Accountability (3 of 3): Sharing the Load

This is the third in a series of 3 articles dealing with Accountability.  In the first article Accountability: What Does it Really Mean? I noted how the real meaning of accountability has been hijacked and replaced with a simplistic emphasis on recording delivery dates, and I proposed that real accountability has more to do with the quality of the dialog between people.

The second article Accountability: How is it Achieved? keys in on this dialog and lays out four specific tactics for how accountability is actually built so that performers are really “carrying the ball”.

This final article in the series suggests that, in best practices, the accountability ball should actually be carried down the field by each of the parties – i.e. how the requester and the performer are each accountable to the other.

Accountability can be discussed in terms of a four stage dialog or structured conversation between a requester and a performer – formulating the request, negotiating a commitment, delivering the request on time and as expected, and acknowledging the delivery.  In varying degrees, each of the parties bears some accountability to the other in each of these stages.

• In the first stage the requester is accountable, first and foremost, for formulating a clear request.  In my experience, it has been amazing to see how often managers botch this.  There is no clear formulation of the request; the responsibilities, the end results, and the timelines needed to complete the results are vague or missing altogether.  Assignments are doled out with little background context and imprecise expectations regarding what would constitute a satisfactory outcome. It is hard to hold the performer accountable for an incomplete delivery when expectations were not clearly understood and agreed at the start.  The performer, for their part, is accountable in this stage for learning the needs and the context of the requester and for getting a clear understanding of the request.  The performer should push to stay in this stage until a clear request has been formulated.

• In the second stage, the performer has the lead role for accountability….This stage concludes when the performer explicitly agrees to deliver a certain outcome or result by a certain date.  The requester, on the other hand, should not let the conversation advance to the next stage until an explicit agreement has been forged.

• In the third stage the performer is obviously accountable for delivering by the agreed due date, but that is not all.  The performer is also accountable for maintaining an ongoing dialog with the requester about how the request is proceeding.  Using best practices, the performer is regularly updating the requester about the “health” of the agreement.  Are we on track or has something come up that threatens an on-time delivery?  The performer is accountable to report problems or concerns as quickly as they come up and not wait until critical juncture points or until the due date has passed.  Any “bad news” is reported early by the performer.  The requester, on the other hand, is accountable to advise the performer if and when they become aware of any changes that affect the original context for the agreement.  If priorities change or new information alters or eliminates the need, the requester is bound to advise the performer immediately.  A good way to damage the relationship is to let the performer persist with a task that is no longer really needed.

• The last stage of the conversation begins when the performer delivers on the agreement.  First of all, the performer should make the delivery explicit.  The performer is accountable for asserting their belief that they have successfully delivered the result that was agreed.  The requester, then, is accountable for acknowledging that delivery and advising the performer if they are satisfied.  It is surprising how rarely this last stage actually occurs in business.  More often, work just carries on from one task to the next with no explicit delivery by the performer and no direct acknowledgement and assessment by the requester.  Feedback is saved up and bundled into the end-of-year performance review.

When accountability is shared like this all kinds of good things happen.

To summarize, as pointed out in the first of these articles, accountability is really about the quality of the dialog between the two parties, NOT about tracking due dates.  Now, to be candid, conversations like this are not easy.  As I will discuss in an upcoming article, conversations like this require a measure of courage and trust on the part of both parties.  Each of the parties is accountable for establishing and maintaining this direct and more “intimate” dialog.  When you are in a conversation where real accountability is palpable you will know it, and conversely when you are in a conversation without it, you will also know it.