Note: this is a series of weekly tips to build a functional, collaborative, aligned team.
Holding each other accountable is the key that unlocks results for the entire team. And yet, holding each other accountable is hard.
Which brings me to this week’s tip: Decide up front how to hold each other accountable.
Having the accountability conversation up front, before the need arises to hold each other accountable, makes it easier to hold each other accountable. We’ve already talked about it. We already know how we’re going to do it. We have a game plan. We’ve already agreed.
Here’s what you can do:
- Get the team together.
- Talk about how accountability is important. Ask the team for examples in their career where teams held each other accountable. And when they did not. What happened? What was the effect on the team?
- Then ask each team member to write down how they want to be held accountable by their teammates.
- Ask team members to share what they wrote down.
- Agree as a team to hold each other accountable the way each team member wants to be held accountable. (not the way we want to be held accountable)
While this does not make holding one another accountable easy, it does make it easier.
One word of caution: take time to build trust first. We can’t have a fruitful conversation about accountability without trust on the team.
When you build accountability into the team, you are building a functional, collaborative, aligned team.
