How to Hold Someone Accountable at Work, Without Micromanaging

I don’t care what stage in your career you are, how many years of experience you have, or what your title is, everyone needs to be held accountable at work. (We’re starting off a little bold today, I know.) Holding someone accountable for their work means that you care about the result that you’re all working toward. It also instills that same value and focus in others. This doesn’t have to mean that you’re chastising them, micromanaging people, or creating any sort of negativity. You simply can hold them to the standard you worked together to set, or they set themselves. In this article we’ll discuss why holding others (and yourself) accountable at work is important. We’ll give some real-world examples of accountability. I’ll also share the four steps to being held accountable, so you aren’t micromanaged.

Why is holding others accountable so important?

Whether you’re holding others accountable or holding yourself accountable, both are critical for results. Without accountability people naturally gravitate towards the bottom. Think about it in simple terms. You ask your child to clean their room. The next day you check if they did it. Because it was still a disaster, you cleaned it for them. Based on this, would they ever clean it themselves? No. They were not accountable for the result in that case. You held yourself accountable so it did get done. Your child only learned that ignoring you gets them time to do what they wanted. Bonus, you stopped talking about the room being messy.

Let’s expand that out to the work world once. Your team is responsible for completing all tasks in the queue. Divided out, if you each responded to 20 inquiries per day it would be complete. You see that Suzie won’t hit her goal so you and another teammate complete 25 to Suzie’s 10. The next day is more of the same. By the next week Suzie is complaining that 5 is too much for her and each person on the team is working overtime to cover the gap. Most of the team is holding themselves accountable for the results so goals are met. No one is holding Suzie accountable so she’s slowly doing less and less. This happens every day. If you don’t believe me, you’re either on a well-functioning team where people do hold themselves accountable, or, it is happening slowly and you don’t see it. Eventually, in my example, the team won’t be able to keep up, overtime will get denied, or the best and most efficient members of the team will leave.

Accountability can be collaborative and supportive

Please don’t take from that example, that Suzie needs to be nagged until she gets her production up. That almost never works. This is where clear and early communication comes into play. Team huddles are great for this. If you’re not familiar a huddle is a short, focused meeting that involves everyone on a given team. Huddles are a fantastic time to talk through team metrics, obstacles, wins, and where we can help lift each other up. In the huddle each team member shares their own metrics. If someone is behind, or better yet anticipating an issue coming up, they can share what is getting in their way. Other team members can then offer assistance based on their own capacity. When done right, the huddle promotes honesty, vulnerability, and support of the team. It also empowers team members with skills like workload planning, critical thinking, and leadership. Using a huddle allows Suzie to remain accountable for her work while also asking for assistance if it’s needed. All intentions are clear and in the open.

Accountability on projects

Things feel clean cut when you’re talking queues and productivity, but accountability is even more important when the projects aren’t as clear. A few years ago I was working with an employee who was leading a project that required she keep executives on track. This is always a very interesting dynamic. The assumption is, based on chain of command, she is to take direction from them and wait on their responses and actions.

The issue was, and typically is, with the focus of the executives being pulled in all directions. They need someone to lead them and hold them accountable on specific tasks. To meet regulations, the project needed to be completed on time. She also knew how busy the executive was. So, she wrote up a long email with all of the needed detail. She sent it to the executive with a read receipt and added a 60-day deadline for response. He did not respond by day 60. She re-sent the email, marked it important, and wrote past due in the subject for clarity. In big bold letters she wrote; Please Respond by End of Day.

I don’t have to tell you that the VP did not appreciate this approach. The employee couldn’t see what she did wrong though. She was clear on what she needed and by when. He certainly saw the email, after all she got the read receipt. She didn’t bother him with follow ups before the due date. The due date was important, and he would miss it if he didn’t respond that day. She checked all the boxes and he was still frustrated. This must be a result of his male ego.

She missed one critical aspect of accountability

I use this example because it seems obvious in this case because of their roles that while she checked all the boxes, this wasn’t done right. The fact is though, it wouldn’t have been right if it was reversed either. I’m sure you can remember an example of your boss or another leader doing something similar to you and hating it. Accountability is a collaborative process. A better way to go about this would have been something like this.

The work and timeline are important, the employee understands this. She sets up a meeting with the executive with a high-level agenda including a note on why this is important. Then, she meets with him and hits the high points including the importance of the timeline. She can ask how best she/the team can support him in completing this project. Then write down clear expectations for him, her, and other members of the team. Then she could ask what would be a good way to keep in touch on progress to ensure we meet the deadline. Once they’re all on the same page, follow through on each agreement. This will create several small successes rather than relying on one big make or break moment.

How to be held accountable

The steps for accountability are simple. As you can see in the example though the missing link is collaboration. Collaboration creates buy-in, agreement, and follow through. It can be done through email on simple or routine things but is better started with a conversation. See the 4 steps below on how to hold others (and yourself) accountable. Just know that with each the element of collaboration is critical to success.

1. Set clear goals and expectations for success
2. Create a communication cadence and medium
3. Establish a true due date
4. Follow through with all of the above

What is the difference between accountability and micromanagement?

Accountability typically refers to the what that needs to get done. Micromanagement dissects the how it is done. As unpopular as it is, sometimes micromanagement is needed. Imagine you hire someone in a role where the process creates the results. This could include customer service or sales scripts, factory work, teaching, etc. I think you get my point, it’s most industries. Right off the bat you will monitor the process they use. You need them to follow the one best way to get the job done. Once they’ve mastered it, go ahead and try to improve it. Until then, use the proven method. For the first 3-6 months, or maybe even a year, you’re learning. Micromanagement is your friend. Same is true if you aren’t getting results. You want your boss in the trenches with you. The goal is to improve the process to achieve the results.

On the other hand, if you are meeting or exceeding expectations, you don’t want the process questioned. Micromanaging employees who hit their goals will only disengage them.

How to deal with micromanagers

We just said sometimes we need micromanagement, right? So first and foremost, you need to determine if you’re in one of those situations. You can do this by asking questions. Can you help me understand the impact of process on the overall result? or My understanding is I’m achieving x, y, and z. How does that compare to the goal? Once you understand if the process is critical to the mission and you’re hitting your goal, you can move back to the accountability process. Take an active part in the collaboration, set expectations professionally, and follow through on the commitment.

To wrap it up, accountability is an amazing skill that we don’t have enough of as a society. Take these 4 steps seriously and you’re lightyears ahead of others competing for the same opportunities. You’re focused on achieving results, which better equips you to set and hold boundaries. Holding yourself accountable at work often coincides with holding others accountable. Let that encourage and challenge you to grow in your accountability and your ability to coach it up.