How to keep your team accountable – leadership skills

In an ideal world, everyone in a team does what we ask them to, by the scheduled deadline, and to the quality that does not need any corrections or improvements. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Not impossible, by the way!

However, most often than not, a leader needs to apply some amount of effort to achieve such wonderful results. And this is where the skill of keeping your team accountable comes in. Let’s explore it further.

“Here’s your task – do it well”

Keeping your team accountable starts with you – the leader. Why is that?

First of all, you set the standards of what to expect, and the example to follow. Here’s what I mean.

• The Standards – you set what to expect from you. This refers to the clarity, specifics, and follow-through.
• The Example – you exhibit what accountability looks like and therefore what others are expected to demonstrate too.

Let’s break these two aspects down.

Setting the standards for accountability

I learned the hard truth about accountability standards the hard way some times ago. At that time, I would set a task for a team member, and then just expected them to complete it. I didn’t explain the why behind the task, didn’t check with the team member if they were equipped with the information sufficient to complete the assignment, and gave a very vague deadline (my ‘favourite’ – “As soon as possible”).

Guess what happened? On one hand, nothing happened – the task never got done.

On the other hand, lots happened. The team member was annoyed, at that time I didn’t come across as an approachable person so the member never came to me with questions. I got told off for the task not being done by my manager. However, I recognised that it was my fault – not the team member’s.

A few unpleasant instances like this, and step by step I started correcting my approach. Here’s what I do now:

• explain why the task needs doing – if not obvious from previous conversations, I explain the background to the assignment. This is particularly key when the task comes out of nowhere, and forces the team and I to reprioritise what’s on our plate. I check if the rationale is clear with the team members who are picking it up.
• outline the timeline and deadline – I personally can’t stand the ‘Soon’ and ‘ASAP’; when is that? If the deadline is a bit vague for any reason, I set up a check point in the future.
• define the Done status – this is something that I often have to remind myself to specify. Occasionally, I need to go with “Let’s give it a go first, and then we’ll figure out how to proceed”, and this is where the first check point is important. Giving the details of what the expectations are of the quality or content helps the person who’s running with the task, and limits the disappointment on the leader’s part.

If you set the expected standards from the start, it is easier to expect accountability.

Setting the example to follow

Your team will observe how you approach accountability, and how others around you keep you accountable.

If you are consistent with the approach – as per the standards outline above – your team will know what to expect, and it will be easier for all involved to deliver what is needed.

Often easier said than done, I know. Especially if you are working in an evironment where there are things constantly coming out of the woodwork. This is why giving the background to the task is important – it helps build the context for the purpose of the particular job.

Let’s not forget a very important aspect, and that is leave the door open for questions. Allow the team member(s) to work out what they don’t know or what you haven’t made clear enough, and ask them to come to you with questions for clarifications.

Don’t forget to follow up!

One thing that throws all of the above out of the window is the lack of follow up.

Always stick to the expectations you’ve set up with your team member(s). If you said they need to come back with the first draft in 5 days, check in 5 days. If the direction was to do something by tomorrow, don’t let it slip.

We all can think of instances where we’ve put in the work to the required deadline, and then it turned out it was forgotten, or not necessary.

Being a consistent leader is paramount to building accountability standards.

What if keeping the team accountable isn’t working

We all know that sometimes you can all things right, and yet the task is not completed by the deadline, or to your expectations.

What to do then? If it’s a one-off situation, check with the team member for the reasons for the situation. Maybe there was something that got in the way, and they didn’t share this factor with you. If you did everything as per your standards, then there are other aspects that played a role – find out what they were.

If it is a repeated situation, then there is a need for a different conversation. This is where you may need to have a difficult conversation with the team member who fails to deliver more often than not.

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A couple of useful concepts for you to explore around the Accountability standards topic:

• The 1st and 3rd Pancake concept – I love this one so much! This is about setting the expectations about the first draft or version of something. Just like when you make pancakes, the 1st one always comes out funny. Not quite done. Oddly shaped. It’s usually the 3rd pancake that is the one that everyone wants to eat. But you can’t get to the 3rd pancake without making the first funny one! So embrace the 1st pancake – with its imperfections and not too polished finish (Brene Brown, Simon Sinek and Adam Grant beautifully explain this concept in their chat)
• The 5 Cs of Communication – they are being Clear, Cohesive, Complete, Concise and Concrete. It’s a good idea to introduce it to your team so that everyone checks for 5 Cs when e.g. an assignment is set – have we covered all the factors? You can read about the 5Cs in LinkedIn article

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Keeping a team accountable for their tasks is a leadership skill that can be learned. Being clear with your expectations helps everyone around, and minimises uncertainty, confusion and disappointment.

How do you keep your team accountable? What has worked for you to be accountable for your assignments? Let us know in the comments!

“Clear is Kind” image credit to Brene Brown