What is the key to successfully holding people accountable?
Ask their permission to do so! Holding someone accountable for something they have not agreed and committed to be responsible for is like asking a room full of young children, “Who left the ice tray empty?” and receiving nothing but blank stares in return. Without guidance from you regarding expectations and without their permission and an acknowledgment of responsibility on an issue, you are likely to receive nothing but blank stares, hand tossing, and finger pointing when it comes to dishing out lumps. It’s only when people clearly understand and accept that they are accountable for their actions around those issues that you have together planned out, can you see the possibilities for a better future. Owning accountability causes us to consider the potential consequences of our actions before we take them; it allows us to spend less time backtracking and making excuses for what we did or did not do, and it leaves little room for being stopped around a certain issue or assigned task.
