How accountable are you?

Individually and collectively, we perform at a much higher level when we hold ourselves and others accountable.

This isn’t about being a pest or “big brother”, but it is about coming to agreement regarding what we hope to accomplish, and should be tied, ultimately, to where we hope to be in the future.

I have a client whose vision of his future is to train for, and ultimately be competitive in, Iron Man triathlons. He can’t go out and do it today, but he’s established short and medium-term goals that, assuming he completes them, will position him for success with his first Iron Man race.

As we participate in and lead teams, this is what we need to do corporately as well. Establishing our company goals should be a collaborative and inclusive experience and should focus us on arriving at our desired future. Yes, we need to challenge ourselves, but we also need to ensure that the goals we’ve set are attainable.

This is where an accountability culture is so important. Are we rewarding people who are pushing the envelope, striving for success, even when they fail at times. Some of our most significant accomplishments come by learning from our failures.

Here are some questions to get you started on your accountability journey: 

1. “You only get what you measure” may be an overstatement, but there is allot of truth to it. Have you established an accountability culture in your organization?

2. Have you established a 3-year Vision and Strategy for your organization/team? This is a great place to begin defining what is most important for us to track and to hold ourselves accountable.

3. Deciding what we want to measure is very important. Have you solicited input from a variety of your folks to ensure that we’re getting a broad perspective and buy-in to the process?

4. How Specific are your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)?Will we really know if we’ve accomplished them in the future? Specificity is a must.

5. How Achievable are your KPI’s? It’s great to be aggressive.However, we need to temper our ambitions with some realism. Keeping the team engaged in the process and not disheartened is vital for a healthy accountability culture.

6. Are your KPI’s Measurable? Weekly tracking of our most important performance metrics is ideal. Having the ability to easily and consistently compile this data will help us stay on track.

7. Have you established baseline performance levels for the items to be measured and tracked? Once these are established, we can establish more realistic goals for our future.

How are you doing at holding yourself and your team accountable?

Using an outside resource with experience setting SAM/SMART goals across industries may be a valuable next step. Let me know how I can assist you on this journey.