Leaders often mistake accountability as a club they can use to go after people who don’t perform well. Having experienced a hold-people-accountable management style, new supervisors then believe they should use the same approach, only to learn that a sole focus on holding people accountable tends to create disengagement and frustration in their team rather than enthusiasm and energy.
While there are situations that call for holding people accountable, most situations do not. In most cases, coaching conversations that create a feeling of accountability will get better results. In the context of creating a feeling of accountability rather than focusing on holding people accountable, accountability becomes an opportunity for growth rather than a punishment.
Creating a feeling of accountability starts by understanding basic human drives that motivate people to enthusiastically engage in their work. Two of these drives are the feelings of accomplishment and acceptance. By focusing your coaching conversations on helping people to get these drives met, you move closer to connecting the work that needs to be done to internal drives that motivate people for their own reasons so that they stay engaged and enthusiastic rather than disengaged and frustrated.
To do that well you’ll need to cultivate a coaching mindset—one that encourages each person to take ownership of their own development and growth.
Coaching is a continual process that calls for a combination of mindset, skill set, and habit set focused on inviting your team members into the process. It is more than a once-a-year conversation where you tell them what they did well, what they did poorly, and what they need to do this year. It is more than asking your team members what they want from their career or life, and then telling them how they can get it done. Asking these questions is a great start, and you need to follow up with action steps, tools, and encouragement that helps people achieve their goals.
While it is true that not all coaching happens in scheduled meetings, it does help to have a plan you’re working towards to make sure the conversations happen on a regular basis. Look ahead and plan specific times that you will meet with each team member to discuss project status, results, and their personal aspirations. You can use this plan as the baseline to help both of you stay accountable to each other.
As you approach each of these conversations, prepare for them: know what the employee’s goals and objectives are, who the other stakeholders in each employee’s life are (family, friends), and any ongoing stresses or distractions that might be impacting their performance.
When you do have a coaching conversation, focus primarily on what is going well. As the conversation progresses, ask more and tell less. For example:
- How did this assignment help improve your knowledge of X?
- How will this assignment help move this project forward?
- What tools/resources do you need?
- What’s going well?
- What challenges are you facing?
- What would be helpful for me to know/do?
Asking these types of questions help you better understand what an employee sees and experiences as they face each day and gives them an opportunity to reflect both on what they have accomplished and how they can improve. Asking questions that lead them to identify and solve their own problems is a key step towards building a feeling of accountability.
Accountability is a powerful tool. It can be both a motivator and an opportunity for growth. Too often, though, managers use it as a club to beat people with rather than a lever to raise people up. To create a feeling of accountability, cultivate a coaching mindset that encourages each person to take ownership of their personal development and growth, engage in regular coaching conversations, focus on what is going well over what is going poorly, and ask more than you tell.
0 comments