Accountability gaps destroy trust
Not having a clear plan for how teams will be accountable to organizational decisions destroys trust.
As I reflect on 10 years in business, I remember setting up my systems. I worked with a project manager to help me create project timelines in ClickUp, the tool we were using at the time. I put together a list of tasks by project. After receiving the list, she messaged me asking for a call.
Me: What questions do you have about the list?
Her: Where are the deadlines?
Me: Huh? Partners should just work their way down the list.
Her: Long sigh
Her: A list of tasks without deadlines is really a just list of suggestions.
I have never forgotten that conversation. Deadlines create the context for accountability. Agreeing to a deadline is communicating how you plan to manage the time associated with that task. It’s incredibly important.
Last week, I continued the Lessons Learned series with Lesson #2 — the two decision-making pressures that every leader faces. This week, is about Lesson #3: Plan for accountability with clarity and address gaps in expectations and behavior quickly when they occur.
Plan for accountablity
In general, I find accountability stumps people. I have managed and been apart of many projects throughout my career. A lack of accountability will ruin the best laid project plan.
Before I dig into it, let me be clear about terms. When I use the term accountability, I mean how someone manages responsibility. Leaders often treat accountability as if it's organic. But it isn’t. Accountability needs a plan.
Thinking it will appear on its own plants the seeds for tension within the team later on. How? Because we manage our responsibilities differently. Some of us are very detail- and deadline-oriented. Others are not. Because of these differences, your team needs a shared understanding of how people will handle their responsibilities. Invariably, the work may get done but it's how it gets done. Remember, equity always lives in how your work happens.
Here’s an example.
A government affairs team is tasked with putting together a grant proposal to fund a major area of work. It requires input from each person on the team. The Director set a deadline. Each team member has 1 week to complete their part of the proposal. One team member is one day late. The late submission doesn’t impact the grant submission because the Director built in a generous timeline. But it forces the Director to work late to pull all the pieces together and move the draft along in the organization’s internal process. It also creates unfairness for others on the team who finished their parts on time. I find that leaders get stuck when deadlines and processes are clearly communicated but not followed.
How would you handle this situation?
Let's revisit my definition of accountability—how one manages responsibility. Situations like these can be devastating for teams because they destroy trust. You need trust to build equitable practices. I have seen this in my own work. Not doing what you’ve committed to doing or missing deadlines undermines trust. It doesn’t take long to happen. Usually, all it takes is one time to start down that path.
It gets dicey for leaders who fear or dislike conflict. Confront these behaviors as soon as they happen, because they will never get better on their own. A team member who isn’t clear about how they handle their responsibilities will undermine everyone's morale. It’s incredibly damaging.
Just like decision-making, project management frameworks wil not work in a team where members can’t be accountable to timelines, deadlines, and task delegation. And they also don’t work when a leader isn’t emotionally equipped to impose consequences. Sometimes leadership coaching is a useful support. Other times, talk therapy is needed.
So, lesson #3 is to plan for accountability with clarity and address gaps in expectations and behavior quickly when they occur. Next week, I am going to share lessons learned about conflict and navigating hard conversations.
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