In our last posting, we talked about execution . . . about the need for meticulous planning, thorough and detailed communication of our plans, and after-the-fact review to determine what went right and what didn’t in an effort to continuously improve our execution skills and abilities. We probably should have preceded that discussion with one about accountability. Accountability, or the lack of it, may be the number one complaint we hear from smaller company CEOs. They say that their employees try to hide from, deflect, or in other ways avoid taking responsibility. Yet without accountability, efficient, effective, timely execution is virtually impossible. If this is a problem for you, please read below.
“Accountability breeds response-ability.”
– Stephen Covey
There are two essential components to accountability: clear communication and consistent follow-up.
• Communication. In our last posting about good execution, we talked about the need for clearly communicating the tasks that need to be done. However, we also need to communicate who will be responsible for completing each task, what each task looks like when it is complete, and a specific deadline for each task to be completed. Too often, a CEO will give his or her management team a broad outline of what’s to be done without specifying who’s going to do what by when. That doesn’t mean that each task must be micro-managed. Usually, there can be lots of latitude about how a task gets done, but we do need to be very specific about:
1) who’s responsible for the task. That means a single individual. If you make a team responsible for something, no one is responsible.
2) the expected outcome. You don’t care about activities, only the outcomes those activities produce. After all, if the activities don’t produce the outcome you want, what good are they? And preferably, the outcome should be defined by some objective measure so there’s no argument about whether or not a particular task was completed satisfactorily.
3) a time/date for completion. “We need this done ASAP” is not specific. “We need this done no later than 5:00 p.m. this Friday afternoon” is.
• Follow-up. Follow-up is the very heart of accountability. And not just follow-up, but consistent follow up. If you pay attention to deadlines sometimes but let them pass without comment other times, accountability suffers. If you sometimes track progress but other times, not so much, accountability suffers. We routinely hear CEOs say, “When I ask somebody to do something, I just expect them to do it. I shouldn’t have to go back and check up on them.” Well, in the best of all worlds it might work that way, but not in the real world. Conventional wisdom advises us to “trust but verify,” or as a friend of mine used to say, “When your mother says she loves you, check it out.” You’ve probably heard the expression, “What gets measured gets done.” So when the boss makes a demand but doesn’t look for measurable results, doesn’t set a deadline, and doesn’t ask for progress reports, how important could it be? In an employee’s mind, not very . . . it’s just another of the boss’s whims that within 30 minutes will be completely forgotten. And who can blame them? Therefore, if you want accountability to be a hallmark of your organization, the price is good, consistent follow-up.
So to summarize, accountability requires clear, concise, unambiguous communication about the who, what, and when of a task to be completed. People can’t be held accountable if they are fuzzy about who’s supposed to do what by when. If this is something you hammer out in a meeting or at the water cooler, if you want to avoid later confusion or misunderstanding, make sure it’s put in writing. Then there needs to be consistent follow-up to reinforce the notion that this task is important and we expect you to achieve this specific result by this specific time/date. Without follow-up, employees will legitimately assume this assignment was just a whim and is of no importance
Clear communication and consistent follow-up leads to accountability.
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