ation

Quintessential Thought

We’ve defined accountability - the ability to give an account - and then explored self-accountability.

Now the thing we might want to avoid: holding others accountable.

If your team members or leaders aren’t holding themselves accountable, what do you do? You ask them to give an account.

• “Hey, I noticed that the [activity] you said would be done yesterday isn’t complete. Can you help me understand what’s going on?”

• “In the last retrospective, we all agreed do [activity] so that we get [outcome], and it doesn’t look like you’ve done that. Can we talk about it?”

• “We’ve discussed how you were working to improve the registration process so more people can easily complete it. The latest metrics don’t reflect an improvement in registrations. I’d like to understand what’s happened - can you tell me more?”

It’s really this simple: point out an apparent discrepancy and invite a response.

This powerful simplicity is based on three critical things:

1) A previous agreement the person was committed to

If there’s no agreement, the accountability conversation will revert to a disagreement about the commitment. In this case, learn together how to have clearer commitments, even writing them down together.

2) An invitation to explore in conversation

If you don’t invite further conversation, you loose the opportunity to understand what happened and help the other person figure out what to do next…and this is how you are mentoring them in their own self-accountability.

3) A relational container of connection

Without the relational container of connection, the other person will be unconvinced that both of you care about the outcome (stance: alignment) and you’re trying to understand (stance: curiosity). This leads to defensiveness, which plays out in reduced transparency.

Want to practice this skill in a safe environment? Register for the free Demystifying Accountability workshop coming on November 22!

Quotes

"Accountability is a statement of personal promise, both to yourself and to the people around you, to deliver specific defined results." – Brian Dive

“The most important thing I think you can do for somebody who is really good and who’s really being counted on is to point out to them when their work isn’t good enough. And to do it very clearly and to articulate why and get them back on track.” – Steve Jobs

"Accountability is a measure of a leader’s height.” – Jeffrey Benjamin

Quick Step

Have a simple accountability conversation with one other person. If that sounds scary, start on a small issue with someone you have a lot of relational connection with.

Question

Which of the three critical elements of other-accountability have you seen fail in the past: agreement, conversation, or connection?

Professional Product Discovery and Validation, Jan 24

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