The Right Dose of Accountability

Why better relationships are important for leaders at all levels. How to build meaningful, productive, supportive, collaborative relationships.

Help your leaders level-up with our guide to accountability. We’re giving you and your people free access to the Accountability Dial Mini Course because it’s the vital first step to having productive, human conversations at work.

Genuine apologies from leaders transform team dynamics and build trust. Be specific. What proactive action can be taken? Pay attention to feelings.

We’ve all heard and experienced the profound truth in the phrase: What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. But what kind of stronger?

Saying the words “I’m sorry” does not create accountability. It’s the way most of us avoid it. It’s a nice gesture — assuming it’s sincere — but it is at best the expression of an intention:

Are you the type of person who attacks the messenger? Or are you the type of person who listens, who internalizes that new information and acts on it?

This moment — this crisis, is calling on you. It’s calling on you to have real conversations with the real humans inside your organization (and beyond).

How leaders can give feedback on something from the past. When it has been a while, it’s not only about a potentially uncomfortable conversation but also about breaking into the jam-packed day to create a new meeting or even just a new side conversation.

Have you ever had a conversation with your manager that started as praise and ended up with you having more work? Or, worse, feeling like the praise was a pretext, to soften a criticism, that in one form or another left you feeling that you weren’t doing enough?

We’ve all been there. As team leaders, we’ve tried to strike a delicate balance to keep people committed to their roles while avoiding the pitfalls of micromanagement. It’s a tough act. Micromanaging isn’t just an annoying trait, it’s a creativity killer and a way to undermine team trust. Members feel as if they are under a magnifying glass, always being second-guessed and never fully trusted.

Being good at your job means being good at being part of a team. And being a member of a team is all about relationships.

Most managers come to believe that gossip, politics, and bureaucracy are the way things are. And they make a decision to put their head down and try their best to get things done in spite of that dysfunction.