Using Your Memory to Hold People Accountable

How about a trick to hold more people accountable?

One of the top 3 questions I get is how to hold people accountable. Allow me to share an easy, somewhat nonintuitive, totally non-confrontational accountability technique.

Holding people accountable is tricking because a lot of folks are aggressive or hostile in doing so. We learn from watching others, we think we need to be negative, but we don’t want to be.

Well, you don’t have to be combative.

One thing to keep in mind, first, is that you will have to use that memory of yours. (Boost your memory, boost your leadership.)

Here is the acceptability hack: use reminders. Don’t just use any reminders, use gentle reminders. (See what I did there? I use the word ‘reminder’ a bunch to remind you to use reminders.)

When you lead a team, you have people that need to do stuff by a certain time, and you want to hold them accountable to that. So…

1) Remember WHO is doing WHAT by WHEN

2) Understand the time gap between now and the due date

3) Pick out 2-3 times prior to that due date to remind the person of their deliverable

4) Remember to remind the person of their obligation

5) Remind them in a gentle and casual manner

For example, if you need something by Friday, remind the person Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, say something like “how is that (deliverable) coming along?” And on Thursday, say something like “is that (deliverable) going to be on time for tomorrow?”

The best way to remind the person is if you see them in the break room or if you bump into them in the hall. You can even just-so-happen to walk past their desk on the way back from a meeting. Make the occurrence casual to make the question feel a bit easier on the person.

Notice, these are softer questions. “How is this coming along” opens up the person to ask for help or let you know if they are struggling. “Is this going to be on time” allows you to share the effect if it isn’t, so the person can take it more seriously.

Some of you might be thinking this is too obvious or easy, but in all my years of leading people, very few actually do this. I stopped counting all the teammates who tried to blame a delay on someone else, only to tell me they expected them to deliver on the due date, but they never reminded that person even once. Inconceivable!

Alright, your turn. Review the 5 step process above, set it to memory, and practice, practice, practice.

This will make holding people accountable a lot easier for you. Not only will people deliver better and on time, but it should make you feel better about asking. No more confrontation or hostility.

After a while, teammates will start to get your update ready. They will see you heading toward their desk and prepare for your questions. Or, they will walk into the break room, see you pouring a cup of coffee, and spin right back around and come back later when you are not there! (Don’t let them get away; get that update.)