How do I manage to keep people accountable?
Recently, I have been coaching several frustrated executives who are, in their words, “having a hard time holding my people accountable for results.” I created a simple model, which I call “The Ladder of Management,” to help guide the executive in understanding the requirements for accountability and the appropriate managerial actions.
The Foundation: Work to Be Done
An accurate and complete description of the work to be done is the foundation on which we set the ladder of management. Job descriptions, product specifications, statements of work, and other such documentation clearly define the work to be done. An organizational authority must share this information with both the worker and the manager.
Standards and Agreements
As the employee and manager climb the first rung of the Ladder of Management together, the manager will assign the work, establish the performance standards for the job, and obtain agreement from the person doing the work to those standards. Any expectations must be both shared and agreed upon by all of the people involved. The manager’s role is to negotiate an agreement with the person or people doing the work. It only takes one person to set an expectation or standard, and they may try to judge and punish a person for being a bad mind-reader. This common practice is unfair and ineffective, which is why we require the agreement of all involved at this rung before moving up.
Availability
Managers must validate and allocate workers’ physical presence to do the work. It makes no sense to assign work to someone on vacation or leave. This rung may seem obvious, but it can be a performance stumbling block in today’s global, remote, and virtual workspaces.
Capability and Resources
Managers must next validate the capabilities of the worker(s) who are tasked with the work. Do they have the competency, knowledge, skills, and experience to do the job? Managers must also allocate the resources required to complete the work.
Authority
At this rung of The Ladder of Management, the manager delegates a defined amount of organizational authority to the worker(s) so that they can make the necessary decisions to complete the work, and/or determine the authority boundary within which they know to seek higher-level approval.
Responsibility
Responsibility means that someone has agreed to accept the duty to respond to a situation as they are able. Managers delegate responsibility for the desired work outcome, in line with agreed-upon standards, to the people doing the work.
Accountability
Accountability is neither positive nor negative emotionally, but people may have a triggered, residual emotion toward the word accountability based on past experiences of being “held accountable.” Accountability is an agreement on a time, place, and method for a person to give an account of what they were or were not able to do based on their accepted responsibility. Accountability sessions are learning and recognition opportunities. The manager’s role in accountability is to evaluate the worker(s)’ accounts of how well they fulfilled their responsibilities.
Logical Consequences
The top rung of The Ladder of Management is administering logical consequences based on the manager’s evaluation of the worker(s)’ accounts and final work products. If the work was at or above standards, then the logical consequences are praise, recognition, appreciation, and more. If the work was not to standard, then the corrective discovery process begins by climbing all the way to the base of The Ladder of Management with the worker(s) to assess the root cause of the performance issue, learn from it, and provide corrective actions to increase the odds of successful future performance.
The manager’s role is to investigate the root causes of the outcome.
- Was the work clearly defined?
- Were the agreed-upon standards reasonable, understood, and attainable, given the actual work environment?
- Were the workers available to work?
- Were the worker(s) capable and adequately resourced?
- Did the worker(s) willingly fail to uphold their responsibility?
- Can the worker(s) give an account for the lessons learned and make recommendations for performance improvements?
What is Managing for Performance?
A manager’s primary role is to evaluate and allocate resources to pursue organizational and operational excellence. Managers negotiate, allocate, delegate, evaluate, and administrate at different phases of work. Using the Ladder of Management helps to ensure workers are set up for success and provides opportunities for logical consequences for job performance.
Accountability need not be a mystery. Managers must understand and provide the necessary components that build accountability.
If you might benefit from some executive coaching around using The Ladder of Management or any other executive function issue, please get in touch with me.