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Hello, and welcome back.

In previous lessons we were really talking about what drives performance and

the framework we create as managers that supports high performance.

As we move forward, we're going to now talk about diagnosing performance gaps.

Really identifying why people are not performing in their positions and

what you, as a manager and coach, can do about that.

In this segment, we're going to discuss and define accountability and

explain what it is so important for you as a manager and

coach and ultimately, how accountability drives performance.

So first, let's talk a little bit about accountability in general.

We hear this word used especially here in the US we use it a lot.

People need to be accountable, people need to be held accountable,

you need to hold your people accountable for their work.

So we use the word a lot, and what we've certainly seen is that the word

itself has almost started to have kind of a negative connotation to it, right?

It typically is a precursor, so if you say I'm going to hold someone accountable,

it could be the precursor to a performance conversation, that they're not doing well.

And the truth is accountability is not a negative.

It just is a word.

And just for interest's sake, I wanted to see sort of what does the word mean?

So I broke it out.

So if you look at the word account.

Account, the definition of that is a description of facts,

conditions, or events.

The word able is defined as marked by intelligence,

knowledge, skill, or competence.

And so to me, when I think about the word accountability,

this is a reflection on how well am I,

as a leader able to account for my employees ability, right?

Accountability to me is how well do we account for

the abilities of our employees.

So if you think about accountability as simply our ability to account for

their ability.

[LAUGH] We're not talking about good, bad, or indifferent.

We're just talking about can we account for their ability in the position.

And that's our responsibility as a manager because we know

that our employees are the resources.

These are the ways, our employees are the ways and

methods that we have to help the organization achieve its goals.

And when we really think about it that simply, if as a manager

my responsibility then is to look at these resources and

be able to account for their ability to execute and

do the work that's necessary to help the organization achieve its goals, right?

So that's what accountability means.

It isn't writing people up.

It isn't putting people on a performance plan, and it isn't firing people.

It can be, but it isn't just that, right?

And so that's why I like to talk about accountability as sort of a range, or

a scale.

With on one far end,

you have people who are in disciplinary action and who get fired.

And on the other end of the scale, you have recognition and

reward and highlighting top performers, right.

And then in between that we have performance improvement.

We have coaching and feedback.

Conversations.

We have a lot of range within that accountability scale,

of what the conversations look like as it relates to helping people perform.

But they aren't just about people getting terminated.

So I think that's extremely important for

us as we go into this discussion about accountability.

That we've really, really clarified what accountability means and how it applies as

a manager because as a manager your job isn't to figure out who to fire.

It's how do I help every single person on my team develop their ability.

That's my job.

Right? We've already talked about that not every

employee will come to you with all the skills they need to be successful.

And in most cases we have to help people develop.

And so how well can I account for

their ability helps me know how to continue to help them get better.

That's really all it means.

So as we go into our next discussions, I want to make sure that that definition of

accountability is really clear because it eliminates the rest of the work.

And in our next segment, we're going to talk about

why the conversations around accountability can be so difficult.

And not just the negative ones, not just the ones about performance improvement.

Sometimes people don't like to talk about really great performance, so

we're going to talk about that in our next segment.

Accountability Defined

Setting Expectations & Assessing Performance Issues

Meet the Instructors