Accountability Training for Leaders: Build Accountability Leadership in your Team

From a leadership perspective, there’s a real thirst for increasing leadership accountability. Executives have recently asked me various questions that linger over the concept of building team accountability to help them achieve their strategic plans while creating high-performing teams:

“How do I build accountability in teams?”

"How do I increase accountability in leadership and employees?"

“What else can I do to get people to do what we need them to do?”

“How can I hold a team member accountable and still be seen as a good leader?”

"How do I balance leadership accountability and personal accountability when building a team of engaged employees?"

"Creating a culture of accountability is hard; how do I provide constructive feedback without being the bad guy?"

Building team accountability requires understanding a few dynamics because it’s more complicated than we might recognize. It goes beyond the responsibility for the outcomes, which is important. Still, influential leaders know they need a culture of accountability in their teams that provides the input needed to achieve the expected team performance. Holding people accountable is one of the most important things a successful leader does for organizational alignment, but it is also one of the hardest. It is one thing to outline your strategic objectives during team planning, but you must create the culture to implement it.

First of all, teams - by definition - are made up of individuals. We can’t forget that. An understanding is needed that society tends to truly value individual contribution while also (and separately) valuing team contribution. This interesting contradiction causes much confusion about which should be valued the most. The secret alchemy, then, is simply to sort out the confusion to start building accountability in the workplace. Without accountability in a team, it is much more complicated - and stressful - to achieve your quarterly plan. Each team member needs to be responsible for - and take ownership of - their actions so the team can achieve results as laid out in the plan.

Team Accountability

We can do this if we recognize where the individual plays a more vital role and where teamwork plays a more vital role. For instance, when there's sudden chaos or an emergency, you want one or more individuals to step up and take the lead. On the other hand, teams are better when you need smart thinking to solve a problem or transform a process. Successful strategy execution must allow each team member the flexibility they need to make decisions and be held accountable for the results. Accountable leaders at all levels are responsible for holding people accountable and regularly reviewing goal progress with their teams on how to win the talent war.

That said, though, the individuals placed on a team matter. In an HBR article, Gratton and Erickson noted that the “greater the proportion of experts a team had, the more likely it was to disintegrate into nonproductive conflict or stalemate.” These kinds of teams are not teams. They are groups of individuals coming together under the façade of working as a team. They’re still a group of individuals. 

Yet, most individuals in team formation want to do what they’re supposed to do. Their intent is good. The missing link is that what the team is supposed to do gets lost in translation. It’s assumed that they just know what to do, which is why our leadership development program is so popular, as it provides actionable advice to develop accountable leaders and teams. Accountability training for leaders provides a positive return on investment as it builds accountability and trust throughout the organization.

Hopefully, your company isn’t full of one crisis after another. If it is, then celebrating the individual might be your default solution. But for most companies, the continual journey is around improvements, innovation, and problem-solving. That said, we can see the relevance of accountability in a team environment.   Lack of accountability spreads quickly through the organization, limits productivity, kills morale, and destroys trust.

The missing link is that this 'team' of individuals needs to know what they are accountable for accomplishing collectively. Personal accountability doesn't always translate to accountability in a team. As a leader, it’s your job to provide them with a definition of what it is you’re holding them accountable for doing and increase your communication to increase accountability. Consider implementing skip-level meetings to bridge the gaps between levels of management, start with our best skip-level meeting questions.

To do this, consider using The Five C's Framework for Building Team Accountability:

1. Common Purpose: Set the stage for any team initiative by discussing the ‘why.’ Why are they here? Why are they working on this project or this special task force? Connect what you need the team to do with why you need them to spend valuable time doing it. What’s the point? Why does it matter? We always tend to tell a team of people what to do; many leaders are good at that. As a result, the ‘why’ gets wholly ignored.  The sign of a high-performing team is the ability to rally around a common purpose.

2. Clear Expectations: What do you ultimately need the team to do? These are the accountability questions leaders use to set clear expectations for the team. You need to tell the team repeatedly so that all team members are clear on what is expected of them. It often takes several repetitions before the entire team can communicate effectively. 

• Clarify: Are you looking for one specific viable solution to a company-wide problem, or are you asking the team to agree on three potential solutions to present jointly? Do you expect them to define a roadmap for the one (or three) solutions or not? Do you need them to show a list of pros and cons with their solution(s)? How do you want to be kept informed along the way? An email every Friday afternoon? A white paper three times a week (Side note: Please don't do this last one), or what? Whether it’s an intact workplace team or a task force, use the Job Scorecard to help prompt your thinking as to what you need the team to be responsible for doing. Clear expectations are the cornerstone of accountability.
• Accountable Leadership: If it’s a special task force (vs. an intact workplace team), who’s the person who’s driving the train? In other words, who’s ultimately accountable for making sure that what the team needs to do gets done? It doesn’t mean this person is the only one doing the work; it simply means s/he is on top of it. The same would hold for a new initiative for an intact team. You, the leader, shouldn’t think you have all the power to check how things are going. Instead, who can take the leadership role to ensure the transition gets moving and keeps moving? Who’s accountable for driving the train? Do you accept responsibility when it is required?
• In your mind, what does success look like when you achieve a goal? Setting up a metric for what success looks like clarifies the degree to which people are supposed to do something. Otherwise, you can get a checkmark that says, “We did it.” But was it done relative to the expectations you had in your head? Define (clearly) what success looks like. (Side note: Avoid having a due date as a success metric. Any of us can produce a ton of mediocre work by a deadline.)

3. Communicate & Align: As time passes, as part of their leadership development, a leader’s job is to keep a team focused and aligned so that everyone’s involved and moving in the same direction. How are they going to do what you need them to do? What resources might they consider using? Keep everyone focused. Over and over, communicate with them, ask questions, remind them why what they’re doing is essential, etc. Your job as a leader is to keep them rowing in the same direction, especially when rolling out annual and quarterly plans. Communication and alignment are what provide life to any team because it's what foster longer-term sustainability.

4. Collaborate and Coaching: Set the stage for collaboration all along the way so that adjustments can be made in real time. You can monitor progress and coach your people. Don't tell them what to do. Coach. Listen to them (80%) and talk with them (20%) to increase your team's performance. Nurture them to speak with each other. Be a resource for them. What roadblocks must be removed, and how can you help remove them? If what you've tasked your people to do is essential, then it deserves your support. Collaboration is at the heart of a great weekly team meeting, where the accountability rubber meets the road. Did everyone do what they said they were going to do? How are you coaching employees to take ownership of their commitments? An effective leader must first keep your commitment to building trust with the team, or they're doomed to failure.

5. Consequences: Most people see consequences, and they immediately think of a negative connotation. We overlook that consequences can also be positive, and every organization should use positive feedback. Make results and consequences visible. Talk to your team strategically vs. tactically, usually done through questions vs. statements. Secondly, for some reason, leaders are the first to let people know when something's not right or if it's gone awry. But when things go well, it's as if success is glossed over. The consequence of that, though, is that you help create a remedial culture. People are only noticed and given attention at weekly team meetings when things go differently than expected. So work to provide equal (or more) weight to what's gone right. Celebrate! 

Need some help getting started? Rhythm Systems has programs that can help you execute your strategy with less drama!

Team Accountability Vs. Personal Accountability (Video)

Leadership Accountability: How Good Leaders Hold Their Team Accountable 

• Which of the Five C's do you find the hardest to do?
• Which is the most important, and why?
• You can take our team accountability assessment to see where you stand and how to improve.

Need help getting your team aligned to achieve your growth goals? Rhythm systems software was ranked the #1 easiest software to use, highest ROI, fastest implementation, and highest adoption rate on G2.