Without accountability, a leader will fail

Jules Ciotta

Success for any leader requires three factors: responsibility, authority and accountability.  All are important, but accountability can be the trickiest to achieve. 

As a leader or facilitator, keep these basic principles in mind:

Focus:
Your people need to know precisely what their goals are, how they can achieve them, and how they will measure success. To maintain focus, direct your people to:

• Describe the mission in detail and show how their activities support that mission.
• Define each person's job as explicitly as possible.
• Establish consistent performance standards.
• Measure and analyze their own performance.
• Hold regular planning sessions.

Influence:
Your people need authority and influence to get their mission done.  Empower them to:

• Participate in the formation of the organization's overall mission.
• Analyze their own work practices and act on their findings in order to constantly improve.
• Decide which suppliers to work with.
• Provide feedback to each individual.
• Select new staff and remove people who aren't performing.

Consequences:
Your people have to confront both the positive and negative consequences of their actions.  Instead of shielding individuals, take steps to:

• Let your people received direct, regular feedback from internal and external customers.
• Link compensation and bonuses to efforts and successes.
• Let your people share in the organization's financial success.

Jules Ciotta is president of Motivation Communications Associates. He can be reached at (770) 457-4100 or julesciotta@comcast.net.