101: Team accountability
It's one thing to set goals and priorities for your team in 2016 and each sales quarter within. It's another thing to set up an environment of accountability to give those goals and priorities the best chance possible of getting accomplished. Here are three ways to guide your company along an upward trajectory — to measurable results:
Know that accountability is about specificity. Accountability is answering for your actions and results. The expectations need to be crystal clear in order for that to happen, says Lee Colan at Inc.com. “The gears of your accountability engine are expectations, consequences, language and coaching,” writes Colan. “The oil that enables these gears to run rapidly and smoothly is specificity.” Without it, he says, a team is more susceptible to miscommunication, rework and a myriad of other bumps in the road to efficient productivity.
Get agreement, give perspective, then, reiterate. After you've discussed what's required — whether its 10 new leads or four contracts signed per month — detail why it's important to the company on a larger scale. Offer team members a perspective on how their efforts contribute to overall goals. Then, recap. “This means ending a quick conversation or email with, 'OK then, I'll be looking out for it next Tuesday. Thanks!' For a larger project, this could be a project plan with a detailed schedule and dates,” writes Jennine Heller at Women2.com.
As a leader, don't get angry. This always backfires, says Peter Bregman in an article at Forbes.com. Instead of inspiring people, it decreases their motivation. “Accountability is not simply taking the blame when something goes wrong,” Bregman writes. “It's … about delivering on a commitment. It's responsibility to an outcome, not just a set of tasks,” he writes. Getting angry will simply reduce performance — and employee motivation, points out Bregman.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments