Without accountability, a leader will fail

Jules Ciotta

Success for any leader requires three factors:  responsibility, authority and accountability.  All are important, but accountability can be the trickiest to achieve.  As a leader or facilitator, keep these basic principles in mind:

Focus.  Your people need to know precisely what their goals are, how they can achieve them, and how success will be measured. To maintain focus, direct your people to:

• Describe the mission in detail and show how their activities support that mission.
• Define each person's job as explicitly as possible.
• Establish consistent performance standards.
• Measure and analyze their own performance.
• Hold regular planning sessions.

Influence. Your people need authority and influence to get their mission done. Empower them to:

• Participate in the formation of the organization's overall mission.
• Analyze the organization's work practices and act on its findings in order to constantly improve.
• Decide which suppliers to work with.
• Provide feedback to each individual.
• Select new staff and remove people who aren't performing.

Consequences. Your people have to confront both the positive and negative consequences of their actions.  Instead of shielding individuals, take steps to:

• Let your people received direct, regular feedback from internal and external customers.
• Link compensation and bonuses to efforts and successes.
• Let your people share in the organization's financial success.

Jules Ciotta is president of Motivation Communications Associates. He can be reached at (770) 457-4100 or julesciotta@comcast.net.