The Meaning in Accountability
Julie Slanker
Holding individuals accountable can be one of the most uncomfortable parts of leading a team.
It also is one of your most important leadership duties.
Not only because it is provides an opportunity for growth - if you never ask your team members to confront where they are weak, they won't have an opportunity to develop in that department.
Not only because it is an opportunity for your own learning - about where your expectations match up to your team members' true capabilities.
Not only because it is "fair" - and acknowledges to the rest of the team that you also have noticed a difference in how they are delivering, and plan to do something about it.
Most critically because it is your chance to actually demonstrate that your team's work truly matters.
If there are no consequences, no open reassessment of expectations, no hard conversations about capabilities, when someone fails to deliver what they said they will bring to your effort, it can have a poisoning effect on everyone's motivation.
That seed of doubt will be planted.
When things get hard, and deadlines get tight, and life intervenes, and people get tired (and they will!), that nagging voice will start to whisper, why bother? she doesn't care if we do a good job, anyway.
It's just a few short steps from she doesn't care about our work to she doesn't really care about the change we all say we are making...
Once someone starts to lose their belief in your shared purpose, no amount of creative autonomy, professional development, or rah-rah Vision-focused pep-talks will return them to the level of spirited dedication they had when you first enlisted their Genius onto your team.
Everyone has to trust that you truly believe the things that you're always saying. That their work means something. That it is more valuable than high-fives or logo merchandise. That your Vision is worth enough to you to do something we all know is uncomfortable.
You demonstrate your conviction by living up to your leadership responsibility. You reinforce the meaning in their hard work through accountability.
References:
Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational Drag and Unleash Your Team's Productive Power by Michael C. Mankins and Eric Garton