Less than half of leaders excel at creating accountability.*
Don’t confuse accountability with intimidation. Pressure produces compliance but drains vitality.
Real Accountability
Accountability is drawing out the best in others.
#1. Align desires.
Help people excel where they want to excel. Line up personal goals with organizational objectives. Remove or reassign those who can’t align.
#2. Expect integrity.
Hold people to commitments they make for themselves.
#3. Focus on ability.
Build their capabilities not your control.
#4. Reinforce follow-through.
Recognize completed commitments.
#5. Call out inconsistency.
Address gaps quickly. Mediocrity prevails when inconsistency wins the day.
#6. Emphasize mutual accountability.
Highlight interdependence. People perform best when others depend on them.
#7. Clarify expectations.
Ambiguity defeats performance.
5 Practices
- Create focus with shared deadlines.
- Build momentum with check-ins.
- Ask the accountability question: “What would you like me to ask the next time we meet?”
- Establish next steps. “What are you going to do next?”
- Settle on timing. “When are you taking your next step?”
4 Essentials
- Passion to maximize talent.
- Internal drive, not external pressure.
- Respect effort and progress.
- Learn from failure: “What will you do differently next time?”
Accountability clarifies results and behaviors.
Don’t pressure people. Call them into ownership.
Where does accountability go wrong?
What makes it work?
The 4C’s of Accountability that Increase Performance and Lower Stress
* Accountability Is Leadership’s Greatest Weakness Gallup
—
This post was previously published on LEADERSHIPFREAK.BLOG and is republished with Creative Commons license.
—
***
At The Good Men Project, we are glad to share selected work from Leadership Freak, a publication focused on leadership, workplace relationships, communication, and the everyday habits that shape how people work together. We do not believe the workplace is a separate sphere from the rest of life. The way people lead, listen, praise, correct, and share power at work affects families, mental health, dignity, and the wider culture people carry home with them at the end of the day.
That is one reason this kind of writing matters to us. Reimagining masculinity also means reimagining work: what we reward, what we normalize, what we ask people to sacrifice, and whether leadership is measured by control or by care. We are interested in workplaces where people are treated equitably, where leadership is more humane and less performative, and where success does not automatically require giving away your health, your relationships, or your sense of security. Advice on leadership may seem small compared with those larger goals, but culture often changes through repeated daily behavior. How people treat one another in ordinary moments matters. It matters a lot.
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
There are many ways to support The Good Men Project’s mission. You can join us on Substack, become a Premium Member, and follow our broader conversations about work, relationships, leadership, identity, and how to build a more humane culture. We also work with authors, agencies, brands, and sponsors through our author amplification and paid guest post programs. For more information, email [email protected].
—
—
Photo credit: iStock.com
