Define Success with Accountability

I often hear the word “accountability” discussed like it’s an elusive secret. It’s something we always need more of. We never seem to have enough, and when we try to explain to Team Members how we want them to be accountable, it sometimes feels like more breath in the wind.

When we communicate accountability, we also communicate what good judgement should look like

Accountability is really all about the use of judgement and discretion. When a person uses their own judgement to make a decision, they should be accountable for the results of that decision.

When we communicate accountability, we also communicate what good judgement should look like, and when a Manager and Team Member have clarity around those two things, their relationship strengthens and drama fades into the background.

Here’s a first step in communicating accountability with your Teams. It’s one piece of a broader approach to management as continuous improvement that we at Manageable believe in wholeheartedly because we've seen it work over and over and over.

Accountability Thrives with Job Descriptions

Before I go any farther, I need to talk about job descriptions because accountability is very fluid if expectations aren't written down and agreed to by all parties.

What follows is a list of specific accountabilities that should be added to everyone's job description and then also included in coaching and performance reviews.

Without the written job description, everyone's got to remember exactly who said what and when they said it. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

A good job description is an incredibly valuable strategic asset.

I know job descriptions can be a topic of debate, so let me give you a quick rundown of what a Manageable job description is not:

• It's not a job posting.
• It's not just a list of qualifications.
• It's not the thing that as soon as you're hired you're told, "Oh don't worry about that. That's not what you'll really be doing".
• It's not something a person can point to and say "that's not in my job description!!!".

A good job description is an incredibly valuable strategic asset. It's an accurate list of what a person actually does. It's what you would see them doing if you looked over at them while they were working. Here's what a good, Manageable job description is:

• It's a realistic list of the Manager's expectations.
• It's a list that describes What needs to be done by When.
• It's a list that makes it obvious when the person is supposed to use their own judgement or seek the judgement of someone else.
• It's a list that changes as the job and the business changes.

In short, a good job description is a list that describes what a person is supposed to do, when they need to do it, and what success looks like. You can tell that it's a good job description when the Team Member reads it and says simply, "Yep. That's what I do."

If you don’t have job descriptions, you need to get them, but if you're not sure where to start, we can help. Get in touch with us at [email protected] [subject: I need job descriptions]. But in the meantime, you can get a look at some basic templates here:

• Blank Role Description
• Accounting Clerk Template.

Include Accountabilities on Job Descriptions

The first thing to do is add a section to everyone's job description called "Accountabilities", and then include one or more of the following 4 lists depending on what authority the person has.

These are situations where they WILL use their own judgement no matter what you've asked them to do.

These accountabilities are universal. They're part of the "employment contract". They're all things that everyone more-or-less assumes everyone else is doing.

Each item describes a situation where all people in all Roles will be using their own judgement. Not situations where you've asked them to use judgement, but situations where they *will *use their own judgement no matter what you've asked them to do.

This is why they can also be the kind of situations that might incite confusion, misunderstanding, frustration, and drama. But when you write out the Accountabilities, you're reducing all that uncertainty by giving everyone clarity on what's expected and what good judgement looks like.

Contributor Accountabilities

We start with Contributor Accountabilities. These apply to everyone because no matter what level of authority or management a person has, no matter where they sit in the organization, everyone is expected to do their best to contribute to the success of the business.

Accountabilities of All Employees

Use your best efforts to understand and meet your Manager’s expectations, collaborate with others, and contribute toward the success of the business.

• Maintain knowledge of company news, products, services, processes, policies, and other information.
• Demonstrate behavior consistent with company values, policies, rules, standards, and procedures.
• Inform your Manager as soon as possible when you think you might miss a deadline, require more resources or training, don’t understand your work, or you think you might not meet their expectations for any reason.
• Use your best efforts to improve your own output, and inform your Manager when you have ideas to improve the company or our products, services, processes, and procedures.
• Inform your Manager when you’re unable to work at your best.

This list might seem obvious, but it's important to state the obvious because if you expect your Teams to do these things (and I’ve never met a Business Owner or a Team who didn’t expect this in their workplace), it’s up to you to define what they actually look like.

If you don’t define them, people will assume they know what you’re looking for. They’ll probably also assume that everyone’ on the Team’s doing them in the same way, and this can lead to a lot of surprises.

Everyone is expected to do their best to contribute to the success of the business.

Leads and Supervisors

The next set are specifically for lead employees. These people are also contributors because even though they have some leadership responsibility, they’re not formal Managers.

They’re usually called Supervisors, Shift Leads, etc. They don’t hire and fire. They don’t determine pay or build departmental plans or do Reviews, but they do provide guidance and direction to the Team for specific tasks while they’re working.

Accountabilities of All Lead Employees

Represent a Manager when that Manager can’t be present or is otherwise not available.

• Decide priorities, assign work, and give instructions to your Team Members based on your own Manager’s expectations.
• Observe the work of your Team Members; instruct them to change, delay, or stop work when appropriate; and decide on solutions when needed.
• Provide immediate positive and/or critical feedback to your Team Members about their work when appropriate.
• Provide feedback to your Manager about the work of your Team Members when appropriate or when you're asked.
• Provide training and onboarding to your Team Members when needed and as directed by your Manager.

Benefits of Contributor Accountabilities

The overall benefit of putting these specific Accountabilities in writing is that they provide clarity and reduce opportunities for misunderstandings. In addition, they strengthen culture by starting everyone off from the same level starting point.

They give Managers a neutral, non-awkward framework where they can discuss how a person uses their own judgement, and they create a company-wide standard for Managers to lean on as they describe how they expect their Team to improve.

Manager Accountabilities

Leading People Is Hard

When you hear that 60% of new managers fail within the first 2 years in their new role, is that a surprise? In the modern workplace, the first line manager is an absolute workhorse. They essentially hold the whole thing together because every challenge, every issue, every improvement eventually makes it’s way down to them for execution.

They’re under constant stress with ever-changing demands. They’re forced to work with limited resources, and they often get no training. There’s no objective metrics or benchmarks they can use to evaluate their management work, and when they do get feedback, it’s often anecdotal or abstract or super-positive and hard for them to apply to their real day-to-day issues.

Every challenge, every issue, every improvement eventually makes it’s way down to a Manager for execution.

Part of this difficulty stems from the common notion that leadership & management are nebulous and undefinable. We hear phrases like “leaders are born not made.”

We’re taught that what makes a leader great is their charisma or their vision or their emotional intelligence. We’re taught about personality types and encouraged to learn how to be amateur psychologists.

While the need for charisma and far-reaching vision is critical in certain transformational environments, it’s not the norm for the vast majority of people who go to work everyday and are just trying to get things done.

Managers don’t need charisma as much as they need a clear set of expectations for what good Managerial Leadership looks like.

Managerial Leadership - the Job Description for Managers

For sure, management is nebulous because it’s all about judgement. Managers are unique because they’re not only responsible for their own contributions (their “technical work”) but they’re also accountable for the contributions of others, their “people work”.

When a Manager’s doing their people work, the bulk of that time is spent in their own head. People work requires thinking, there’s no way around it, and managers are valuable because of how they think. They're relied on to use their judgement to solve problems.

But many Managers got their jobs because they’re good at getting things done, and sitting around thinking about things just doesn’t feel productive for most people. Managers want to be productive.

They’re obsessed with metrics and results and productivity and performance. It’s hard for them to prioritize the time needed for the thinking part of their role because they feel more valuable when they’re actually doing something.

Sitting around thinking and talking can make them feel like they’re not making valuable contributions.

Managers don’t need charisma as much as they need a clear set of expectations for what good Managerial Leadership looks like.

Yes, management and leadership are complex. Every manager does them a little differently, and every situation is unique. But that doesn’t mean the work is undefinable. On the contrary, the people work needs to be defined for this very reason.

Managers are looking for actionable guidance and feedback just like their Teams are, and being specific about what a Manager is actually supposed to do is essential for their own success.

In short, there is a job description for Managers. It’s called Managerial Leadership, and it should be included on every Manager’s job description.

Accountabilities of All Managers

Managerial Leadership Practices

Define

• Develop and execute a plan for how your department will help achieve company goals.
• Provide regular communication with all Team Members regarding the vision/mission/values, state of the business, goals, issues, progress, plans, etc.
• Explain your expectations clearly so that your Team Members know what success looks like when you set goals and assign work to them.
• Clarify your expectations as needed.
• Prepare your Team for times when you’re not available.

Hire

• Request additional Roles and/or Team Members from your own Manager when needed.
• Select and hire new Team Members that your Manager has also judged to be qualified for the role.
• Onboard and train new Team Members into their Role, working relationships, company requirements, culture, and anything else needed for their success.

Coach

• Coach Team Members on an ongoing basis to meet your expectations, increase their own effectiveness, and to contribute at their full capability.
• Provide clarity, training, and resources to Team Members on an ongoing basis as needed.

Recognize

• Recognize how Team Members have used their judgement in meeting your expectations; describe to them how their contributions add to the success of the business, following and executing the company’s Review process when appropriate.
• Decide your Team Members’ pay and merit increases within established company guidelines.

Develop

• Recommend opportunities about your Team Members’ development and career growth when appropriate to your own Manager, their Skip Level Manager (SLM).
• Coordinate development plans for your Team Members at the direction of your own Manager.
• Deselect Team Members from their role if you determine their best efforts cannot meet your expectations.
• Terminate Team Members found guilty of a serious infraction of the company’s values, rules, regulations, or policies.

Senior Leaders

Finally we get to the Senior Leaders or what we call Skip Level Managers. These are people who manage other Managers which means they not only have accountability for the technical work of those Managers, but also the people work, and that includes support of the people those Managers manage (the Skip Level Team).

These executive leaders are also often involved in strategic planning for the entire business, and their vision and guidance is crucial for the success and development of everyone in their orbit.

Accountabilities of All Skip Level Managers

Skip Level Managerial Leadership Practices

Develop Managers

• Evaluate how the Managers on your Team decide pay and recognize their own Team Members’ contributions so that you can ensure they are consistent and fair in comparison with other peer managers across the company.
• Decide transfer or separation of Skip Level Team Members (SLTs) in the event of deselection by their Manager.
• Make the final decision on appeals and disputes between an SLT and their Manager.
• Review potential new hires from Managers on your Team; decide whether the candidates are qualified for the Role; and discuss your decisions with that Hiring Manager before an offer is made.

Develop Skip Level Team

• Meet with SLTs at least annually to provide mentorship and learn about their career goals and plans.
• Evaluate each SLT’s potential for and interest in future career opportunities and decide on developmental and career opportunities when available.

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That’s how you communicate accountability. Start by adding Accountabilities to all your job descriptions in order to define what good judgement looks like so that everyone knows what they can expect from each other.

The next step is to use job descriptions as the template for 1:1 Check-ins and formal Reviews. This keeps conversations productive by focusing attention on the actual work that’s relevant with no need for amateur psychology and/or personality assessments.

It’s the Manageable way.