Empowering Accountability is the secret of long-term success in your business.  While teaching a business class, I used the phrase, “review your performance.”  My definition: to look over actions and results, make adjustments, and improve future performance.  However, the phrase “review your performance” sounds suspiciously close to the corporate term, “performance review.”  The class demonstrated group anxiety.  Why does the term “performance review” cause such fear?

The type of performance review that creates a negative reaction is “oppressive accountability.”  The word, “oppressive,” means to dominate harshly or impose severe, insensitive control.  This is a highly stressful approach to accountability that results in excessive worry and burdensome pressure.  If you use oppressive accountability you will guarantee that team members will look for ways to duck the process, defend themselves, and deny the facts.

The positive option is “empowering accountability.”  The goal is to improve competence and confidence by improving action plans, addressing problems, overcoming obstacles, and making better decisions.  Team members work smarter and achieve better results.  When people receive empowering accountability they are far more likely to communicate with integrity, seize practical insights, and improve performance.

There are four principles that support empowering accountability:

1. An Empowering Purpose

There is a simple way to think about accountability.  Divide it into two words:   ACCOUNT  ABILITY. You must have something to count.  This includes actions and results.  You need to know the job is being completed.  You also want to make sure that each staff member is improving their ability by correcting errors, adjusting plans, and solving problems.

• Your Purpose
• to make certain each staff member is getting the job done and getting better at getting the job done.
  
• Your Goals
• to improve competence
• to increase confidence in each member of the team
  
• Your Measure of Success
• To what degree does each team member demonstrate:
  
• A sense of personal ability - "I'm good at what I do."
  
• A sense of personal choice - "I know what to do next."
• A sense of personal control - "I'm in control of the situation."
• A sense of personal value - "I'm doing something worthwhile."
   
  
2. A Professional Relationship
   Build a relationship of mutual trust and professional respect. The difference between oppressive and empowering accountability is grounded in the relationship you cultivate with your team members.  Lawrence Landahl conducted a landmark experiment more than fifty years ago.  He asked both managers and employees to rank intangible rewards in the order of their importance.  The employees ranked the three most important intangible rewards in their work as 1) feeling appreciated, 2) being informed and 3) being listened to.  Surprisingly, the managers placed the same three items at the bottom of their lists.  What employees considered of greatest importance, managers thought of as least important to their employees.
   
   You build mutual trust and respect when you invest time and energy in:
   
• Appreciating your team
• Keeping them informed
• Listening to their successes, challenges, and concerns
  
  
3. A Regular Progress Meeting
   Schedule a One-to-One meeting with each team member, each week. 
   The potential of this simple meeting was demonstrated in a study of managers.  Managers consistently held weekly meetings with each team member as a means of empowering accountability.  The results were clear.  In the first few weeks, performance went from low to high.  As the weekly meetings continued, performance remained high for a year and then improved again.  It works. 
   
   
4. A Focused Agenda
   At your meeting, do three things:
   
   • receive their progress report
   • celebrate wins
   • help them solve their problems. 
   
   Close the meeting by focusing on action steps.  Ask, “What are you going to do next?”  Write it down!  This signals the team member that what they say matters to you, and they know you will be asking them about it at the next meeting.  Conclude by expressing your appreciation for the team member’s contribution to the business.