The Accountability Myth
Why holding your team accountable may not be the answer to productivity and how to empower them instead
Holding your team accountable is dangerous and completely unproductive and unnecessary.
As a matter of fact, it’s virtually impossible to do.
Let me share what I mean,
But first, let’s start with a question:
If you’re trying to hold your team accountable, how’s that working for you?
Probably not so well.
Maybe it was just me, but when I used to try to hold my team accountable, I was constantly frustrated.
I felt as if I was always having to remind my team of the simplest things.
- Did you follow up with the client?
- Did you send the email?
- Did you do this?
- Did you do that?
All of this “holding them accountable” was extremely tiring and frustrating.
But the reality is, it wasn’t only tiring and frustrating for me.
It was the same for them as well.
I hear you thinking, “But if I don’t hold them accountable, who will?”
I used to have the same question, but now I know (and believe) the answer.
You don’t hold them accountable, you train them to hold themselves and their teammates accountable.
And when you do, magically, you’re no longer frustrated and tired from making sure everyone is “doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
You see, “holding” your team accountable communicates that you don’t trust them.
After all, if you believed your team members were amazing, responsible, and dedicated to your vision, would you need to “hold” them accountable?
Probably not.
And why is that?
Because you would trust them to hold themselves accountable.
The key difference between a marginal and high-performance team involves who is doing the “holding” of the accountability.
High-performance teams hold themselves (and their peers) accountable.
So can we agree that it isn’t our job as leaders to hold our teams accountable?
It’s our job to ensure they are holding themselves accountable for the right things.
Once we’ve done that, we must get out of the way and let them do what we hired them to do.
Unlock your team’s true potential by shifting from holding them accountable to training them to hold themselves accountable.
— Wayne
