Ep 414: Is there enough accountability on your team?

is to expect that. I think for the longest time, you weren't able to expect that of your leaders, right Like it was just the kind of thing where, well, you know, one of the perks of the of being the boss is that you know that they're not gonna admit when they're wrong. They're just gonna hope it goes away.

And over the course of the last you know, maybe between between ten and twenty years that has changed, and and leaders who don't do that, they are they're far more likely to be held accountable negatively by their by their teams and their people. Obviously, you can't necessarily fire your boss, although maybe one day you can't. You can't

fire your boss, but but you can. There could almost be a mutiny from the standpoint of uh, you know, a decline in productivity and engagement and performance that if is not just by one person, if it's by an entire team. Organizations tend to look at that as a leadership issue. When if you have a high performing team with one low performer on it, it's the it's the person. If you have a low performing team that was once

a high performing team and it's all the same people. Oftentimes, if you know, companies who are intelligent about this look at that as a as a leadership issue, and so it's important to understand that as a leader and to make sure that you admit fault. But I also think that employees are looking for a higher standard of accountability on themselves too, and I think it's you know, no kid wants to be told that they're in trouble or they have to do this or have to do that.

But clearly, all people of any age function better when there are systems and bumpers in place to hold them accountable to getting the things done they should get done. And it could be biological, like I need to get some sleep because if I don't, I'm going to be unable to think through the things I need to think through the next day. So I'm held accountable by my body, you know, or or held accountable by somebody you're in a relationship with to make sure that you call at

a certain time or whatever it is. There are things that hold us accountable, and people who have those things in place function better, and I think it's it's important to talk about it from both standpoints.

be doing. Or they're not doing it on time, or they're not doing it in a way that's like positive and you know, like making the work environment fun or easier. Like like, I think a lot of times when we talk about accountability, it's not necessarily as specific as like, here's the behavioral thing. Maybe it is maybe in somebody's world. It's like, you know, people don't come to work, you know,

consistently enough, and that makes my job harder. So like, I want accountability, but I just want it in this one space now. Typically it's just.

would be more fun to be here. So I think that, Yeah, I think when we talk about accountability, it really to me it boils down to leadership every single time, because either the leader themselves is not holding themselves accountable and showing up and doing the work that a leader should do, or a leader is not holding the team accountable in ways that everybody has either agreed that this is how we should do the work, or these are the expectations

of the job, or whatever the case is. So I don't know that like like this generation of workers or this current workforce is saying we want more accountability than we've ever had before. I think that this has been an ongoing thing over the decades. I just think hearing about it now again because we have these tools and these capabilities of discussing it, and and we're actually asking these questions on employee surveys and on things that we're

doing across you know, all industries. We're getting this data that bec has always existed, but now we're creating spaces for people to really share how they're feeling about it. And now, you know, we have to look in the mirror and be like, all right, what's what are we really going to do around creating better elements of accountability that are consistent, that are fair, and that are based upon the job that we're asking people to do.

could be something small or something huge. Employees see through those things very very quickly, and so you know, the the right the right solution is either to stop holding them accountable or start holding yourself accountable at least from a you know, getting rid of the hypocrisy. Which which way is the proper way forward is really up to you and how it impacts the performance. I think there are some leaders who hold their people to arbitrary standards

that aren't necessarily rooted in actual real performance. They're rooted in what the leader's assumption is of what it looks like to have a high performing team, and they get held accountable to things that really don't necessarily impact that as much, right, And they do that from a standpoint of thinking that accountability is the thing. Accountability isn't the thing.

Accountability is the thing to get you to the thing, right, So you have to know its place, because if it doesn't solve the problem, then there's no point to it. So I'll take it back to the employees wanting their coworkers to be held accountable. Employees don't want their co workers to be held accountable. Employees want the behavior that

is impacting them to stop. And by the time they get to the point where they're thinking they want this person fired, they want this person, you know, publicly flogged, you know, whatever it is, it's the it's the Catharsis they're looking for. Of thinking they they want to they want to be walking by the office door with the door open accidentally and hear that person getting yelled at for for something they did, because they can go, yeah, give it to them, you know, they're they're they're the

ones who made my job harder. It's like they it's not really what they're looking for. They just want the whatever they perceive as the behavior that is impacting the team to stop. And that's actually a good thing because if you're a leader and the way you're holding your team accountable is public and so that other people on the team can see it happening, that's poor leadership already.

And so so you have to hold people accountable in a way that that leaves them with their dignity, you know that when you're not doing it publicly in front of other people. But that also gives the rest of the team the impression that you are holding people accountable

without them ever seeing you do it. And and the only way that is done is by one hul the behavior changes, and two making sure that the that the people that everybody's getting a taste of it so that they can think to themselves, well, I'm I'm getting it. At least they're doing something. They're they're they're doing something, and then over a timeline, the behavior will get better and will stop, and the impression of accountability will be there even though it's not necessarily public.

here and somebody's got to hold them accountable. So if you're at this portion of the show and you agree with me, okay, send an email to info at hacking your Leadership dot com and I have some free swag. I'm going to mail you. I've got some notebooks, I've got some stuff some of our authors have sent us.

I got some free books. So again, just if you if you agree with me, if there's been times in your career where you're like, yeah, I totally just I just want them to get yelled at and I want to overhear it in the office, right right, sure, email dear Loso at infhone hacking Leadership dot com. I agree, and then send me your address and I will send you some free swag. How about that for a mid

show free giveaway. If you feel like, if you lasted this long through the show, get something for free, shoot me the email.

We know that bad things won't won't stop. We just want to know that if somebody does something that they're going to get in trouble for it, because on the same token, we're thinking if I did that, I'd get in trouble for it, right, And so it's this, it's this feeling of a lack of fairness that is it's kind of rooted in that. And so you want to see people held accountable and that that applies to your leaders too. You want your leaders to be held accountable

to things. And obviously you're not gonna watch your leader be chastised by their leader on something they did wrong. But if you see the behavior change, then you you have to assume that some coaching was done and some accountability was done. Now there are ways to do that, like if you're if your boss's boss holds them accountable,

that that's one thing. But you can you can ask the questions right if you know, good leaders and good organizations have something in place to ask people what they're looking for or what's missing, and if the if a theme of the responses is a lack of leader accountability, then that's an important thing to address and to to try to dive in deeper with some people about what they meant by that or or you know, trying to figure out where that lies. If you don't have all

the information, it's it's important to know. And then once you know it, you can't just say great, our work here is done. You actually have to do something about it. You can't just ask the question. Asking the question without any plan to rectify it is you might as well

not ask it to begin with. Because when when a team of people are asked these questions, they assume there's a reason they're being asked, and that reason is that they want the company leadership structure wants to solve these problems. And you can only ask those questions a couple of times without the employees see meaningful change in the areas they've expressed a problem in before they stop, you know, giving you good feedback on those surveys, before they stop

being honest, before they stop caring about them. It's you know, better to not make the promise than to than to imply that it has been made and then not do anything about it.

to us? What are the rape percussions for it? What what what are the and then we've talked about this, that talked about this before in the podcast, but like,

how do you want to be held accountable? That sounds like such a silly thing, but the reality is that there's a lot of truth and element and transparency to that when you're talking to a team, and when you're talking to a team of leaders and people to say, like, let's talk like this is gonna happen, right There are gonna be moments in time where where somebody's not going to live to the commitment that we've made, or somebody is going to do something that has a negative impact

on the team, you know, like like what does that look like and how does that work? And what are

the steps there? And I think as a leader of people, but even as a leader of leaders, if you're teaching leaders how to become more effective at accountability, you actually have to talk about accountability, not when you're holding somebody accountable, right, And and that's usually what ends up happening, is that you hold somebody accountable and then you want them to learn through that, or you do something and somebody's like, well,

how come we don't an accountability here? And then you kind of have to like whisper to be like, we do hold people accountable, we just can't talk about it.

And you would never know if we hold them accountable instead of saying, like, this is how we do this, and when these things happen, let me tell you what happens here, and like you know, you're not going to know because, as an example, Chris, if Chris doesn't come to work on time or is not here when he's supposed to be here, and I hold Chris accountable, I'm going to talk to Chris when he comes on to his next shift. We're going to go sit down in

the office. I'm gonna share with him the expectations. He's going to get a written warning or whatever the case is that you do for your organization. This is what's gonna happen. And then, as the leader, I am not supposed to come out here and tell you all that I've held Chris accountable. Chris can tell you, Chris can say whatever he wants, right, I can't do that as the leader. What I can tell you is that this

is the process. And also what I can tell you is that if you notice a trend of people coming to work, or if you yourself are coming to work lates or those types like, then we're going to have a conversation. But like we don't do a good job and that at all, and especially when it comes to leading leaders, like teaching them how to be that upfront and transparent with a process like accountability.

that we are doing the right thing. From a you know, a fairness and objectivity and human resources standpoint, we want to make sure we do all those things right. But no one wants talk about accountability because you know, it's not that's not the fun stuff, you know, and and I get I completely get the the inclination to do that, but that but they're not mutually exclusive here, right. You

can talk about accountability from a positive standpoint. You can talk about it from a standpoint of these are the expectations of the of the team, because this is what we'll get the team further, this is what will get the performance we're looking for, and this will open doors for future advancement, and and and and it's the accountability discussion is part of that broader discussion, because if you don't talk about it in advance, and you can't talk

about it when it's happening, then you never talk about it, and then people think it's not happening. But but if you talk about it enough, then people will get the impression that it's happening, because you don't typically talk about things that often without actually putting them in place. If it's part of the vernacular, and if leaders are good at talking about it when it's not actually happening, but when it's hypothetical or this is what we do or

this is the process or the procedure. When leaders are good at doing that, then typically it means that the organization, the structure is in place to do that. Otherwise those

things don't usually get talked about. Oftentimes, when they don't get talked about, it's an indicator that the structure in place to hold people accountable is more haphazard, right, it's more one offs and individuals in Well, we don't really have a process, but let's just see what has happened and then I'll tell you what the process is for that person for that thing, as opposed to having an actual process that people can then rely on, and that

clarity that you can provide people of having the discussion beforehand, not only does it tell them that yes, we do this, we hold people accountable, but it tells them what. It gives them the clarity on what the process is, so that they're not fearful of it. Like if they do something wrong, if they make a mistake, you don't want them losing sleep the night before about what's going to happen. You want them already knowing what's going to happen. Well,

I did this, this is what will happen. There's a big difference between someone talking to you about something and losing your job. And if you've done something as an employee and you don't know what's coming into work the next day, whether it's going to be someone having a stern word with you or getting fired, then your leadership team has done a terrible job letting people know what the process is. Because you should know exactly what would happen.

You should know long before, and that way you can anticipate it and you're not stewing in something you know, kind of hoping it will go the right way.

standpoint of letting people know what the process is. Should somebody do something not where you've just done it with some person and they can when they're hearing it from you, they're thinking, oh, I know what they're I know who they're talking about. Is no, it's they don't need to know who you're talking about. So you have to talk

about it when it's not actually happening. But if you have that in place and you talk about it often enough, then then people will get the impression that it's happening. Now you have to follow up and actually do it.

You have to hold people accountable to the things that you're saying, but avoiding the conversation and then just holding people accountable is a recipe for people either a not giving you credit for the accountability you're actually doing and be not understanding how the organization or you as a leader work when it comes to holding people accountable, talking about it openly lets them know that A. It happens, and B. Now you've told yourself to the same standard

because you've articulated it to them. Now you better be on your best behavior to know that whatever when you do something, you're gonna be held with that same standard too. And so so when you're when you're telling them this verbage, make sure it's something that you can hold yourself to as well, or it's not going to work either. Yeah.

You have to be super conscious about how you show up in that space and how you set that example, because that's the number one thing that will wreck any kind of true element of like accountability amongst the team is the leader holding themselves to that same standard. That's that's extremely important, right, It.

rules for different people. The accountability is accountability, and it's objective, and it's based on kind of shared values and agreed upon standards, not based on the whims of a person.