Barb Cutillo: Holding others accountable begins with you

Organizations struggle, miss opportunities and lose talented people when leaders and managers fail to hold others accountable. Evidence of this includes dysfunctional teams, lost deals, missed deadlines, wasted resources and disengaged employees.

As we reflect on another year, managers can radically change their environments by making one simple but challenging adjustment to their approach: consistently holding others accountable. And authentic, effective leaders and managers start by practicing personal accountability.

Personal accountability, or self-leadership, is the critical first step in holding others accountable that doesn’t increase burnout or drive them away. In organizations that are growing and serving their community, they understandably need leaders to emerge, step up and make a difference by demonstrating personal accountability.

What does personal accountability look like in practice? Managers who understand and are committed to the goals of the organization, feel a sense of ownership and accept responsibility, and have the willingness to act when needed. Organizations will then report better performance, increased productivity and improved relationships.

To help build personal accountability, start with yourself. Leaders and managers must be aligned, motivated and working toward a positive outcome for other stakeholders and themselves. To accomplish this effectively, it is no surprise that you must improve your own level of emotional intelligence. Solicit constructive feedback from others and use personality- or management-style assessments to understand your own strengths and weaknesses and the impact of your actions on others.

Consider “reframing” situations, reflecting objectively on situations where the outcome was not wanted and be honest with the role you played. For example, if your manager selects someone else to lead an exciting project, rather than get angry and resentful, separate your emotions and try to look at the situation objectively. There are often good reasons, such as the other person was more qualified, had more available time or some other factual aspect the manager considered.

If it is still not clear why you were not selected, it is helpful to separate your hurt feelings, look at the situation objectively and learn something from it. Perhaps you will discover there is a gap in your own skill set, your calendar was too full, or—in the worst case—it might be time to start looking for a new, more supportive manager and environment.

Identify your goals and find an accountability partner to share them with. What are you working toward? Do you have a work friend or other colleague also working on a goal and willing to meet regularly to check in and share progress? This is the same concept as a workout partner or running buddy—meetings are added to the calendar, partners share the efforts made and challenges encountered, then strategize next steps together.

Last, share your goals with your manager during your regular one-on-one meetings. If you aren’t having regular one-on-ones, or aren’t creating the agenda for these meetings, start now. Sharing your goals creates a sense of responsibility to achieve them and pushes you to include measurements for success. An effective manager will provide feedback for you to better understand how your work contributes to the organization’s larger objectives, which in turn reinforces the alignment of the larger goals.

Once you start holding yourself accountable, it is basically the same process to hold others accountable, just in reverse direction. This is the critical step, and one that many managers avoid out of fear of conflict, busyness or lack of experience. To do this effectively, here are some specific questions you can ask yourself as you reflect on your performance as a manager or prepare your annual goals:

◗ Are your direct-report employees fully aware of the goals of the organization and how their job duties contribute to achieving those goals?

◗ Have you made it safe for subordinates to fully accept responsibility for failure and success?

◗ Have you provided a vision of what success looks like and given employees the space and resources to accomplish their jobs?

◗ Do you objectively analyze mistakes?

◗ What is your approach to resolving conflicts as they arise?

◗ Do you celebrate people who go above and beyond?

Consistently holding others accountable by reflecting on and addressing even one of these questions as you interact with direct reports can build great rapport and generate huge engagement gains for the organization overall. When employees witness managers at all levels holding themselves accountable, they will be more inclined to practice accountability, too.

As we move into a new year, challenge yourself to model self-leadership, measure the results and act when necessary. When employees at all levels in an organization share a purpose and vision of success, have the resources to do their jobs and feel safe to accept responsibility and act, everyone wins.•

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Barb Cutillo is a lecturer of management at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis.