If You Want An Accountable Team, Leaders Must Go First

“Do as I say, not as I do” appears to be the predominant mindset in leadership teams. So many executives say that they want greater accountability from their teams. But how often do they hold a mirror up to themselves and consider where they are failing to deliver on their commitments, or what “get out of jail free" cards they regularly play

Several years ago we developed a model that lays out the specific behaviors you would expect to see in an “accountable” organization, such as:

• We proactively identify and address problems before they escalate
• We hold everyone, regardless of level, to the same standards ​and expectations
• We admit mistakes and take responsibility for learning from them​

It’s easy to agree that these behaviors are desirable and would contribute to a culture of accountability. But here’s the rub: Leaders nod along when we share these, but still continually play their own wild card when it suits their situation. Here are some examples we often observe of leaders undermining an accountable culture – any of them sound familiar?

“I have a flight to catch”

The team has an offsite meeting that is scheduled to end at 4pm. It’s a packed agenda with several critical topics to cover. The outside facilitators are committed to generating actionable outcomes. But at noon, the senior leader casually mentions that they have to leave after lunch to catch a flight. No apologies. No explanations. Just giving themselves a pass from the rest of the session, which suddenly has a lot less weight and potential for impact.

“Something urgent came up”

Leaders today often operate as firefighters – moving from one urgent fire drill to the next. Doing so gives them license to blow up their schedules regardless of the downstream implications on the rest of the team. Never mind how many hours of methodical planning went into setting up the executive’s schedule for the week; it can be wiped clean with one call from a board member or a question out of left field from a higher-up.

“I didn’t have time”

These days, almost anyone can pull the “too busy, no time” card with no consequences. Because it’s true: Everyone is busy and often overwhelmed. But it’s also true that leaders in particular are expected to prioritize the work that really matters. They need to preserve adequate focus time to review pre-reads, provide meaningful feedback asynchronously, follow up on action items, and think strategically. Leaders repeatedly fail to do this, however, when they don’t have a system set up to help them operate accountably.

The greatest consequence of leadership giving themselves a continual pass is that it sends a strong signal to the rest of the organization, one that says, “We espouse accountability, but we actually let most things slide.” The system only performs well when leaders hold themselves to the same standards they set for the team. Want more accountability? You should go first.