Digital Dealer - January 2019 - 23

ACCOUNTABILITY ISN'T AN OPTION FOR SOMEONE
IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION; IT'S A DUTY. IF YOU
CAN'T DO IT OR WON'T DO IT, YOU'RE UNFIT FOR
LEADERSHIP."
expectations for outcomes,
essential daily activities and
core values. Without clarity
there can be no accountability because the question
becomes, "Accountable for
what?" It also takes skill to
effectively give feedback on
performance, establish and
enforce appropriate consequences, and know what
to say when you confront a
poor performer. These are
not tools that come to you
in a dream one night after
you're promoted from advisor to service manager, or
from salesperson to sales
manager. They must be
taught, learned, and applied
to perform one's duty as an
effective leader.
I should emphasize
that part of the skill set for
holding others accountable
mandates that you develop
a skillful style as well: it
should be conversational
more than confrontational.
Holding people accountable isn't a license to be a
jerk, to become profane, to
shout, or get personal. In
fact, those tactics make you
look like a leadership amateur. Your approach should
be direct, respectful, firm,
and attack the performance
rather than the performer.

THE SECOND PILLAR
OF ACCOUNTABILITY

 Holding people accountable requires the right
mindset.
Mindset is defined as
"the established attitudes

held by someone." If you
don't have the right attitude
concerning holding people
accountable you're unlikely to do it with urgency
or consistency. The right
accountability mindset is established when you realize
and believe that holding
someone accountable isn't
something you do to them,
but for them. Frankly, if
you believe you're doing

really harsh to let someone
know what is expected,
how to improve, where they
stand, where they need to
be and by when, or what
the consequence is for
failing to do their job will
be? If you think about it, it
doesn't really get any fairer
than that. In reality, what's
truly harsh is letting people
live in a gray area, allowing
them to fail, fall further off

YOUR APPROACH
SHOULD BE DIRECT,
RESPECTFUL, FIRM,
AND ATTACK THE
PERFORMANCE RATHER
THAN THE PERFORMER."
something "to" someone
you'll be reluctant to do it,
and will likely apologize for
doing your job - making
you the "bad guy" and the
non-performer "the victim."
However, when you believe
you're holding someone
accountable to help them,
to correct their course, to
facilitate their growth, and to
make them more successful, you'll execute this vital
duty without hesitation or
apology.
In an age dedicated to
political correctness and
committed to not doing
something that would offend
someone else, holding
people accountable has
increasingly become seen
as harsh or unfair. But is it

track, and permit things to
get so bad for so long that
you have no choice but to
remove them; and, they
never see it coming or have
a chance to correct their
course because you failed
to tell them. While it's true
that holding an accountability conversation can make
both you and the person
uncomfortable, that very
discomfort is what's necessary for you both to grow
and get better at what you
do. What's more uncomfortable is failing to do your job
and having non-producers,
or toxic achievers remain on
your team, which is unfair
to the rest of the team and
jeopardizes your own job.
The bottom line is that the
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

best time to start holding
people accountable would
have been several years
ago. The next best time is
now. Where holding people
accountable is concerned,
if you know what to do, why
it's important, and what's at
stake if you don't do it, and
yet still fail to do it, YOU are
the one that should be held
more accountable for subordinating what's best for the
person and team to your
own comfort level. When
you think about it, holding
others accountable is a cornerstone of any leader's job
description, so expecting
you to do you job and hold
others accountable seems
like a reasonable expectation. Developing the right
skill set and mindset-the
two non-negotiable pillars of
accountability-offers you
a road map to get the job
done.
DAVE ANDERSON, "Mr. Accountability," is a leading international speaker on personal
and corporate performance
improvement. The author of 14
books and host of the wildly
popular podcast, The Game
Changer Life, Dave's message
has impacted leaders in nearly
70 nations. His "in-the-trenches" background of starting
and running world-class
businesses, coupled with his
relatable non-academic approach, creates an unmatched
connection that resonates with
audiences and moves them to
action. Follow Dave on Twitter
@DaveAnderson100 EMAIL:
dave@learntolead.com

JANUARY 2019

23
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Digital Dealer - January 2019

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