Accountability Structure

If you’re leading people, there must be what I call accountability structure. 

There are so many buzzwords around accountability and how to lead and manage. The cupcakes! Discipline is not the killer of enthusiasm, being an asshole is! Do I trust you, do you trust me, do you care? You’ve probably heard many of these.

The bottom line is that most business owners aren’t really good at holding people accountable. They either feel bad, or have no structure, or don’t want to make people mad. There’s a difference between being an asshole and being somebody who holds people accountable. Importantly, there has to be measurement in place. If you can’t measure, you can’t manage is widely used - and it’s true for a reason. Do your behaviors match your company goals?

Without accountability we have to rely on hope. Hopefully what the leader says gets done. That’s no way to run a successful business. Instead, check-in processes to make sure things get done are important. What works for one company may not work for all. With creatives, we don’t go full corporate. We go “corporate enough”. But with hardwired folks such as attorneys, people in architecture or finance, you might even want to use hourly structure. The more creative the company, the less accountability you may impose, but you need some. And it’s up to you to create what is best for your team. It could be weekly check-ins, or even monthly - it could mean finding a software (like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Trillo or Basecamp) that does that work for you.

It’s okay to expect results from people. The way I see it with most of my clients is that anybody who doesn’t have a high D or C in their DISC profile has a tough time being a disciplinarian. For them the D word - discipline - doesn’t even sound right. But you must hold people accountable: people need to say what they are going to do, clearly, and then go do it. You have to have measurements such as: it’s due by, and here’s the expected outcome. Good leaders show that expectation, they show the pathway, then when it’s accomplished, they celebrate victory. 

Accountability can be easy. Tell people what you expect, show them what good performance looks like. Kick them in the butt if they are off track, high five them when they do it even approximately right. Don’t put up with excuses, or make excuses for other people. I don’t ever want to hear you say “he has a lot on his plate” or “he’s having a tough time at home”. Leaders must talk about it. Try “Hey, Johnny, your performance is off. You had these deliverables. Let’s talk about what’s getting in the way of your success”. 

People can make or break an entrepreneur. No matter how good your widget is, you will eventually need great team members to help you increase your market share. Understanding yourself and then others is vital to a successful, long-lasting business -- the kind of business where people want to work for you and want to support, promote, market and sell your widget.