12 Universal Skills by Scheele Peter & Bech-Andersen Nina

Author:Scheele, Peter & Bech-Andersen, Nina
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Peter Scheele
Published: 2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Hold Each Other Accountable

In a team, people need to hold each other accountable when they fail to do what they committed to, make mistakes (and don’t notice themselves), are unresponsive, don’t respect deadlines, or deliver lower performance than agreed. Holding others accountable is not just the job of managers; instead, in effective teams, people hold each other accountable. That’s also respectful because it shows that you expect good performance from your teammates, that they live up to their commitments.

While this sounds easy, people often find it uncomfortable to do. Many would rather tolerate a colleague’s inferior performance than face the discomfort of holding him or her accountable. They fear that their relationship could be affected; they fear that others may react negatively with defensiveness or anger. Or embarrassment or guilt. All feelings that we don’t want to induce in others. That’s why it’s tempting to avoid or procrastinate holding others accountable.

However, not holding others accountable is not in the team’s best interest. It severely weakens the team’s effectiveness if delays, substandard performance, or running from commitments become normal and acceptable. More than that, team members may start lowering their own standards just because others are doing it: “If they don’t do it, then I don’t have to do it!” That’s a downward spiral, which starts when people begin to avoid holding each other accountable.

But then, how do you hold others accountable? First, don’t delay it; that just makes it more awkward and may escalate the consequences. Then, it isn’t much different from giving feedback: you want to—respectfully—be straightforward and specific about the problem: “Jimena, please comply with the document standard we all agreed to. I noticed that X . . .” or “Frank, the deadline for your input was yesterday, but I haven’t received it yet. I really need it now. Can you please send it today?” These examples are straightforward and to the point while also being respectful.

Note also that when you follow up on people, you shouldn’t chase them in multiple communication channels at the same time. For example, you don’t want to simultaneously send them chats, text messages, and emails about the same topic. That’s over the top. It’s better to pick a channel and wait for the answer in that one channel. Then, when you’ve waited a reasonable amount of time, you can follow up—but still in that same channel. You should only reach out in multiple channels if something is genuinely urgent and warrants an immediate response.

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