If this is so simple, why aren’t you doing it?

The Blame Game

Ah………accountability. The buzzword that makes every employee cringe. But accountability is a GOOD thing….unfortunately its also the most bastardized buzzword in both corporate and government environments. Accountability (used correctly) is a key component of a high performing organization; in order to be able to rely on team members or organizations, leadership/management (let’s just assume these are interchangeable for the rest of the posting) must have accountability measures in place to ensure that prioritized work is done well and on time.

Thanks to bad leaders/managers, (particularly in government due to short sited promotion practices) accountability is often synonymous with “blame”. “Whose fault is this” is not the mantra of good leadership, and there would be much less of that if expectations were set correctly in the first place. Good leaders know that accountability doesn’t exist until leaders set expectations, and setting expectations actually improves employee performance and morale…(thats right, employees that have direction exhibit higher levels of confidence and job satisfaction). Setting expectations ensures that the entity you are leading is prepared for success; so from that standpoint, it is one of the most important activities a leader can focus on to create a high performing organization (sorry, another buzzword).

To truly be effective, accountability must also be accompanied by “empowerment”; often times a leader will make the mistake of holding his team accountable for a failure (read: “blaming them”), while never having provided the tools they need for success. An effective leader must first believe that they are accountable to their staff, and then not only set parameters for their employees such as deadlines and quality standards, but also provide the tools to meet those goals. This is pretty traditional management stuff…(we still don’t do it), but i want to add an additional twist that I learned from a past life in the adult education world. One of the “tools” that will help your employees meet your expectations is to tell them why they are working toward the proposed goals. Adult education theory tells us that adults are more likely to do what they are asked to do, if they know WHY they are doing it. Not only that, the WHY empowers them to make decisions on their own that align with the strategy of leadership (WHATS THAT? Share the big picture with your employees??), so……yes, telling them why prepares them for success. Ok, back to the traditional stuff, it is also important to periodically review the quality of the work, so it is not determined on the due date that the quality is low. Consistent review and feedback will ensure the end product is acceptable.

Early in my career, I was asked (consistently) to redo deliverables that were prepared by a co-worker; which I gladly did until started wondering why she was constantly producing subpar work. After working with her for a bit, I found that she was highly capable, but had NEVER been told that her deliverables did not meet the intent of leadership. Leadership had never set expectations for her, and she was never able to grow or succeed since there were no appropriate accountability measures in place (such as setting expectations and then periodic reviews and discussions). Later, I was asked to record the times that I had to redo her work, and record any mistakes she made on a daily basis. I was not her supervisor and refused to do so, since I understood they were to use the information to reprimand, or fire her, having never told her she was not doing a good job. By the way, her performance reviews were always meeting expectations.

The result was overworking some employees, failing to develop the underperformers, and additional stress on the project. There was a lack of accountability here (this happens a lot when leaders fail to set expectations), maybe it was personal, maybe it was a fear of confrontation, but the bottom line is it was a disservice to all involved and the project itself.

So before you hang shaming tags around your employees necks, remember:

· Setting expectations must take place in order to hold anyone accountable

· Be accountable to your employees by providing tools they need for success

· Empower them with the WHY (share strategy)

· Don’t wait until the year end review to reveal poor performance

You are probably reading this thinking “everyone already knows this”, while simultaneously pencil whipping the year end reviews for your employees……so…..If this is so simple…why aren’t you doing it?