Leaders Who Remain Involved and Assume Nothing Create Accountability

Each step of accountability builds upon the previous steps that have been presented. They do not always neatly stack up, and step seven doesn’t only build from step six. As you will see in these next two steps, they are relevant in every stage and through every component of creating a culture of accountability. 

Step seven rounds out what I have framed up as the middle section of the accountability framework: the maintenance, and stability portion. In steps five and six, we ensure that we remain flexible to the idea of change and course correcting when necessary. In step six, we maintain a level of consistency, so our teams know what to expect and how to react. These work in concert with one another, versus as opposites as some might assume (see step eight below). Remaining involved is a critical element at every stage, in every step, and is core to exceptional leadership. 

Step eight guards against surprise and launches our ability to sustain and foster a long-standing culture that is created through the actions and behaviors of our team, peers, and other leaders.

Step 7 — REMAIN involved

Be inquisitive, ask questions, engage people in conversation, listen, and seek feedback. You are a coach, a mentor. As a leader, you are visible and available for those who seek you out. You (and others) will learn more, make further progress faster, and develop greater strengths by staying fully engaged and involved.

Nothing happens by itself. The more involved you are, the more change you can create in the way that you choose. Being involved is a full body experience. You need to be physically and mentally present to engage with your team, especially when change is on the agenda. 

'Remaining’ can sound like a passive action, especially since it falls in the later steps that have been presented around accountability. Do not be fooled. While I consider this a part of maintaining and stability portion of building a culture of accountability, it is really like support beams along every step. As I mentioned earlier, building a team that is driven by accountability is not a perfectly linear process. The idea of remaining involve does imply that it is always happening, and it must. 

Asking questions along the way is necessary. Challenging the status quo is one-hundred percent required. Stopping to coach team members and peers is a prerequisite for successful culture change. Each of these are elements of remaining involved. 

No one step is more important than another, yet they are each critically important. You can see how accountability could come off the tracks quickly if the leader doesn’t stay fully involved and engaged with the team. Thus, the need to have this in the framework where it maintains and stabilizes your structure for building something lasting with your team.

Step 8 — ASSUME nothing

Communicate openly and often. Take nothing for granted. More communication is always better than less. Overestimating anything, anyone, anytime can cause immediate breakdowns in accountability. Always build in time to reflect on your own actions and behaviors, and how those may be seen by others. 

Step eight transitions from the maintenance and stability portion of the framework to the embedment section. If you want to sustain a long-term culture of accountability, nothing will guard against that more than not taking anything for granted and challenging thought processes and understanding along the way. You can also see how connected steps seven and eight are. Without remaining fully involved, you will have no choice but to make assumptions because you are not close enough to know for sure. 

Like some other earlier steps, this can sound daunting, or worse, foreboding. Assuming nothing does not have to be paranoia or micromanagement. Done well, it should support all of your actions in step seven for sure, but will play a role in nearly every other step. It is deeply rooted in communication and ensuring everyone has a clear understanding of what is happening, why it is happening, and how they can make a positive impact.

There is really no such thing as over-communicating. Open, constant, meaningful communication is a sign of a healthy approach to assuming nothing. Someone once told me, ‘when you feel like you have communicated enough, you have just scratched the surface. Double your efforts at that point.’ That lesson almost always comes to bear. Just when you feel like everyone must have all the information they need, you find someone or many who have misinterpreted the message or didn’t understand the reasoning behind the messaging. 

Finally, assuming nothing may also feel like nothing can ever be achieved. It could be seen as a circular reference that you can never get out of. That is an assumption, and well, you know where assuming gets you. As a leader, there will come points where you press forward and make the decisions necessary. Just don’t assume that everyone will be perfectly ready for that move at that moment. 

Every step is so interrelated. The further we get into this framework, that should become more evident. Throughout the entire process of building, supporting, and embedding accountability, you constantly work back and forth between multiple steps. It is a balancing act that does take practice, patience, and perseverance. Culture building is not for the faint-of-heart, especially around something as complex and varied as accountability.

In the next article, we will round out the final two steps of our framework for building a culture of accountability. These final two steps are the last pieces that allow a culture to be born and supported through the actions of the entire team. Ultimately, these final two steps are ones that are always happening again, just to reinforce that even the final two steps are not linear in nature, nor are they any less important than the ones before.

How do you stay engaged with your team? How does that ensure you are not making assumptions that could derail your efforts?

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