Accountability without support does not work

As an HR professional, I could not agree more that we need to hold employees accountable for their performance. In fact, I find that leaders don’t do this enough. However, the biggest problem I see leaders make when it comes to accountability, besides the fact that they don’t do it enough, is that they try to hold people accountable without ever providing the proper training or support.

If your team is not meeting expectations or you’re not meeting your numbers for the month, why not start by asking what you can do? Too many leaders look first to blame their staff – they’re not working hard enough, they’re not competent enough, they don’t care about their work enough. Well, sometimes, it might be because they have not received enough resources, guidance, technology or training.

Next time your team falls short, don’t look for blame but instead, look for areas where you can help. If you don’t know where the problem is or how to help them, ask. Ask for feedback from the staff. They usually know exactly where they need help and what would help them do their jobs better.

Leaders should take ownership in improving and developing their teams to be successful. Once you do that, then you can set clear expectations and hold people accountable. Only when you have done everything in your power to make your team successful can you realistically hold them accountable for performance.

Invest the time in your people and it’ll pay off. Not only will you develop a strong team that way but you’ll boost morale. People will want to work for you and do their best every day because you invested in them and believe in them.

Once you’ve done everything to make your team successful, you can hold them accountable. As a leader, you have the power to give employees encouragement, tools/resources and independence to do their work, make decisions and succeed. If you don’t give people the tools to do their job effectively/efficiently, you can’t expect fast/accurate results.

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Leadership fail: A “make everyone happy” attitude

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we often want to make everyone happy. As leaders, we don’t take pride in firing people, writing people up, not taking people’s ideas or leaving people out of important decisions but the truth is that we may very well have to do these things sometimes.

One of the greatest leadership fails I’ve seen is avoiding difficult decisions, crucial conversations and other unpopular but necessary actions. I’ve seen leaders let their employees get away with some of the worst behaviors because they think that talking to the employees about their behaviors will make things worse and the employees won’t like them anymore. First of all, this is a poor excuse for not addressing people problems. Secondly, the reality is often different from the leaders’ perceptions.

A leader with a “Make Everyone Happy” attitude can be extremely detrimental to a team. We’ve all seen them. They’re the ones who ask everyone in the organization for their opinion before making a decision and values every person’s opinion the same. They’re the ones who give poor performers a good review because they don’t want to have “that” conversation. They’re the ones who try to reward everyone, even people who aren’t doing their job well…or at all.

In hindsight, these leaders are actually hurting themselves and their teams. A “Make Everyone Happy” attitude can:

  • Slow productivity. When we try to make everyone happy by including them in every decision, we never get a decision made or we end up making a decision without everyone because we need to meet a deadline – and then, they get even more upset with us because we asked for their opinion and didn’t wait for them to give it. Sometimes, involving too many people in a decision, assignment or project can hinder productivity. Leaders must know when to include everyone and when not too.
  • Devalue high performers. If we treat our poor performers the same as our high performers, our high performers will start to notice. I see leaders do this a lot when it comes to performance reviews. Whether we like it or not, employees talk. Our high performers will find out if you rate a poor performer similar to them and they will become less motivated to do a good job. Why should they go above and beyond if we don’t recognize them for it?
  • Ruin a leader’s reputation. Employees will stop trusting us if we are always trying to make everyone happy. They will notice. Trust will be broken. Leaders must focus on doing the right things the right way, which may not always be the most popular thing that makes everyone happy.

Trying to make everyone happy can often backfire on leaders and do the opposite – piss everyone off. Great leaders aren’t afraid to stand alone, which is why they rarely have to.

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