Ways To Support Employee Independence And Accountability

🔸 What if ‘holding people accountable’ is the problem, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? Lately, I’ve been connecting with founders, people leaders, and executives who all seem to be wrestling with the same challenge: 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝘐𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. → What if accountability wasn’t something leaders had to enforce? → What if responsibility and ownership were simply how people showed up to work? ➡️ Here’s what I’ve learned: 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. When accountability becomes a system of checks, corrections, and consequences, it feels reactive—like a trap, waiting for someone to fail. And it often stems from control, not trust. 🔸 At my company, we approached this differently. • 𝗔 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 We stopped focusing on “holding people accountable” and started modeling responsibility. 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱: → We read The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership as a team. → Defined what those commitments meant for us—not as theory, but as behaviors we practice daily. → Hired people who aligned with our values. → Rewarded those who embodied responsibility. → And, when necessary, let go of people who didn’t. It wasn’t perfect, but it created a shift 🙏 Accountability stopped feeling external and forced. Responsibility became internal, something people took on because they cared, because they felt connected to the mission, the team, and the work. • 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 As leaders, we go first. If we want our teams to take responsibility, we have to show them what that looks like: → Owning our mistakes. → Being clear in our communication. → Living the values we say are important. 🔹 And when someone struggles, instead of jumping straight to “Why didn’t you do this?” we ask: “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦?” Because more often than not, accountability issues aren’t about someone “not caring”—they’re about unclear expectations, lack of tools, or broken systems. • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 When you model responsibility, accountability starts taking care of itself. People show up differently—not because they’re afraid of consequences, but because they feel: → Trusted. → Connected. → Committed to something bigger. They take ownership because they want to, not because they have to 🙂 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜’𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: ➡️ How can we, as leaders, shift from enforcing accountability to cultivating responsibility? Have you seen this shift in action? What has worked for you in creating a culture of responsibility?

It's time to upgrade from micromanagement delegation. Delegation is a two-way street, requiring effort from both the manager and the employee. It's like playing catch – it requires both throwing and catching. Handling delegation well is a job for both people involved. Instead of managers trying to figure out exactly how busy everyone is to allocate work, the alternative is to let or require team members to load balance themselves. The key reason for this shift is that individuals know significantly more about their own capacity, bandwidth, and ability to take on more work than their manager ever will. They know how long tasks actually take, their current complexity, how many things they are juggling, and any personal schedule needs. There are serious benefits to employees managing their own time. It provides them with autonomy, which is critical for work satisfaction and agency. It also helps them build crucial skills like schedule management and estimation, which are vital for career growth. Junior employees, in particular, will learn how to handle tasks taking longer or shorter than expected and how to communicate about it. A critical expectation in this model is that managing personal time is the responsibility of every employee. If an employee ever says they have too much work, are working too many hours, or have run out of work, that must be their problem to solve. This requires a significant shift in the ownership model. Instead of trying to perfectly match work to available throughput, you assign enough work so that some is guaranteed to "fall on the ground". This empowers team members to use their knowledge to balance their workload and prioritize based on what's most important. Communication is required from everyone in this model. While managers used to handle most external communication, employees are now responsible for communicating when their work will or won't be complete. They must know important project dates and ensure they are met, raising visibility if something is heading towards failure. Balancing work across priorities means teams need a clear way to on-load and off-load work. Ultimately, getting new work for the team should mean that different work gets done, not simply "more" work. The manager's role shifts to pointing out which work is the highest priority. The employee's role is to do the most important work in the time available and communicate what won't get done. Getting everyone – manager and team members – on the same page about these expectations, responsibilities, and autonomy is critical before moving forward. Regularly reinforcing this expectation, for instance by asking what will fall on the ground when new work is introduced, helps create the necessary culture. For more on delegating without micromanaging, read on! https://lnkd.in/gunPUjie

Your team isn't lazy. They're confused. You need a culture of accountability that's automatic: When accountability breaks down, it's not because people don't care. It's because your system is upside down. Most leaders think accountability means "holding people responsible." Wrong. Real accountability? Creating conditions where people hold themselves responsible. Here's your playbook: 📌 Build the Base Start with a formal meeting to identify the real issues. Don't sugarcoat. Document everything. Set a clear date when things will change. 📌 Connect to Their Pain Help your team understand the cost of weak accountability: • Stalled career growth • Broken trust between teammates • Mediocre results that hurt everyone 📌 Clarify the Mission Create a mission statement so clear that everyone can recite it. If your team can't connect their role to it in one sentence, They can't make good decisions. 📌 Set Clear Rules Establish 3-5 non-negotiable behaviors. Examples:  • We deliver what we commit to  • We surface problems early  • We help teammates succeed 📌 Point to Exits Give underperformers a no-fault, 2-week exit window. This isn't cruelty. It's clarity. 📌 Guard the Entrance Build ownership expectations into every job description. Hire people who already act like owners. 📌 Make Accountability Visible Create expectations contracts for each role. Define what excellence looks like. Get signed commitments. 📌 Make It Public Use weekly scorecards with clear metric ownership. When everyone can see who owns what. Accountability becomes peer-driven. 📌 Design Intervention Create escalation triggers: Level 1: Self-correction Level 2: Peer feedback Level 3: Manager coaching Level 4: Formal improvement plan 📌 Reward the Right Behaviors Reward people who identify problems early. (not those who create heroic rescues) 📌 Establish Rituals Conduct regular reviews, retrospectives, and quarterly deep dives. 📌 Live It Yourself Share your commitments publicly. Acknowledge your mistakes quickly. Your team watches what you do, not what you say. Remember: The goal isn't to catch people failing. It's to create conditions where:  • Failure becomes obvious  • And improvement becomes inevitable. New managers struggle most with accountability:  • Some hide and let performance drop  • Some overcompensate and micromanage We can help you build the playbook for your team. Join our last MGMT Fundamentals program for 2025 next week. Enroll today: https://lnkd.in/ewTRApB5 In an hour a day over two weeks, you'll get:  • Skills to beat the 60% failure rate  • Systems to make management sustainable  • Live coaching from leaders with 30+ years experience If this playbook was helpful... Please ♻️ repost and follow 🔔 Dave Kline for more.