not create an environment of accountability, and in fact the threat of exercising that option might create the opposite. Creating an environment of fear is an engagement killer and at best you will have short-term behavioral control, and even then, only while you’re looking.

Giving up the traditional concept of control and power will set you free. Holding yourself accountable will strengthen your personal power and competencies.

Communicate the desired results. I know, this seems so obvious. But just because you said something, doesn’t mean it was heard or interpreted as you intended. Think about a time when the result didn’t really match your expectation. How could you have better conveyed your vision? One of the best disciplines for communicating expectations is to use the SMART formula, which stands for:

• Specific – Make sure you specifically identify the outcome and what it looks like. This is usually more important than micromanaging the process because it gives the employee a clear idea of what success looks like, even if the process breaks down.
• Measurable – Assign metrics to the expectation. This not only keeps it as an objective shared truth, it conveys the degree to which you determine success to be.
• Aligned – Ensure that the vision is in aligned with organizational and team priorities. To do otherwise creates a conflict of priorities which either puts the employee in the position of diluting their efforts between competing demands, or one project undermining the success of the other.
• Realistic – Given the resources of time, talent and budget, any directives should be supported by a plan that includes resource allocation. Without planning and executive support, your project will likely die after taking up your staff’s time and effort.
• Time-based – There should always be a deadline, as well as interim deadlines to ensure that final deadline is met. Failure to do this will usually result in delays, missed critical target dates, and postponement of the rollout as planned.

 
There are other ways to approach this, such as the 5 W’s (Who/What/When/Where and Why). You may have already developed your own and if it works by all means keep using it!

Listen for understanding. It may be that you used the SMART formula and something still went terribly wrong. Is it possible that you didn’t get your communication or understand what you thought were brilliantly clear words? Don’t let assumptions undermine your effectiveness, or worse, the effectiveness of others. Make it a habit to proactively obtain confirmation from your employees, even when it would seem obvious.

• Ask them to repeat it back to you, send you an email summarizing their plan of action, or ask them questions about how they plan to approach it first. All of these are ways to check for understanding.
• Where there is confusion, take the time to relay it a little differently. Repeating yourself won’t help if they didn’t understand that approach the first time.
• Where there is silence or apathy, ask for concerns and where they think there might be obstacles. Consider those concerns seriously and ask them to recommend a solution to consider as well.

 
You get the drift. Giving direction works best when it is a two-way conversation.

Clarify and reinforce the expectation. Of course, you need to continue in this interactive process until you have a shared understanding. You will get better and more efficient at doing this, and your staff will get better at participating, especially if you share what you’re doing (“This is important so I’d like to check for understanding…”).  Eventually they will get in the habit of offering up their understanding on their own.

Obtain commitment. This is the part where many directives break down. Consider that time when you were clear, and they confirmed understanding, but they came up with a litany of excuses throughout the project – or worse at the end – about why it isn't working as you asked. It may even feel like they were sabotaging it; after all, they never really agreed to the deadline, and only spoke up after the fact. To avoid these shenanigans, they will need to have some skin in the game and it is up to you to get it.

• Ask them for a deadline. If they waffle then set one yourself, and ask if there is any reason why they can’t make it.
• If you set the deadline then ask them what obstacles might occur. If they throw seemingly insurmountable objections, ask them for recommendations on solving it.
• One simple approach is to just ask for commitment. Consider any objections but re-state the goal as a performance directive.
• Negotiation is great if it doesn't undermine the business imperative. Most people will appreciate being treated like an adult, but do let them know what can change and what cannot. 

 
Ultimately, they have committed to the job in general, and individual accountabilities are a part of it. Accepting responsibility for their accountabilities is a reasonable expectation and refusal to commit is likely a performance issue. (More on this in another article).

Establish milestones. In most cases there are multiple steps involved in a project or deliverable and the establishment of interim milestones greatly enhances the ability to deliver a quality outcome, on time and as budgeted. While there are several project management and process models, keeping it simple is usually best:

1. Include your staff in working through the target dates. Their first-hand insights will be important to having a realistic plan, anticipating obstacles, and obtaining critical input.
2. Starting with the end in mind, try working backward to establish dependabilities. What has to be done before X can happen. You may have more than one track.
3. This will tell you whether your expected deliverable is possible by the deadline(s). You may have to adjust the outcome, the method, or the deadline.

 
Sharing the planning process with your team also reinforces the larger picture as well as the details that need to occur. You are building in ownership and engagement and skin in the game. After all, this is their plan too!

Follow up regularly. Schedule recurring meetings with your staff. Large projects should have their own meetings, starting off with a large kickoff and just core implementers thereafter. You should also have 1:1s weekly with your people, and periodic team huddles. Many companies will have Monday morning huddles to reinforce the priorities for the week.

• Most meetings should only have the core people involved, with SMEs joining only as needed, and those who just want to keep tabs provided with summaries.
• All meetings should have a agenda, which should be brief and cover: updates, obstacles, and clearly assigned action items.
• Send handouts and reports in advance so there isn’t a lot of time catching people up.
• Assign a scribe to provide summaries for distribution.

 
The amount of oversight will depend on the competencies of the employee(s) involved. You may need to micromanage a new employee a little to make sure they are on track for success. In contrast, micromanaging a high performing senior employee is just insulting and you can simply ask for regular updates.

Provide feedback. If you’ve been doing all this, you will have ample opportunity to provide feedback, reinforce expectations, and make adjustments. Ideally, you’ve built a strong relationship with your staff and have built in enough trust to have difficult conversations should that be necessary. If you haven’t built those relationships, stay tuned for more articles!

In closing, troubleshoot your own effectiveness when something doesn’t go exactly as planned, and don’t satisfy yourself with the assumption that you did everything right. I always like to ask people: You may have been right, but were you effective?

For more insights on this and any related subjects, drop me a line at [email protected].

Cheers, and stay safe and healthy.
Dawn

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