Are you uncertain of how to improve your employees' accountability level? Do you sometimes avoid having the accountability discussion because of a flawed Accountability Management System? Accountability management, or managing the "control" part of management, is a prevalent issue among leaders today. Many leaders fail to hold their employees accountable for assigned tasks, resulting in detrimental effects on team culture, productivity and an unsuccessful organisation. The reasons for this vary; wrong assumptions, trying not to be a micro-manager, the weight of expectations you place on your employees, etc. Sometimes, you constantly have high expectations of your top performers that you ignore the struggles of low-performers and assume they can drive similar results. When you fail to acknowledge and focus on increasing the accountability levels of low-performers, it affects your team's productivity, and they may interpret it as indifference or weakness on your path, which can be demotivating for everyone. So, how can you work towards establishing a culture of accountability for your team? How can you increase accountability management levels in low-performers more meaningfully and create an environment encouraging them to contribute their best to work? How do you crack the Accountability Management Code? In this deck, we help you understand; The reasons why leaders fail to hold their employees accountable The accountability scale and how you can understand each of your employee's level How your weight of expectations can lead to employee poor accountability level The key ways you can manage low-performing employees' accountability levels and build employee morale and productivity.

1. Cracking The “Employee Accountability Management”
Code
Build the ability of your employees to Deliver on Commitments and Improve success

2. Does
Accountability
really make a
Difference?

3. Leaders in Top Performing
Organisations say their
employees are held
accountable
Only 44% of Leaders in
less successful
organisations hold their
employees accountable
45% of 935 Leaders say
their employees deal
effectively with poor
performance
Statistics show that:
77% 45%
44%
Click here to read: 5 Effective Ways of Developing Employees for Performance

4. But, what exactly does it
mean to manage
accountability in others?

5. 5
Accountability
involves…
• Taking responsibility for your
actions, not making excuses and
not blaming other people.
• Enabling people to take
responsibility for their actions
and the consequences of those
actions.
• Expecting and getting top
performance.
Click here to read: How to Effectively Manage and Evaluate the Performance of your RemoteWorkingTeam

6. Most often,
Leaders fail to
hold their direct
reports
accountable
because they:
1. Assume that things will get better
2. Assume that their direct reports will
notice their dissatisfaction
3. Want to avoid conflicts
4. Assume that their direct reports
know your expectations
5. Think it will demotivate their
employees.
6. Don’t want to be perceived as a
micromanager
7. Assume that as an empowered
leader, “it’s just easier if I do it
myself.”
6

7. We also inadvertently punish top
performers for their good work by
giving them more work, because we
trust them to do that work, and to
fill in for the people who are not
performing to standard.
Problem with that approach to accountability…
Indirect messages and subtle signals don’t
necessarily communicate what needs to
happen or what they need to do differently
to drive high-performance.
You become complicit in creating a cycle of
poor performance when you believe its
easier to do it yourself, because people
start to get the signal that if there’s a
problem you’ll just do it!

8. There is a difference between ongoing
monitoring, and following up around key
milestones and that notion of continually
pressuring people with “did you do it?”, “is
it ready?”, “have you got it?”, which is more
the characteristics of micromanaging.
Managing accountability means that you
are able follow up and monitor progress
without communicating a lack of trust, or a
lack of confidence in the other person.
Click here to read: Reskilling For
Improved Organisational Performance

9. Impact of Poor Accountability VS Benefits of Good Accountability
Impact Benefits
Low Productivity
‘Punish’ Top Performers for their
good by giving them more work
Perception of a Double-standard,
Risk-averse Leader
No employee growth and
development
Increased Productivity
Engage and retain Top Performers
Employees build confidence in the
Leaders
Continuous Employee Learning
and Development
Click here to read: 5 ReasonsWhy Leadership Develop Programme Fails [& Steps for Success]

10. Accountability Scale
-2
-1 +2
+1
People here display extreme
defensiveness. There’s no
attempt to problem-solve or
acknowledge that there is even
a need to problem solve. They
try to move the conversation
completely from themselves.
They accept responsibility, but
give the reasons behind their
decisions, e.g. it’s important
that people understand the
factors that influenced my
decision and my situation so
we can resolve it.
People here focus on the
complete picture, both what they
did and the impact overall
What they’re thinking and feeling
has to do with a willingness to
accept the consequences,
regardless of what that outcome
might be and to help manage that
overall.
People here deflect
responsibility to other
people and other groups,
and their intent is not to
problem solve.
What they say is; “don’t
look at me, look at them, I’m
not the problem.”

11. Desire to Preserve Self-image
We all have a sense of self, a way we see ourselves and we have a
way that we want others to see us. When we make mistakes, miss
a commitment or drop the ball in some way, it tends to negatively
impact our self image and the way we want other people to see us.
Social Loafing
Tendency to put less effort when people are in a group.
Social loafing is the tendency to take less responsibility when we
believe that others are not aware of the work that we’re doing, or
cannot connect what we’re doing to the overall outcome.
Idea of Locus of Control
People often say that they can only control some bits and pieces,
and not the complete picture.
Internal – I control my actions and decisions
External - consequences of actions are beyond their control
It’s a much bigger picture that impact what I do and how I do it.
People do not
take
Accountability
because

12. Pygmalion Effect is a notion that says
that it’s the leaders or managers
expectations that impact people’s
performance or their willingness to
perform at a high level.
What the Pygmalion philosophy says is that
when we have positive and high expectations
of people, that tends to translate to increased
confidence, increased efforts, more
persistence, better performance and
willingness to take risks in those people.
While negative expectations tend to have the
opposite effect on those four areas
Notions of
Expectations
The
Pygmalion
Effect
Others
actions
towards
us
Our
Expectations
for
Ourselves
Our
Action
towards
others
Others
expectations
of us
The Pygmalion Effect

13. When we have high
expectations of
people, we tend to:
Provide supporting environment by engaging in
interactive dialogue and giving constructive
feedback
0
5
Provide a lot of recognition when we catch them
doing something right,
0
4
Provide a supportive environment where we are
empathetic and supportive
0
3
Set challenging goals for them and provide
constructive feedback
0
2
Focus on maintaining and enhancing their self
esteem
0
1
But we need to break this cycle, because it’s the people who are working below
standard that we desperately need to do these things for!

14. When you frame someone as a poor
performer, it’s very hard for us to pretend that
they’re not, and treat them as if we think
they’re a top performer. If we don’t believe
they have potential, it’s very difficult for us to
pretend to do these 5 things that are critical to
driving performance.
On the other
hand…
Click here to read: How to Effectively Manage and Evaluate the Performance of your Remote WorkingTeam

15. ¥
Assume Value (focus on positives)
When somebody who we believe is a poor performer makes a
mistake, we should explain what they can do better. Emphasise
what they did well, and be more balanced your feedback.
Start with a Strength (Set a modest goal)
Focus on a strength, and set a modest stretch goal. Set it
to the point where you have more confidence and believe
that they can make this happen.
That way, you’ll be more confident that they can do it,
and more willing to provide coaching and support.
Be the model
Take accountability for your decisions and actions.
Be the example to your employees and team.
How can you break the cycle of low expectations in your employees?

16. Ways to Manage Accountability
Put a platform in place so that
people are clear about:
• what they need to do
• When they need to do it
You need to have a clear shared
picture of what is expected
Be clear about due dates, don’t
leave it open ended for people to
interpret overall.
Agreeing together on what the key
milestones are, and when to
check in.
This way, you can frequently
check in on progress, monitor
performance and provide
feedback.
Using this model helps you to increase the likelihood that people will meet their commitments and be
accountable by being clear about what you want them to do, the timeframe and checkpoints along the
way.
Monitor and
create
checkpoints
Be clear about the
timeframe and
milestones
Set everyone up
for success

17. But sometimes,
your employee
can miss a
commitment.
What do you do
then ?

18. • What can you do to
prevent this problem from
happening again?
Focusing on the
Future
• What could you have done
to prevent the problem?
• How did you contribute to
the problem?
Focusing on the
Past
• What are you going to do
right now to get it on track?
Focusing on the
Present
Ask these questions to encourage people to take
responsibility:

19. Get their actions and tasks back on track, avoid a
repeat in the future and be more self reflective
Try to encourage a “what else can I do” kind of
attitude, so they’re not just looking at their little
world, but rather taking responsibility and the view
of the entire group.
Those questions help them to:
Click here to read: Improving Employee Performance – Best Practices

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