As companies get larger, and people work on diverse projects remotely, the need to hold people accountable is increasing. The old system of annual reviews, which gets lip-service, but provides little meaningful feedback for growth and only has consequences when things go seriously wrong, is being “fired” at employee-centric companies. They need to have individuals working in-sync to achieve the corporate mission and goals. In the Accountable for Success (A4S) model, the fundamental building blocks are to:  generate individual and team peak performance, gain alignment with culture and strategy, and upgrade leadership capabilities. This happens with two key elements

• Ongoing communication between the dyadic unit: manager and worker
• A review calendar system that facilitates continuous learning for employee advancement in the existing job and all future ones.

As we work with companies to implement A4S, we learn about related tools that can help. For instance, most managers are not training to be excellent at giving feedback and coaching others. (As a result they turn to micro-managements!) New programs help managers upgrade their skills at delivering valuable feedback and using coaching principles such as catalytic coaching. (For more information, contact us.)Brent Gleeson, in TakingPoint, addresses this issue in his Six Fundamental Leadership Accountability Skills:

• Results-driven Messaging – Accountability starts with providing crystal clear expectations of the results to be achieved. The expectations have to be measurable (e.g., monthly financial report for the prior month, with no errors, is due the third working day of each month). Objective metrics are also needed to evaluate success. (e.g., on a 1-10 scale, delivery by deadline gets a top score with lower numbers set for missing the target).
• Courage to take Ownership – The leader (supervisor) is responsible for making sure that the worker truly understands what is expected of the worker/team. Only then can the worker/team’s missed performances be assessed and correct by both parties through additional training, etc.
• Clear Direction –People can only be held accountable if targets and processes are clear and aligned with one another; no conflicting priorities are permitted
• Training for Skills – Companies that use the A4S model are Continued Improvement Learning Organizations (CILOs), committed to training people in the new skills they will take to better perform their current job and move to new ones. The ultimate success is instilling in each worker the desire to learn even more.
• Willingness to Change – A core value for each person in a CILO is a willingness (even desire) to change. As individuals grow, new challenges and boundaries are necessary to keep them engage
• Respectful Conflict Resolution – Fundamental to a success is trust among its members. Therefore, the leader needs to help workers and teams resolve conflicts with respect.