How to become the most accountable leader you know
Accountable leaders take full responsibility for their decisions. This is why, no matter what leadership position you are in within your company, community, or family, everything boils down to getting maximum clarity on what you are deciding, and then standing behind those decisions no matter what.
If I was to summarize the basis of all accountability for leaders in one word it would be this: clarity. Too often I encounter leaders who are unclear themselves, give unclear instructions, and lead confused and overwhelmed teams. When you become clear on what you decide, you know what you want and you know that you stand behind it 100%.
As an accountable leader you provide clarity on what I call WHW:
• What you want
• How the team can achieve what you want
• What is in it for everyone (potential gains on individual and team levels)
As an example, let’s apply this both at home with your family and at work with your team. You’ll see that the same principles apply. This is great because when you discover things that work, you can apply them in every aspect of your life, both at work and home, and enjoy the benefits on all fronts of your life.
At home:
• What you want: more help around the house
• How the team (your family) can achieve what you want: follow daily list of chores that delegate work to everybody
• What is in it for everyone: together we can have a fed dog, a clean kitchen, and happy parents who are not stressed out (sounds like a pretty big gain to me).
At work:
• What you want: project done by Monday for the client
• How the team can achieve what you want: clear guidelines for the team for step-by-step project completion, stating who is responsible for what and by when
• What is in it for everyone (potential gains on individual and team levels): client retains your services, potential bonus, praise and recognition from leader to team, team is winning at target goals
2 Second Decisions make you the most accountable leader you know because you gain the clarity you need. You know what you want, and you know that you are honing in on your 9s and 10s. You stand behind them with confidence, and communicate clearly with your team what matters the most and what you want from them.
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