Effective Accountability

The heart of leading and managing people. It is about holding people to a standard and then ensuring that they are maintaining that standard. It should not be about blaming people and punishing them.

Holding people accountable for their work and addressing underlying issues that are the cause of performance deficiencies should be the goal of a manager or supervisor. Blame assignment should not be a part of this process. Moreover, in most cases, the first response shouldn’t be to discipline. Instead, it would be best if you try to identify for the root cause of the problem, assign responsibility, and then work with the employee to correct the cause.

Too often managers and supervisors shoot from the hip when addressing performance issues. Instead of taking the time to gather facts and think about what the long-term consequences of their actions are, or what they are looking to achieve, they jump into blame and punish mode.

When this happens, it serves the opposite purpose of what should be the intended outcome. The manager’s or supervisor’s goal should be the discovery of the root cause of the performance deficiency and then work with the employee to resolve it. Improvement of the individual’s performance should be the focus.

The Purpose of Accountability

The purpose of holding people accountable isn’t the same as discipline. Accountability is about establishing performance expectations, communicating them, and helping employees understand where they are falling short. Correction of deficiencies and improvement of performance are the key.

Accountability is not discipline. Discipline may become part of the process after you have performed the other steps necessary to address the root cause and help the employee improve performance, but it should not be the focus.

Anytime a manager or supervisor is addressing a performance issue they should be thinking about the end goal. What does the ideal state of performance look like and how does it differ from the current state?

 Additionally, you also need to consider how you want to affect the relationship with the employee and the employee with the team. If you have read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People you will recognize this as Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind.

Consider the End Goal 

Because we so often operate from a state of putting out fires we don’t always take the time to think about what is the end goal of our accountability efforts and what effect our actions have on our team.

When addressing performance issues, the key is to identify what you hope to achieve through correcting the problem. Moreover, you want to ensure that those actions are in line with overall company and team goals and objectives.

In most cases, the end goal is to maximize efficiencies and reduce waste to meet profitability targets. To accomplish this, you need to motivate your employees to want to perform to a level that meets these objectives. Your accountability activities should be focused on the best way to improve employee performance by engaging the employee in the solution and motivating them to want to correct it.

Concern for the Person

Placing blame does not motivate people. Being concerned about them and their performance does. Having a genuine concern for the success of the individual, and framing the problem resolution in that light will motivate them more effectively than placing blame.

When accessing your accountability strategy consider the following:

• What will a satisfactory outcome achieve?
• What actions can I take to try to reach this end state?
• How will the employee perceive your actions?
• How will your actions affect the team?
• How will your activities help achieve organizational goals?
• What is the best way to identify the root cause of the problem?
• How can I help the employee improve their performance? 

Conclusion

Accountability is about setting clear expectations, goals, and consequences (both positive and negative). It is about helping employees improve their performance with the end goal of meeting organizational objects. It is not about placing blame but is about identifying the root cause of performance problems and correcting them with the end in mind.
In a future post, I will go into greater detail on how to perform root cause analysis and tools you can utilize to help your team develop possible solutions.