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2016-01-12 06:23:53
Peter Bregman
January 11, 2016
John* was doing his best to be calm, but his frustration was palpable. Jeanine
was explaining that there was little chance her group was going to make the
numbers for this quarter. Honestly? she said. The numbers weren t realistic
to begin with. It was really unlikely that we were going to make them.
That s when John lost it. You agreed to the numbers in our budget meeting! You
came up with them!
Jeanine was silent for a while. Then she stammered out a weak defense that John
promptly tore apart. Later, when John and I were debriefing the conversation,
he asked me a question that I have heard countless times from countless
leaders.
How do I get my people to be more accountable for results?
Accountability is not simply taking the blame when something goes wrong. It s
not a confession. Accountability is about delivering on a commitment. It s
responsibility to an outcome, not just a set of tasks. It s taking initiative
with thoughtful, strategic follow-through.
And it s necessary at all levels of the hierarchy. Executives high on the org
chart can t really be accountable unless the people who report to them also
follow through on their commitments. This a struggle, of course. I have seen
leaders direct, question, and plead. I have seen them yell, act
passive-aggressively, and throw up their hands in frustration all in the
service of holding people accountable.
None of that works. Getting angry with people when they fall short is not a
productive process for holding people accountable. It almost always reduces
motivation and performance.
So what can we do to foster accountability in the people around us? We need to
aim for clarity in five areas:
Clear expectations. The first step is to be crystal clear about what you
expect. This means being clear about the outcome you re looking for, how you ll
measure success, and how people should go about achieving the objective. It
doesn t all have to come from you. In fact, the more skilled your people are,
the more ideas and strategies should be coming from them. Have a genuinely
two-way conversation, and before it s over, ask the other person to summarize
the important pieces the outcome they re going for, how they are going to
achieve it, and how they ll know whether they re successful to make sure you
re ending up on the same page. Writing out a summary is a good idea but doesn t
replace saying it out loud.
Clear capability. What skills does the person need to meet the expectations?
What resources will they need? If the person does not have what s necessary,
can they acquire what s missing? If so, what s the plan? If not, you ll need to
delegate to someone else. Otherwise you re setting them up for failure.
Clear measurement. Nothing frustrates leaders more than being surprised by
failure. Sometimes this surprise is because the person who should be delivering
is afraid to ask for help. Sometimes it comes from premature optimism on both
sides. Either way, it s completely avoidable. During the expectations
conversation, you should agree on weekly milestones with clear, measurable,
objective targets. If any of these targets slip, jump on it immediately.
Brainstorm a solution, identify a fix, redesign the schedule, or respond in
some other way that gets the person back on track.
Clear feedback. Honest, open, ongoing feedback is critical. People should know
where they stand. If you have clear expectations, capability, and measurement,
the feedback can be fact-based and easy to deliver. Is the person delivering on
her commitments? Is she working well with the other stakeholders? If she needs
to increase her capability, is she on track? The feedback can also go both ways
is there something you can be doing to be more helpful? Give feedback weekly,
and remember it s more important to be helpful than nice.
Clear consequences. If you ve been clear in all of the above ways, you can be
reasonably sure that you did what s necessary to support their performance. At
this point, you have three choices: repeat, reward, or release. Repeat the
steps above if you feel that there is still a lack of clarity in the system. If
the person succeeded, you should reward them appropriately (acknowledgement,
promotion, etc.). If they have not proven accountable and you are reasonably
certain that you followed the steps above, then they are not a good fit for the
role, and you should release them from it (change roles, fire them, etc.).
These are the building blocks for a culture of accountability. The magic is in
the way they work together as a system. If you miss any one, accountability
will fall through that gap.
I ve found that it s useful to make this list public and to discuss it with the
people you re asking to be accountable before there s a specific project on the
line.
When I explained all of this to John, it was easy for him to identify the gaps
in his communication with Jeanine. His expectations were clear, but her
capability was lacking, which they had never addressed. Once they d spoken
about the gap, he could support her development with coaching while also
reviewing her milestones more frequently. That gave him the data he needed to
give her clear and timely feedback.
Remember the question we started with, the one that plagues so many leaders:
How do I get my people to be more accountable for results?
Now there s an answer: It depends. Which of the five areas have you neglected?
Peter Bregman is CEO of Bregman Partners, a company that strengthens leadership
in people and in organizations through programs (including the Bregman
Leadership Intensive), coaching, and as a consultant to CEOs and their
leadership teams. Best-selling author of 18 Minutes, his most recent book is
Four Seconds (February 2015). To receive an email when he posts, click here.