Take Back the Drivers Seat – Creating A Culture of Accountability

In the early days of growing a business, we work alongside our first hires in the day-to-day grind,` bonding over the work and its challenges. We develop a mentality that they took a chance on us, and we are a team–peers. But then lines get blurred, and we end up working alongside them instead of leading them, shying away from tough conversations and providing critical feedback.

There’s a reason why companies operate with a hierarchy. Your employees will never love the company the way you do. They’ll never have the full picture of how a business runs and the decisions that need to be made. It’s not their lane to have this information. Because they don’t have the same love, appreciation, or information, making crucial decisions is not up to them. Sure, you can get their input on specifics, but the final decision lies with you.

So, how do you turn the tables and get back in the driver's seat?

• Set Clear Expectations: Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and goals. Ensure everyone knows what is expected of them and the standards they must meet. Develop a job description that outlines the role from a high level, then create a matrix that shows outcomes based on their career stage.
• Regular Check-Ins: Schedule regular one-on-one and team meetings to review progress, address any issues, and provide support. Maybe you feel too busy to do this, but consistent communication ensures everyone stays on track, reduces your people issues, and actually saves you time in the long run.
  • I have a client who meets with every team member once a quarter and asks two questions. As the CEO, this gives her visibility into her team's great work and opportunities to improve the business. It also allows her to hold her leadership team accountable. If the same operational issues keep coming up and are not resolved, then is her leadership team performing up to the expectations set?
    • What are you most proud of since we last talked?
    • What has made your job hard, or what didn’t go the way you anticipated?
• SMART Goals: Establish Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals for your team. This provides a clear framework for success and how it will be measured.
• Provide Feedback: Offer constructive feedback regularly. Create a psychologically safe space to establish a baseline of where they are and their perception of the issue. Mirror and validate their response, then provide your insights. Ask how they think they could have handled it differently. Instead of telling them what to do, work towards a solution together so they’re invested in changing their behavior. Also, when something goes well, like how they handled a client call with confidence and patience, call it out as soon as possible.
• Use Accountability Tools: Implement project management tools and performance tracking systems to monitor progress and keep everyone aligned. Asana, Monday, Clickup are all great tools that are easy to use out of the gate and can scale with you as your systems mature. This allows you to see if the work is getting done without micromanaging. It also highlights struggling employees so you can address issues before they impact clients and the team.
• Lead by Example: Demonstrate accountability in your actions. Hold yourself to the same standards you expect from your team. Accountability is a two-way street. For all the expectations and goals setting the team sets, you need to do the same and share your progress.
• Address Issues Promptly: Avoid artificial harmony by not letting problems fester. Address performance issues or missed deadlines as soon as they arise to prevent them from escalating.

By creating a culture of accountability where feedback is valued and encouraged, crucial conversations become easier. Empowering employees with the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work becomes easier. It becomes easier to follow through because there are clearly defined consequences for not meeting expectations and rewards for achieving them.

Turning your culture so that you also hold your team accountable as much as they are holding you accountable doesn’t happen overnight. But once you identify that your hierarchy is upside down, you can start instilling these systems and processes, and the tides will naturally turn. There is no need to make a big declaration or call it out. Acknowledge it, then take one step at a time.