How can you hold team members accountable without micromanaging?

"Those are your goals for me." Hearing those words led me to realize that he was correct. I handed him our organization's goals for his work. The result? He had no ownership in the goals, even though they were SMART goals. Since that time, I allow those I lead to have as much input into writing their own SMART goals. When they send me the first draft, I work with them to make sure the organization's goals are met within each person's goals. By doing so, every follower has a high level of ownership in their goals. When we check in on goal progress, the accountability is not merely related to the organization's goals, but to the goals each employee co-developed - the goals in which they all have ownership. My role is to help them succeed.

There is a useful framework (“accountability dial.” - J Raymond ) to help managers hold their reports accountable. It has 5 levels of accountability that can be used, based on severity of the issue. are not a linear process-For serious issues, you may jump directly to Conversation or Boundary. The levels are : The Mention ( say what you see, check if help is needed), The Invitation (an informal chat when you help someone build more awareness of impact of an issue/act), The Conversation ( specific observations in a “we need to talk” tone), The Boundary ( lay out consequences), The Limit (‘1 last chance to get better’) From experience, I can suggest that this framework offers practical tips to start a dialogue to hold people accountable.

As a leader one needs to build a work culture of trust, delegation and effective communication. Giving responsibility also means that the team members are accountable for their actions. This itself eliminates the scope of micromanaging. When processes are in place with metrices measuring the performances (KPIs etc), accountability becomes easy without the need for doing micromanagement.

One thing that is essential for this process is the clear communication of organizational and departmental goals. Clear communication helps many employees to align their own goals with the department and larger organization's goals. If goals have been agreed to and signed off on and larger organizational goals change that impact your role and the roles of your team members, have a conversation to determine how this will affect goals and revise goals if necessary. Also, agree on how you will follow up and what you need as a leader. What kind of updates do you need and how often?

The way I have been coaching teams is to make sure you have clear Sprint Goals (Team Defined) that Align to a Product Goal (Product Owner Defines) for the planning cycle they are working in. This helps them focus on what they need to be working on at planning events and any other Scrum events they hold (stand-ups, Retrospectives, Refinement sessions, etc.). It also helps them see how their work contributes to the overall "Big Picture" of what is being delivered to our customers. Of course, this also means that your Product Goal aligns to you companies strategic goals around that product your delivering to your customers.

Direct reports need to be guided regarding importance, goals, values. Those are the boundaries of the playing field and determines their positions. The single activities of the required process steps are determined by them. Of course, employees need to learn, be trained and redirected whenever necessary. Praise employees in the same way as your direct reports when those do something good. I case you observe a direct report doing something not right. Listen first. Tell him but serve him to endavour a better way for future doing. Last but not least always appretiate employees when providing feedback.

Clarity and consistency around expectations is important. For example, do you need/want a weekly update? What details are you looking for? Which are not important? Also, what each individual team member will need from you will vary; some will benefit from more reminders/direction while others will let you know when there's an issue. And, of course, knowing this will come in time. Address things as they come up. Give employees the opportunity to respond and to make changes.

1st Part: This goes hand in hand with teams creating good working agreements, Definition of Ready, Definition of Done and communicating that to the Product Owners and other Stakeholders that request work. If there is a clear understanding at the beginning then expectations are set from the start. Then, utilizing tools like BDD and TDD the team has a high level acceptance criteria that tells them exactly what needs to be delivered so there are no surprises at the system/solution demos. Making sure teams have system demos often also ensures that the teams are building the right thing. Deliver the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to customers and iterate on top of it based on the feedback loops you put in place with the customers!!!

Delegation done incorrectly can do more harm than good. True delegation requires tat you are willing to accept the responsibility for the failures of the team, but are willing to give credit for their successes. Such a mindset will enable people to take more risks and ownerships. This is what we teach in our Freedom Ladder concept. The leader can push their team members down the ladder by very subtle hints. Take a scenario where the team member comes and reports to you about a problem that occurred and the initiative she took to resolve it. You congratulate her on solving the problem, but add innocently, "by the way, next time , please do check with me before you take such major decisions". You have just destroyed all her initiative spirit.

A lot of companies now talk about empowering teams to make decisions to build the right thing and to self organize. Awesome!!! Where they fail is then saying....here is what your team looks like and your role, and here is what you work on, and make sure you tell us every day what you are working on so we make sure you are doing your job. Servant Leaders need to remember we are leaders that serve. So we need to make sure people are actually enabled to make the decisions and then they are actually empowering them to do the right thing. The team is celebrated when they succeed and, as a leader who serves, you own when they fail, but all of you, as a team, learn from that failure and move on.

I would like to add. You need to accept that you are Accountable for the failures of a Team but not responsible. Thats a big difference!

My perspective regarding an impactful servant leadership is about more than just achieving results. It's also about helping team members grow and develop. Just like a sailing yacht, a team can only reach its destination if it's able to navigate the challenges along the way. Embrace these challenges as opportunities for learning and growth, and you'll set your team up for success. Delegating authority is like letting the sails catch the wind, propelling your team forward. Yet, this doesn't entail abdicating your role. Just as a sailor monitors the yacht's course, you too must monitor your team's progress. Practice vigilant monitoring. Regularly check in with your team, inquire about their journey, and assess their achievements.

Monitoring instead of micromanaging shows your employee that you trust them. When we know we're valued and trusted, we want to do a better job. But trust also has to be gained, so getting from micromanaging to monitoring might be a little journey.

This is what it all boils down to. Culture. A culture of accountability is developed through effective empowerment. We refer to this as the principle of "Inverted Pyramid". After setting the vision and direction for the team, the leader needs to step down and empower the team members to be responsible for implementation, while being available to serve them if they have a need. Micromanagement happens when the leader continues to stay at the top and encourages a culture where accountability flows only upwards. Inverting the pyramid requires enabling the team members to be able to take up higher responsibilities. This happens when you commit to their growth and invest in their holistic development as against only on monetizable skills.

In my experience, creating a culture of accountability begins with self. When others see that leaders hold themselves to the same level of accountability and transparency that they expect of others, it encourages them to do the same. Accountability begins with creating transparency and trust. Team members who feel truly safe and trust that failures are opportunities to grow rather than be punished are much more likely to accept accountability. Humble leaders who are not afraid to admit their own challenges foster a natural culture of accountability in others.

When I consider what drives me to be accountable, I am able to identify my motivation. Seeing others being accountable is the first step. Those who ask me to be accountable should serve as role models and guides. In order to make a valuable contribution, I must fully understand what I can do with my efforts. Providing people with a sense of purpose and what they can contribute through their role, and showing them how to do it every day, is one of the most important components of successful leadership.

Creating a culture of accountability leads to driving a high performance culture, thereby leading to better productivity & business growth.

This is so important for leaders to embrace and put into practice. Trust but Verify. I trust you to do your jobs and deliver what is being asked because, hopefully, we have set you up for success, but I will Verify the work through agreed upon metrics, OKR's and demos as well as customer feedback of your delivery. If we all know and agree, as a team from the beginning, on what will be measured than I think people understand what they need to do, when they need to do it by and why we are doing it. Purpose, recognition and support are what drives great teams and the leaders that define that with their teams will be more successful. The expectation should also be set, for your teams, to hold you accountable as well as their leader!!

Build a culture and leadership style that champions appreciation for creativity, initiative and innovation. People love to create and build better than what was. It's a self-sustaining model of progress and accountability, because people are excited to share their achievements. Then conversations become enquiry as to how they did that, rather than have they done what they are supposed to be doing. Then coach them on how you can support them to do more of the same. KAIZEN, the Japanese model of constant improvement is the perfect way to create the accountability model that people enjoy! Engaging as a leader should be fun, interesting and motivating. Nobody enjoys a parental style of managing. It stifles creativity and the human spirit.