People dread accountability in their organizations. Why? Because when consequences are levied, they often feel shaming and harsh, despite corporate rhetoric about learning from failures. The reflexive response is to hide mistakes or point fingers elsewhere.
To treat mistakes restoratively, leaders need humility, grace, and patience. They must see any person’s arc of professional success as more than the sum total of any single assignment. Leaders also need the humility to acknowledge their contribution to people’s failures. Did the person have the resources, skills, team support, and realistic timelines to be successful?
2. The right way to hold people accountable (Peter Bregman, 2016)
Peter Bregman describes 5 clear ways to enable accountability in a working environment:
- Clear Expectations
- Clear Capabilities
- Clear Measurement
- Clear Feedback
- Clear Consequences