Accountability is critical at every level of every organization, whether you lead a startup, nonprofit, or government agency. In this 5-part series, we will discuss each element of accountability, why it matters, and ways to build it on your team.
Congratulations! You’ve finally set your organization’s new strategy after countless hours of brainstorming sessions, stakeholder focus groups, and teammate feedback sessions. Now you and your team can officially make your vision a reality.
But before you shift into hyperdrive, you need to give yourself some honest feedback: Do your teammates have what they need to execute?
Remember: Your day-to-day operations still need to run without a hitch, and the unexpected fire drills you’ve always had (e.g. supply chain issues, health crises, angry legislators) won’t disappear overnight. At the same time, your team must develop new skills, relationships, processes, and work rhythms to make your strategy successful.
Bottom Line:
This journey won’t be easy. And as the leader, your teammates are looking to you to help them grow, adapt, and persevere to make the strategy a success.
To execute successfully, start with accountability.
What is Accountability and Why Does it Matter?
At its core, accountability means taking responsibility for your work, both the inputs (what you do) and the outputs (results). At a more granular level, accountability has five elements: (1) clear expectations, (2) clear capabilities, (3) clear measurement, (4) clear feedback, and (5) clear consequences. Each element is crucial, and we will dive into each in separate posts.
(Note: I subscribe to Peter Bregman’s factors of accountability. See Harvard Business Review, The Right Way to Hold People Accountable (Jan. 2016). While there are other schools of thought on accountability, I’ve found Bregman’s particularly insightful and actionable.)
When your team is highly accountable, the sky is the limit. Your team knows what they need to do, you can trust them to get their jobs done, you accomplish incredible results, and you have a great time doing it.
When your team lacks accountability, the symptoms are unmistakable: recurring fire drills, blown deadlines, overworked star performers, problems punted to senior leadership (or worse, board members or legislators), and constant stress and frustration. If your team shows these symptoms, you likely have an accountability problem.
Once you realize that your team has accountability issues, you’ll need to take action to make things better. But where should you start?
Element 1: Clear Expectations
Healthy accountability starts with setting clear expectations. Simply put, each teammate should know what they’re expected to do and how they’re expected to do it.
Clear expectations are essential for teammates to do their jobs well. Gallup suggests that clear expectations are the most important factor for high employee engagement. As a leader, it is your responsibility to ensure that each of your direct reports knows what they need to do. This is just as true for senior executives as for front-line employees. When your team members understand your expectations, they are much more likely to set the right priorities, steer their own direct reports in the right direction, and contribute to your organization’s vision.
On the other end, unclear expectations hurt performance and drag down morale. According to Gallup, employees need clearly defined expectations to achieve their goals. Without clear expectations, employees experience uncertainty and insecurity, which increase anxiety.
Most of us have stumbled across unclear expectations the hard way, whether as a leader or employee. Consider the following examples:
Example 1
A senior leader at a large professional services firm yells at and threatens to fire a new employee for unacceptable conduct. The issue? The employee violated an unwritten policy while trying to help a potential client. However, the employee had no idea that the unwritten policy existed. The senior leader assumed he did and concluded that the new employee was deliberately trying to make her look bad. Despite having the best of intentions, the new employee ends up confused and afraid for his job despite otherwise stellar feedback on his performance. The new employee finds it difficult to focus for the rest of the week and loses trust in the leader and the organization, which takes years to rebuild. Even worse, he might leave for a different employer.
Example 2
A talented supervisor and her team face an increased workload following multiple staff departures. Instead of level-setting with the team about the increased workload and setting expectations for each teammate to pick up some of the extra work, the supervisor simply hopes that teammates will notice and volunteer. They don’t. The supervisor quietly tackles hours of extra night and weekend work on her own, and her health and family pay the price.
These leaders may have reacted differently, but they share a core mistake - they did not make their expectations clear.
Almost always, team members want to do a good job. When leaders are clear about what a “good job” actually is, team members have more confidence and peace of mind knowing they are helping the organization’s overarching mission.
Bottom Line:
Leaders need to create clear, specific expectations to ensure that their team members can do their jobs well and have a good experience at work.
Signs That Your Team Needs Clearer Expectations:
You have no idea what your teammates do.
Your team’s deliverables regularly turn out much different than you envisioned (and not in a good way).
Your team’s action items frequently fall through the cracks, resulting in last-minute fire drills and finger pointing.
Your teammates are working long hours, but making little apparent progress on your priorities.
Are You Setting Clear Expectations?
How to Self-Diagnose
Clear expectations are a two-way street. A supervisor must (1) intentionally design and set expectations for each direct report and (2) clearly communicate those expectations to each direct report. Then the direct report needs to understand and accept those expectations (or suggest how to improve them). It’s critical that you and your direct reports are on the same page.
If you’re not sure whether your expectations are clear, you need to find out. The easiest way is to ask your team.
Start with the following questions:
What is your direct report supposed to achieve?
When does she need to get it done?
How will she know if she is successful?
What rules, policies, or conduct guidelines should she follow?
Whom should she consult, and when?
Bottom Line:
If you and your direct reports give the same answers to these questions, you’re off to a great start. If not, you need to invest more time in setting and communicating your expectations.
How to Build Clearer Expectations for Your Team
The right prescription for your team depends on the specific underlying issues. For example, do your team’s challenges stem from someone’s communication issues (either not communicating expectations, or not understanding what’s communicated)? Is your team navigating new work expectations because of a shift to remote or hybrid work? Or perhaps you’re wrestling with one of countless other potential issues? Different underlying issues call for different solutions, and you will need to diagnose them correctly to make your strategy a success.
While there’s no one “silver bullet”, there are best practices that leaders can use to make their expectations clearer for each direct report:
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Take Some First Steps
Building clear expectations across an entire organization can be daunting. But you don’t have to tackle it all at once (or alone - check out www.mblventuresllc.com for more information). Here are two first steps you can take to start making clear expectations the norm in your organization:
1) Start Small. Try putting the above best practices in place for an upcoming team project. Start by writing down your expectations for (1) the team as a whole, (2) the individual team members who will report to you, and (3) yourself. Then go through the steps above as the project kicks off, adjusting as needed until completion.
2) Start Early. When you onboard your next direct report, develop a 30/60/90-day plan for them. Start with overarching goals for each 30-day period, then build in the steps needed to achieve them. Next, follow the best practices above and adjust as needed.
Takeaway Questions for Leaders
Do your direct reports clearly understand what you expect of them?
Do your direct reports have a clear vision of what “success” looks like in their job?
Do you clearly understand the expectations for yourself?
Michael Lanahan serves as Founder and Principal of MBL Ventures, a management consulting firm that helps business, nonprofit, and public sector leaders navigate issues of strategy, structure, and government.
To learn more, please visit www.mblventuresllc.com.
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