Mistakes in Trying to Hold People Accountable

I’m in the midst of my annual NOvember campaign. The idea is to share one thing to say “no” to each day if you want to be happier, healthier, and more productive. I’d love for you to join the conversation and add your thoughts to the LinkedIn comments. Here are a few big no-no’s in my book.

As a manager, promoting accountability is essential to leading a great team. It’s important for boosting productivity, dividing workloads, and maintaining trust among team members. Accountability might be the secret of a high-functioning team; it’s not easy to achieve, and many missteps make things worse instead of better. Here are mistakes to avoid when trying to hold people accountable.

1. Creating Fear Instead of Accountability

You need people to deliver. You’re frustrated that they aren’t getting it. You have no time to waste. So, you pay more attention to catching people failing than setting them up to succeed. You’re more likely to amp up fear than accountability if you:

Outline the risks of failing rather than the benefits of succeedingMake threats about the “what ifs” of doing a poor jobUse punishments or personal criticisms when someone doesn’t deliver

So many managers use the stick rather than the carrot because it works faster (at least in the short term). Fear is a strong motivator for humans. But before you find yourself a bigger stick with which to hold people accountable, consider these downsides of creating fear in place of accountability:

Fear works while it’s salient. You need to keep micro-managing for it to workFear creates a short-term, myopic task focus rather than a dynamic approach to how to achieve the desired outcomesFear burns people out and leads to learned helplessness, where people give up2. Rescuing and Transferring Accountability

You need to accomplish your goals. You can’t be seen to fail. Your boss is counting on you to deliver. So, you rescue people and get their work ready for prime time. You’re showing people that they don’t have to be accountable because you will be if you:

Fix a poor-quality draft rather than requiring them to fix it themselvesJump in when a team member is struggling to answer questionsFigure out how to do something rather than letting them figure out for themselves

It’s incredibly common for managers to rescue their people because it’s expedient and covers their backsides. It’s hard to know what to do when their lack of accountability risks making it look like you’re not accountable. But if you save the day, you transfer accountability to you, which has some crappy consequences:

You take on your workload along with theirs and burn yourself outYou get stuck adding value at levels below what you could be doingYou get a reputation as a micro-manager, someone unlikely to get promoted3. Letting it Slide and Eroding Accountability

You’re trying to be a good boss. You can’t afford to alienate your team. You empathize with how unrealistic the expectations are sometimes. So, you go easy, lower your standards, and fail to hold people accountable. You’re eroding accountability if you:

Continually move deadlinesLower the standards for what work is acceptableMake excuses to other departments to protect your team

I get it. You don’t want to be the nasty boss who drives people so hard that they burn out or quit. I’ve heard managers say, “It’s better to have a warm body than nobody.” But if you lower your standards too often, you make it clear that there’s no need to be accountable, which has downsides:

You struggle to bring accountability back when it really mattersYou allow resentment to build between team members who naturally take accountability and those who don’tYou earn a reputation as the team that doesn’t deliverConclusion

Fostering accountability in your team takes effort. It’s easier to be heavy-handed with the consequences, do it yourself, or let it slide. However, each of those choices has a downside for your performance, team dynamic, and reputation. Don’t make that mistake.

Additional Resources

We NEED to Change the Way We Talk About Accountability

Giving and Receiving Feedback

Do You Enforce Consequences for Non-performance?

Hiba Amin How to Make Accountability a Core Part of Your Workplace Culture

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