Improving Accountability

Holding ourselves and others accountable is not a new topic in the workplace, or at home for that matter, and is often a struggle for leaders.

Henry J. Evans, author of Winning With Accountability says:

  • Accountability is about high performance and not fear or stress.
  • It’s about holding yourself (and others) to a standard that improves performance.
  • When holding someone accountable we must recognize and respect the power of intention (this allows all staff to hold one another accountable regardless of title or level)
  • Continually ask “How am I doing”?
  • Set crystal clear expectations.
  • When things don’t go as planned, ask yourself:
    • Where did I fail to clearly communicate?
    • Who did I forget to include in the process?
    • What solution can I provide?
    • What can I do to obtain more information to make a sound decision?
    • What could have I done better or differently to improve the results?

“A culture of accountability makes a good organization great and a great organization unstoppable”.
–Henry J. Evans

Sometimes we just get stuck, sometimes we make excuses, and sometimes we fall into an “if only” mode where we justify our lack of action by saying things would be different “if only…”

So, what else can we do? John G. Miller (author of QBQ!) suggests answering the following questions:

  1. What can I do today to move forward?
  2. How can I change me?
  3. What can I do to be my best?
  4. How can I solve this problem?
  5. What can I do to let go of what I cannot change?

Do any of these questions resonate for you or perhaps could be asked of a team member? What are you doing to make your organization unstoppable?

Something new! Subscribe to PeopleTek’s free leadership videos.

Announcements

Journey II – Moving Beyond The Barriers!

  • Session 1 – in Pheonix – April 14th

Leadership Journey I

  • Session 1 – Virtual – March 24
  • Session 1 – in Phoenix – April 14

Enroll Today

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Want to improve your problem solving skills?

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

What Do You Want In a Leader?

If you had the opportunity to pick a leader to work for, what would you base your decision on? Do you have a set of criteria that you view as critical leadership skills? What about a list of behaviors a leader must NOT possess?

Remember, teamwork begins by building trust…
–Patrick Lencioni

We conducted a very informal poll and asked: Besides trust, what’s another behavior/trait you want your leader to possess?

Even though we said “besides trust,” 30% of the respondents provided “trust” or “honesty” as their #1 want.

Think about your work relationships. How many of those relationships have trust as its foundation? How would your business partners/peers/direct reports respond if asked if they trusted you?

Here are the other behaviors/traits that were provided:

  • Integrity
  • Kindness
  • Humility
  • Intelligence
  • Personable
  • Gracious
  • Extraordinary
  • Approachable

Here are a couple of comments they provided:

True leaders know that leadership is not power, but rather a responsibility
Leaders don’t lie, they provide the facts not B.S.

After reviewing the list and comments, what’s missing?
Let us know what should be added to the list of desired leadership traits and behaviors.

Something new! To subscribe to PeopleTek’s free leadership videos, click here.

QwikTip and QwikCoach

QwikTips Powered by e-Coach – Want to improve teamwork?

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

Learn More About QwikCoach

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!