Creating a Culture of Accountability for Success

Can accountability truly exist without corrective action, especially in the high-stakes world of leadership in the construction industry? Join me as we unpack the often-blurred lines between these two crucial concepts. You'll discover why leaders must secure commitments with clear communication while employees need to establish and understand expectations. This episode promises to shift your perspective on how accountability is built through commitments from both sides and why corrective actions like performance management should be distinct strategies leaders employ to address team dynamics and non-compliance.

Ever thought admitting a mistake was the same as being accountable? Think again. We unravel the myth that owning up to errors is enough, sharing practical strategies to build real accountability through personal responsibility. Learn why proposing realistic alternatives when things go awry is essential, and why being a "bobblehead" who agrees without understanding can derail true team effectiveness. This conversation is all about challenging assumptions, asking the right questions, and making commitments with genuine clarity—laying the groundwork for a culture of accountability that drives success.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Accountability seems to be like this super, super
popular thing people like totalk about or even request and
complain about, but I think theygot it twisted.
I think there's a distinctdifference between
accountability and correctiveaction.
So if you're in like any kindof leadership or managerial role
, stick around, because I'd loveto get your thoughts on whether

(00:22):
you agree or you think I'm justtwisting things up and making
them more complicated than theyneed to be.
So I've worked with a ton ofteams all across the United
States all, of course, inconstruction and I've heard many
, many times what we have is anaccountability problem, and when

(00:43):
I hear that, what I hear is aconfession.
I hear somebody confessing thatthey are not accountable.
I don't think that's what theymean, like for real.
For real, I really, reallythink they're asking for
something else, and thatsomething else is is they're
looking for corrective action tobe taken on somebody that's not

(01:04):
fulfilling the expectations orthat's not performing as they
should be.
And I also got to say like theunaccountable have no room to be
screaming and hollering foraccountability.
If you agree, drop me somestars down there in the comments
and let's talk aboutaccountability.
Accountability is about beingaccountable.

(01:27):
I know, like, how do you definea word?
If you just repeat the word, Iget it.
So then what does beingaccountable mean?
When I'm accountable, I am, andalways and only will ever, be
accountable to the commitments Imake.
So if you sign me up forsomething or you volunteer me

(01:49):
for something and I don't followthrough and I kind of half-ass
it, you're probably going to bedisappointed and irritated.
But you're not.
There's no accountability.
Like I am not accountable tothat.
I did not volunteer, I did notcommit to the thing.
Am not accountable to that.
I did not volunteer, I did notcommit to the thing.
But when I do make a commitment, I am accountable, right.

(02:09):
And so when I say I'm going todo something, it is up to me to
actually deliver and followthrough and execute on the
commitment I made.
And even better, like if mymanager or my boss or whoever
actually has a conversation.
So let's go back to the otherexample of being volunteered or
signed up for something.
If somebody comes up to me andsays, hey, I signed you up for

(02:31):
this thing, like whoop-de-doo,I'll just cram that into my
schedule no accountability.
But if somebody comes up to meand says, hey, you said that you
wanted to be working on thisthing, or we're trying to build
our strength in this area and Iwant you to go to this class.
That opens the door for me torespond and ask questions and

(02:53):
get clear or better understand,like, what are we talking about
here, what's the purpose behindthis thing?
And then the likelihood of meactually committing goes way,
way up.
So part of accountability isabsolutely on the boss or the
manager that really is not doinga good job of securing
commitments.

(03:13):
They're barking out orders andhave these unwritten, unspoken
expectations and that absolutelycreates, contributes to like a
low accountability environmentbecause nobody committed and so
the key is securing a commitment.
If you're in like the manager,leader, boss role, you got to

(03:34):
secure commitments.
Sure, I know we're the boss andpeople need to do what they're
supposed to do was in the jobdescription.
You can keep playing that songand let me know how it goes,
because I bet it ain't workingout so good, but having that
couple of minutes to have aconversation, have a dialogue
and secure a commitment.
Or if you're not there yet andyou still have all these

(03:55):
unspoken expectations in yourhead and then you just get
really frustrated because peopledon't meet them and they don't
really understand theexpectation until you're pissed.
Well, this accountability thingis largely on your part.
Let's flip it to the other sideNow.
We're not the boss, right,we're the work.
We're not the person withauthority and responsibility,
like if you're an OG baller.

(04:15):
You don't hide in the grayspace, like when some people say
something, make a statement andI kind of can infer that
they're, they have a request oran ask or they want a commitment
from me.
I don't get to hide and say,well, they never asked for a
commitment, right.
Like that's low integrity.
Be a baller and step up and sayit sounds like you want me to

(04:36):
do X, y or Z.
It sounds like this is theaction or commitment you want me
to make, and then go anotherstep and say I can do it in this
timeframe or under theseconditions.
Now there's a commitment.
And so on both sides of thisaccountability thing, whether
you're the boss and you have anissue with the amount of

(04:58):
accountability, you need tosecure commitments.
If you're not the boss, you'relike the rest of us.
You don't get to hide in thelike in the dark spaces where
the leader may not be reallygood at securing commitments.
Now let's get back to this likecorrective action, corrective
measures thing, which I thinkmost people really want, but

(05:19):
they're not saying that Right.
They want somebody to getwritten up, they want somebody
to get terminated, they want tomake sure that people that are
like the scrubs aren't gettingpromoted and aren't getting
raises, like that's really what.
For me, all of that falls intocorrective measures.
That's performance management.
That's not accountability.
We talked about whataccountability is and so give

(05:41):
you an example I'm the boss.
When I'm accountable to mycommitments as being the
supervisor, as being the managerof the group, part of that
commitment is to follow throughon performance management, is to
follow through on punitive andcorrective measures for people
that are non-compliant and thatare dragging the team down.

(06:02):
That doesn't mean that I likeit.
It's not fun to write people up.
It's not fun to suspend themand terminate them.
That's not a fun thing to do.
I promise I've done a bunch ofthem, but as an accountable
person, I made a commitment todo the job.
The job has these requirements,and so I'm going to be

(06:23):
accountable to the commitment Imade and I'm going to follow
through on the performancemanagement issues on the
punitive side, cause.
No one complains aboutaccountability when everybody's
getting bonuses and raises andpromotions and like.
That word never comes up.
It's only when people aren'tgetting those things, when times
are hard and when performanceof the group is nowhere near

(06:44):
where it needs to be.
And so again back to beingaccountable.
I am accountable to thecommitments I make.
You cannot have accountabilityif you don't have people who are
accountable.
Draw me a hell yeah in thecomments if you agree, like for
real.
Now I'm going to give you thecheat code, and it's going to be

(07:05):
so simple.
I'm going to frustrate you, buthere's the cheat code.
If you want accountability, ifyou want to improve
accountability in your team, inyour home, in your department,
in your business, be accountable.
It's that easy.
Now I want to be extra, extraclear.

(07:27):
It isn't just about saying yesand doing the things.
It's also about owning up whenthings don't go right, owning up
when you've overcommitted,coming back to the table and
saying hey, jess, I know I saidI was going to get this thing
done by Friday, but X, y, z,whatever, I'm not going to be
able to, I can get you half ofit by Friday.

(07:48):
I can get you the rest by nextWednesday Doesn't mean I'm going
to be happy about it, but Iknow I can trust you to be
accountable.
Now there's a little slipperyslope here, because I've come
across some people that theythink by falling on the sword
that they're being accountable.
By saying, yep, I screwed up,yep, I failed, yep, I dropped

(08:10):
the ball, they think thatthey're being accountable.
But it's kind of like, if it'slike, yes, if yes, you're
accountable when you own up andfall on the sword, if you
actually take steps to correctit and keep that from happening
again, that might be maybe,that's maybe.
We should dive deeper into that.

(08:30):
Let me know in the comments ifyou want a video on that issue.
But a bunch of people I knowthey're like well, I'm
accountable, I take ownership,and I fell on the sword and I
said, ok, but what did you dodifferently?
Well, I'm accountable, I takeownership, and I fell on the
sword and I said, okay, but whatdid you do differently?
Huh, it's like yeah, what didyou do differently?
Like, sure, you dropped theball, you weren't able to
perform or deliver within thecommitment, the original
commitment, but what changeshave you made to your operation,

(08:52):
to your thinking, to yourhabits, so that you can deliver
on the next round, because sofar I haven't seen any change in
your behavior.
So there, it's very unlikelythat you're actually going to
deliver next time.
Again, I don't want to get toofar off track, because that's a.
That's a whole other deal,right?
People that are posturing andbeating their chest and like

(09:12):
they know how to play the game,they know the words to say, but
they're actually not a frickingplayer.
And the last thing that you cando to like be more accountable
as an individual is don't be abobblehead.
If you disagree with something,say you disagree.
If you don't understand thedamn thing, say you don't
understand being a bobblehead,nodding your head, saying yes,

(09:35):
yes, yes, yes, yes, even thoughyou're like I have no idea how
the hell to do that thing orthis sounds stupid, it ain't
going to work, it feels like awaste of time.
If all of that's going in yourhead and your head is bobbing,
you're a bobblehead.
So don't be a bobblehead.
Ask the question, challenge,push back to get clear on what
the thing is before you make thecommitment, because once you

(09:56):
make the commitment, baby, nowyou're committed, now you're
accountable.