Measuring Success in Leadership (Part 3) Personal Accountability

Written by: Ralph Twombly

Published: January 2011

Personal Accountability

L and M Observation Process

Last month we began the journey of measuring success in leadership by introducing you to the second of eight sections; Results and Priority Setting. If you missed November's article on Responsiveness and Communications or December's article on Results and Priority Setting, you can click on the links to catch up. For January we move to the third of eight sections in the pie above and take a look at Personal Accountability.

Personal Accountability is defined by successful leaders as “holding self responsible for the results of the organization in a way that invites ownership. Translating that accountability into pride and making decisions that serve the best and greater interest of your organization.”

The following is the model for the skills and behaviors matrix of Personal Accountability.

Skills and Behaviors Matrix

Forced Rate:	Skill	Behavior	Forced Rate:
	Decision making	Rewarding results
	Assigning responsibility	Taking personal ownership for mistakes
	Creating attainable goals	Knowing when to speak up and when to sit down
	Implementing strategies for involvement	Leading by example
	Communicating accountability	Being loyal and inspiring loyalty

As in last month's article and the month before, use the scale of 1 being low and 5 being high, have some fun and give yourself a 1-5 rating for each skill in the left hand column and rate yourself for each behavior in the right hand column. If you need some help, ask others to provide some feedback. Below are the definitions for each section of the skills and behaviors matrix.

Personal Accountability Skills Defined

Decision making: Decisions can be made in three ways: In a directive, consultative, or collaborative way. All ways are effective if used at the appropriate time with the right audience. Directive decision making is quick and ownership for the decision falls on the leader exclusively and should be a used when time is short, knowledge is limited and when you absolutely need to act. When time, knowledge and your goals as a manager change, so should your decisions. Using this skills of good decision making is critical for the manager's and group's success.

Assigning responsibility: The old saying “everyone's job is no one's job” is pretty accurate. Managers who become good at identifying the need for responsible people and creating a process so responsible people succeed hit their goals every time. The detail of setting up deadlines, assigning responsibility, and supporting the people with good follow-up is critical.

Creating attainable goals: We live in a world of instant gratification and to that end many times we expect that we can get everything “now.” A systematic, measured approach that is broken into small attainable goals is the hallmark of good leadership. Incremental process is sustainable progress and the strong leaders/managers become the master at attainable goals.

Implementing strategies for involvement: As strong leaders/managers bring action to the plans that they make, they understand that action is accomplished through the involvement of others. If you include others in the plan, they feel ownership and will complete strategies more often. This involvement process is planned and executed as part of the preliminary process.

Communicating accountability: Creating crystal clear accountabilities are not only important for success, but requires a good process. Putting names to timelines, numeric expectations and tasks to be done is part of good leadership. Strong managers and leaders become better at this process as time passes and adopt systems that can and do aid in the communicating and transfer of ownership.

Personal Accountability Behaviors Defined

Rewarding results: People do things right most of the time. Additionally, as part of the human condition we enjoy hearing about our successes. Unfortunately, our history as leaders/managers is to catch the error or failure first and acknowledge the success as the secondary thought. The manager/leader who is executing well in this category is looking for people “to do it right.” They are spending time thanking, acknowledging others and presenting success at least half the time.

Taking personal ownership for mistakes: Leaders take all the blame when things go wrong, give away all the credit when they go right and each and every day they “own” everything they touch. From picking up sticks in the parking lot to being first in line when something difficult comes along, leaders/managers who really understand the “craft” take ownership. This is a 24/7/365 job.

Knowing when to speak up and when to sit down: More people have perished due to lack of restraint than have ever flourished because they stood their ground. Reading others, knowing by observation and feeling the appropriate moment to stand up and bring a difficult issue forward is critical in successful careers. Harder for many leaders is to know when to follow and let a better idea win. If hearing your own voice and ideas are more important than listening to another person's views, trouble cannot be far away.

Leading by example: In the grocery store, at the mall, when the barbeque is on, people will be watching. We hold leaders in high regard and follow their example more than most know. Being a leader means identifying, being in charge of and choosing example day in and out. Your language, approach, beliefs, and behavior are under the microscope all the time. Strong leaders/managers are consistently good models.

Being loyal and inspiring loyalty: Loyalty counts. Choosing to be loyal will attract people who are loyal and loyalty is more important than skills and more important than production. Loyal people will do the “right thing.” They will believe in you and do things that are extraordinary. Leaders/managers who feel they cannot be loyal to their organizations and/or superiors need to change what they do, where they do it or who they do it for. It can be the “undoing” of an otherwise good leader.

Based on how you did when you self-rated in the categories above, you can start a plan for growth that may help you become better at Personal Accountability. Next month we take a look at the Growth and Development of People.

As always, give me some feedback. Next month, I will be back to break down more skills and behaviors for you. Please have a Happy New Year!!!!

Best to all,

Ralph Twombly

In the 20 years since starting Priority Learning, Ralph has facilitated countless learning experiences and has conducted training for thousands of managers and leaders. With over 30 years of leadership development and organizational development background and work, Ralph continues to build relationships with client companies all over the U.S.