Written by: Marguerite Thibodeaux, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Your team missed a deadline. You assemble your team and ask, “What happened? We missed this deadline. How are we going to deliver this now and make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future?”
A teammate immediately jumps in. “John said the client didn’t need this until next week. What do you mean we missed a deadline?” You’re surprised to hear this and ask John, “Why would you say that?”It only goes downhill from there. Pointing fingers in hard situations are natural in most team cultures. It’s also a flimsy excuse for feedback and plants seeds of mistrust, undermining the team's future performance.
What is radical accountability?
Radical accountability elevates your leadership. When combined with courage and compassion, accountability becomes something more, ensuring more than just execution. It also ensures trust and inclusion. According to Merriam-Webster, “radical” means “favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions.” Adding “radical” to accountability means doing more than just holding your teammates accountable. Radical accountability means accepting full responsibility for what you think, feel, and do. In other words, radical accountability means you proactively take accountability for your own part in every team situation. Instead of asking John why he would say such a thing, a radically accountable leader might say, “I understand you all look to John for answers when I’m unavailable. John, thanks for trying to lean in when I couldn’t. Some misinformation slipped through the cracks. Let’s look at what happened, as a whole team, so we can figure out how to make sure everyone has the most up-to-date information in the future.”
Why is radical accountability essential to leadership?
Radical accountability drives excellence. Paradoxically, proactively taking accountability for your own part in a team failure holds space for others to admit where they may have gone wrong, too. This shifts the focus from protecting themselves to tackling the issue at hand, opening up dialogue for collaboration to flourish, problems to get fixed faster, and continuous improvement.
How do you practice radical accountability?
One question: What could I have done differently to enable us to meet expectations? It's a two-way street. You need to provide your team with the resources and support to succeed. You also need engagement from your team to inform them how you can most effectively do that for them. Creating that space requires a special kind of vulnerability, and radical accountability. Do you have a teammate who has been constantly missing deadlines and failing to keep up with their tasks? Applying radical accountability means more than just pointing out the obvious; they know they are not meeting expectations. Instead, radical accountability requires digging deeper and being courageous enough to admit that you might also be a part of the problem. Was the timetable realistic? Did you check on them periodically to see if they had the resources needed to meet the deadline? Radical accountability often means realizing your team doesn’t feel safe enough to raise their hand when they need help to meet expectations. As their leader, that's on you. Thankfully, creating that safe space is simple, if not easy. Show compassion by listening, creating space in one-on-ones to make your teammates feel seen and appreciated. Ask how you can help and follow through.In team settings, keep the team focused on people positively (recognition and appreciation) and problems collaboratively (Let’s fix this!). Developing a culture of radical accountability requires a consistent investment in momentsthat matter. Radical accountability can be a game-changer in your team’s performance. Take it one step at a time, one day at a time. With consistency and a sprinkle of courage and compassion, you’ll see that your efforts are worth it. Want help figuring out what radical accountability looks like for you and your team? Click here to snag a free 30-minute complimentary session with the author. Every leader deserves support.
Every leader deserves support.
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Marguerite Thibodeaux, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Marguerite Thibodeaux, an leadership coach and talent management consultant, helps leaders and organizations bring the best out of people with courage, compassion, and clarity. After building development programs and leading a talent transformation at a Fortune 100, she became increasingly aware that not all leaders had access to a Fortune 100 Learning & Development team. To do something about that, she started Magnanimous Leadership, a leadership coaching and consulting firm that's on a mission to make resources and support available to every leader.
