One of the biggest mistakes I made in my leadership journey was misunderstanding how accountability actually works.

To be honest, I could blame what was modeled for me. I mean, I genuinely had some bad examples to emulate. I saw – and experienced – leaders who would “drop the hammer” to get things on track. This turned into a belief that I needed to use the authority card if I wanted to get an outcome.

That practice has proven itself consistently WRONG over and over again.

Let me explain.

When positional authority is used, it doesn’t generate an outcome. It generates fear.

Which fuels an even more toxic belief – fear is a great “motivator.”

Again… bull$@!.

Accountability – true, genuine accountability – is based on trust. In other words, if I believe that you have my best interests at heart, I will voluntarily be transparent. I will voluntarily own my mistakes. I will voluntarily sign up to be accountable.

But if fear is my foundation, I will avoid transparency. I will avoid sharing my mistakes. I will avoid accountability.

One only has to look at CRM data, financial report accuracy, and project score cards to see how rare genuine accountability is in the workplace these days. 

A great example of this dynamic comes from Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford. When he was brought in to turn their business around, one of the first things he instituted was a rigorous weekly score card review with his top leaders. Week after week passed, and the score cards were always covered in green. Mulally knew it was not accurate since Ford continued to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Until one day, one of his leaders put a red mark on his score card.

The leaders in that room thought it was insane to do. But instead of “dropping the hammer”, Mulally praised the leader for being transparent and asked how the team could help.

Instead of laying the authority card to demand an outcome, Mulally laid the trust card to generate effective effort.

The team needed to know their boss was in their corner, willing to do anything possible to help them do their best work.

That’s how accountability is generated.

Not by complaining about the “lack of accountability.”

Not by putting folks on the hot seat to “get some accountability around here.”

Not by getting angry until people start to “act with accountability.”

But here is the bigger lesson that I have learned about accountability. Trust does not simply happen because we are intentional about how we come across.

Yes, character matters – a lot – but by itself, it is incomplete at best. To truly be a master of accountability, we MUST ensure three essential components:

• Clarity
• Empowerment
• Engagement

If I don’t see the kind of trust-based accountability I am seeking, I must first forge clarity. I must make certain that the scope of our efforts, the priorities, the goals, and the roles are all aligned. If one element of that list is missing, people will not trust me. For example, I may say that XYZ is priority number one, but if my actions (or the actions of others) demonstrate otherwise, trust will disappear.

Once clarity has been forged (and understood), I must then empower. I have to make sure that people have what they need to achieve what is being asked of them. Without empowerment, people will not trust me. They will think I am either deceitful or incompetent. 

Then, with clarity and empowerment in place, I can drive for engagement. I can ask people if they believe that what is being asked of them is good for BOTH the company and for them. Because if they believe that what is being asked of them is not good for them (or the company), they will not trust me. And the ultimate goal of genuine accountability slips further and further away.

The bottom line is this: There is no “easy” button when it comes to accountability. Playing the authority card is not going to generate true accountability. There may be an upwards tick in performance because leadership is suddenly paying attention (I’ve seen/generated this effect often), but performance will drop right back down as soon as leadership moves on to something else. And frankly, that kind of leadership style is exhausting. For everyone.

I wish I had learned this lesson earlier in my leadership journey. But the good news is that I did eventually learn it.

Have you?

Mirror moment:

• Is the accountability that you seek fear-based or trust-based? Why?
• Does your character communicate trustworthiness? Why or why not?
• If you are a leader, have you provided the clarity/empowerment/engagement needed to build trust? Or are you trying to skip those steps to artificially create accountability?

Holomua. Onward and upward.

All the best ~ Tim

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