Build accountability without more management: Try this practice today

Tom Nixon
Tom Nixon
Sep 8, 2018 · 4 min read

Accountability is essential in any organisation. It means following through on the things people are responsible for. Things don’t simply slip without a check.

Creating more accountability and follow-through on commitments usually takes the form of systems and processes for logging commitments and checking in on them in some way.

In traditional organisations, accountability is achieved by layers of bosses acting like schoolteachers checking that pupils have done their homework.

In modern, progressive organisations we need more adult ways of working. Whilst this can take the form of peer-to-peer accountability, there are other ways to increase the rate of follow-through without adding any new accountability processes at all.

The key to this is tapping into individual’s intrinsic motivation to get things done.

“Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards [or threats of punishment]. We simply enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials.”

The great thing about working with intrinsic motivation is that people naturally get things done. Things simply flow better. So the need for formal accountability systems are greatly reduced.

Here’s a practice you can try today to make this happen.

The “upstream/downstream” practice

This is a simple, powerful practice that helps people craft their roles based on their intrinsic motivation. It can be done as a solo practice, or with the support of a peer or coach. It can also be used in organisations who do have formal ‘line manager’ roles yet wish to employ more of a coaching style.

Step 1: List your roles, responsibilities, projects and to-do items

This creates a snapshot of everything that you are in some way accountable for, from your higher-level responsibilities to the specific projects and tasks required to get them done. Write each one on a separate post-it note.

Step 2: Sort the list into two piles: upstream and downstream

Downstream tasks are the ones that energise you. Where you look forward to starting them and directly get satisfaction from engaging with them and getting them done. Working on these things done feels like paddling downstream — there’s flow and ease in the process.

Upstream tasks are the opposite. They feel de-energising and draining. You don’t look forward to them and put them off or avoid them if you can. They’re likely to be the areas where things are already slipping and you get ‘held to account’ for them more often.

Step 3: Reflect on the two piles

What do you notice about the items in each pile? Which things are you consistently getting done and which are your accountability risks? Are there any themes or patterns? What does it tell you about your own intrinsic motivation?

Step 4: Work out what can be dropped

Sometimes it’s simply possible to just drop some projects or tasks. Perhaps they’re just not important enough and the impact of not doing them would be small. You can check with anyone who’ll be affected and cull the list as much as possible to free up more time and headspace for the downstream list. Often this isn’t as drastic as it sounds. I’ve done this will colleagues before and we found that their upstream list wasn’t getting done anyway so we may as well remove the guilt and free them up to do valuable tasks they actually enjoy.

Step 5: Work out what can be automated or passed to someone else

You can go hunting for people who enjoy doing the things which are de-energising for you. Or you may be able to automate some tasks. Personally, I really hate the finance book-keeping tasks necessary for a self-employed person, so I’ve automated as much as possible using Crunch Accounting. I can now submit my VAT returns in seconds with the click of a button.

Some organisations even create a ‘roles marketplace’ where responsibilities can be offered for other people to take. It becomes a game where the goal is to craft your own collection of motivating roles and help others to do the same. Roles on the marketplace can also feed hiring decisions — bringing in new people who are intrinsically motivated to do the things other people dislike.

Step 6: Prioritise and set clear next steps

Crafting your work might take time, so prioritise the changes that will have the biggest impact both personally on your motivation, and also on the high level vision or purpose you’re working towards. Don’t just set general intentions to craft your role, but set very specific actionable next steps to move yourself along in the process.

Step 7: Find support for the taxing tasks you can’t get rid of

We don’t live in a perfect world where we can all work on only downstream tasks all of the time. If only. Find buddies who can support you to get things done which require more willpower to engage with.

I once had a couple of colleagues who would get together once a week in a meeting room, bring delicious snacks, put on some music they loved and knuckle down together in solidarity as they worked through their upstream tasks for the week.

Tom Nixon is a coach to leaders developing progressive organisations without traditional management hierarchy. He’s also the founder of Maptio — the online tool for progressive organisations to track and visualise everyone’s roles, and how everything contributes to the organisations big vision. You can get pre-release access to Maptio by registering here.

Maptio

Self-management done right. The blog of Maptio - the tool for visualising self-managing organisations.

Tom Nixon

Written by

Tom Nixon

Researching and working with founders to realise big ideas and keep the startup passion forever.

Maptio

Maptio

Self-management done right. The blog of Maptio - the tool for visualising self-managing organisations.

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