Episode 299: Looking to Create Accountability for the Team: Here is how to do it
Thank you for taking a few minutes of your day to join me, Randall, on this edition of Around with Randall. I want to elevate our discussion today and talk about leadership, and particularly what I might construed as or construe as new leadership, i.e., someone's coming into the organization to lead the entire organization, a department, a team, and there is a sense of expectation with this new leadership opportunity to be successful, at least I think for most people.
And the question becomes, how do they do that? And the center point of today's discussion is to talk about the most important aspect of developing a team cohesively, working together, trying to figure out how to pull all the kind of the eyes to be dotted and the t's to be crossed in a way that creates momentum forward in a positive way.
And that is a very simple word, but incredibly complex in execution. And that word accountability. Without accountability, you don't have the requisite identity, direction, sense of collegial teamwork to really go to where you want this organization to go. And by the way, I would argue that those that you might be leading, whether you call that management or supervision, but I think of it as just general leadership, depending on team, department, organization, whatever.
You can't move the needle. They want the same thing. They would like to know what it takes to be good at what they do. Most people and this idea of accountability creates that in spades. So we're not going to talk about today job descriptions. We're not going to talk about, you know, all the things that are the technical HR aspects.
What we're going to talk about is the general idea of accountability and how to develop it. When you take over responsibility, new leadership in some way, if you're looking for some basic information, i.e., you know, probably more leaning towards the actual fundraising area of accountability, I'll give you two podcasts to go back and look at. Number 49 seems like a long time ago.
It's all about metrics, which I totally believe in. We're not going to spend a lot of time talking about metrics per se, but you go back and listen to that episode, you'll get a pretty good flavor of that and some basic things about accountability in terms of why it's important. The psychology is episode six. So one of the first, but we're going to get more into the specifics of a new leader and how to do it as you look into your responsibilities and maybe trying to elevate an organization department team to new heights.
So let's start, as we always do at the top, we'll end with six different tactical things that you need to kind of sequence to build the accountability you're looking for. So big picture is, is that accountability is one of those basic elements of organizational success.
Most organizations teams, groups don't fail because of they don't have enough intelligence, a talent. They're not committed enough. More often than not, it's because there's not a clear understanding on multiple levels in multiple different directions about this idea of accountability, what it is we need to do, and how we're going to measure to see that it gets done.
Accountability creates clarity. And internally, day to day, that's critical. I don't know, even in a business of one. So if you know me or follow philanthropy or follow me, you know I'm a person who, the last coming up on seven years, has purposely designed my organization with me. There's still accountability to myself, to the things I need to do, but most importantly to my clients.
I am accountable to them. Without accountability, we can find often kind of the thought process behind what I love and John Wooden's Pyramid of Success. We can confuse activity with accomplishment, of accomplishment with activity, meaning we can do lots of stuff, but if we don't have the right accountability and the right direction to know where we're going. Then all we know is we're doing things we don't know if they're actually driving us to where we want to go.
Accountability creates predictability. It creates the knowledge that we're headed in this direction. And here's how we're going to measure what we do. And you're a part of it in this way. And leaders can have a better understanding when we build out accountability in the right way of what's working, what's not, and where additional resources, coaching, engagement needs to be.
So you might be asking where this all comes from. It's interesting. I'm working with a couple of organizations in the last year, but it's kind of heightened in the last maybe a couple months with new leaders, i.e. a couple have brought me in with them, meaning they came from the outside. I had worked with them before, they wanted to continue the relationship, and I'm working with them in a new organization.
Some I've worked with the organization and they have new leaders and it really doesn't make a difference. But I'm running into these things as challenges. And what I decided was, well, then let's try to address this in my classroom in the 21st century in a meaningful way. So let's start talking about really around this concept of accountability and really what it is and what it isn't.
Accountability isn't power. And I think that's one of the particularly if you're younger, don't have maybe as much experience. You believe that now that I have the reins or the control or the authority or however you want to put it, all words I really don't like, I can use power to create a sense of direction and accountability. And really what that does is create a sense of insecurity in the leader from the from the team.
It's seen as demanding to aggressive controlling. And that's really not what we're talking about. Accountability is about bringing people together is about alignment, which we're going to spend a few minutes talking about here, about why it's so important. Good leaders should be looking at the teams and people that they lead, wanting to help them get better, to improve, to be successful.
And in doing so, what ends up happening is the organization elevates. It's kind of, you know, the old adage A rising tide raises all rises, all raises, all boats. If I look at everybody around me and I tried to do this, and in some ways I wish I could almost go back and lead an office again because I think I would do it even more intentionally is to look at the sense of accountability in kind of two forms.
Number one, tell me, and we'll get into the specifics as part of the tactics alignment and then making sure everybody's on the same page. Here's where I think we need to go. Do you believe that as well? And if not, tell me where I'm a little off. So the first thing is a bigger picture. But the second then part is, well, here's your part of that success.
How do we know that we're going to accomplish it together? This leads us into what I would think of as the most important piece in accountability, which is not avoiding or leaning into what might be difficult conversations. In the beginning, it's much easier to get people on board and aligned than just throwing them out and letting them go, and then trying to reel them back.
Credibility. In this alignment, teamwork accountability process develops when expectations are clear. Decisions are consistent. They are open to conversation and engagement, and people are treated fairly, equitably, and as obscene as an important cog in the overall effort. They are valued. That's when we see alignment and most importantly, the idea of accountability at its best. Before we get to the six tactics, there is something that needs to be discussed, and this is actually something I'm dealing with a couple of pretty high level leaders and large organizations, is before you can build out accountability, you have to make sure that there's alignment.
And I've mentioned that word a couple times purposely. And now let's talk about that definition. Accountability begins with alignment before you can hold yourself people departments create metrics. Try to figure out outcomes. You have to make sure that that there's an alignment at multiple levels that your office goals. So let's call them fundraising goals here in the film world and doesn't have to be gift officer.
It could be database goals or infrastructure goals or finance goals or whatever have to align with organizational goals. If you establish individuals, let's say staff goals, before you do the organizational goals, what you end up with is a misalignment almost every time. We shouldn't be driving accountability unless it aligns with the organization's trying to do so. Think about it.
In this framework, it's and I've run into this quite a bit recently where we're putting metrics to gift officers as an example on go see this many people raises as much money, but the organization can articulate what strategy it's trying to execute or what the needs are within that strategy and why it's important. So what you get are a lot of gift officers spinning their wheel.
There isn't alignment. Alignment also requires realism. I've got another client that I'm working with in terms of an assessment, and it's interesting because I think that the new leader has visions of, I'll call it mid-level grandeur, i.e. let's go raise $50 million. But I'm not sure that the thought of realism and alignment has ever come into play.
Ambitious goals are good. They push everyone. Unrealistic goals eventually undermine the whole idea of accountability, because nothing can get done the way that we all want it to be. That we can agree upon the goal shouldn't be just to put numbers on somebody, or just throw some goals in front of someone. It should be the leader leaning into understanding what's reasonable and asking questions, because there may be issues that need to be addressed to get to those goals.
This alignment. What is the historical performance in this area or for the organization? What are the available assets, prospects, donors? Technology? What's our staffing model? Does it align? That's another issue. I'm dealing with another client where they want to raise a lot more money, but they're not willing to hire any more people. And I'm like, well, why do you think you're going to go up double if you're not willing to invest into the organization, into the people that are the most meaningful, which are the people driving the revenue?
Are the institutional priorities clearly set? Is the board aligned? Does leadership engage? Is this you go do the job and I sit back and watch, or am I as a leader, part of the equation? Is there a significant and sufficient amount of time to accomplish this? Are we doing this in a reasonable time frame? We all should be accountable for realizing that there are factors outside of just what we can control.
Accountability works best when it flows through the organization. And it's not just top down, it's asking questions. Do we have the right team? Do we have the right infrastructure? Do we have the tools necessary? Do we know what our goals are? Do we know what that strategy is? And if you're a mid-level leader coming in, it's appropriate to say, respectfully, I know we're trying to accomplish this, but we're missing these pieces that so I can take my team to support where you want to go.
That's a healthy, reasonable conversation to create accountability. Which brings us to tactics. I always think about what is it you, when you listen to this 20 to 23 minutes or whatever it turns out to be something you can take away. What can you write down and say, I can do these things to solve this problem, if it's of interest and or of need for you.
So six tactical things that are really, really, really important. Number one is you have to define success before the work begins. Everybody deserves to know what their role is and what the performance measures are going to be. And they should be somewhat specific. And it's just it's not about gift officers. You certainly can do that from a metrics perspective.
And there's plenty of podcasts you can go back and listen to here on around with Randall about metrics, but it's really more about the challenge of vague versus specific. So it's not helpful to say, well, let's develop stronger donor relationships or, you know, increase our major gifts or, you know, do better on our audit or, you know, have a cleaner database.
I have no idea what any of those four things mean. How can anyone who's trying to perform those duties have any idea? Either? You have to define these expectations, which means you need to think about them operationally and put a quantitative number. Another client I'm dealing with, one of their staff members, is developing kind of their new to the fundraising process organization did other things prior, developing a really robust what I would call annual giving opportunity.
I saw the first plan. There's no quantitative metrics. How are we going to understand what we're trying to do? Because if we know what we're looking at in terms of maybe specific performance conversations, we then can define the things that are going to drive those activities to success to meet those outcomes. And by the way, we should talk about time frame.
Well, let's go from 0 to $10 million in a year. You got one donor that's just going to hand us $10 million. Is that really what we want to define success as? We should also be talking about? Well, success shouldn't just be the last number, the ending number, but what are some progress points that we want. And we should ask our staff, employees, team members, when we go through this, to repeat back what we agree upon so that there's very clear understanding.
And I would advocate then followed up in writing. So there's perfect clarity. If you have two different people, two different departments, different people in general, having different definitions of success and how to measure them, accountability will eventually become difficult because nobody's on the same page. So the first thing is, is you have to define what success looks like before you start.
And I would start broad and then bring it down individually through a department or through a team. Two you have to create mutually understood commitments.
You have to think about it from maybe thinking about three questions when you are in the process. As a leader, one of my favorite questions was to ask what can reasonably accomplish before our next meeting or conversation? Or if it's a joint goal metric opportunity for alignment. Creating accountability can sound like what will you own in this process?
And what should I own? Trying to make it a partnership? It's not just about them, it's about us. Third, what support do you need from me to make you make you more successful? If you ask these questions so that there's a mutual understanding of what we're trying to accomplish, and then write it down, that this small ability to document commitments creates a rhythm of responsibility.
And I love that term rhythm of responsibility, meaning this is an ongoing conversation. And over time, what you'll find is, is that you'll have staff that will hold ourselves accountable because you've set them up to think about it in the right way. If this sounds familiar and you're a parent, it should, because this is kind of an interesting way of parenting.
I have a 13 year old son. He's amazing. I have a nine year old daughter. She's amazing. It's kind of good fortune and frankly, probably a great blessing. They got their mother's DNA more than mine. But the point is, is we're always asking questions around this because I don't want to do my son's homework. He needs to learn my daughters in going into fourth grade, they're going to do Nebraska studies, you know, being fifth generation Nebraska.
I know Nebraska comes from the Indian word, which means flat water. I already got that. So I asked questions about what is it you're trying to accomplish tonight. What is this? Are you going to be responsible for? What do you need from me, your teachers, your school to make sure that you get it right? You feel good about it.
It's very similar. Leadership should be about helping someone go where they want to go. That supports what we're trying to accomplish together. You might think about it from a parent child perspective. I just don't tell the kids, go do your homework. I ask them questions. What do you have tonight? What happened today? What do you need for me?
What are you trying to get done tonight? Two create mutual understood commitments. Three establish a regular accountability rhythm. And we're back to that word. Are you having these conversations every six months? Every year again, I'm going to steal from the way I think about parenting. There's a reason, number one, that multiple reasons that number one, we have dinner together six nights a week at a table with no television, no iPads, no phones.
First and foremost, broader picture. It's a value that I believe in, my wife believes in. But number two, it creates a rhythm for me to ask questions. What happened in school today? What do you have to accomplish tonight? Do you feel like you can get it done? What is there holding you back? What do you need from me?
And you'd be surprised when you start asking those questions with kids. They start talking and all of a sudden something comes out like, well, I don't quite understand what they were talking about today. Okay, let's talk about that. The same is true of a leader in office, particularly one that's new. Are you having regular meetings and asking them the questions?
What did you accomplish this last month? What did you feel good about? What's the holdup to move forward? Why didn't things certain things happen? Why did they happen? What type of support do you need from me? What happens next? And it's short, predictable conversations that are focused. It's not long drawn out meetings. When I had a larger team at the University of Nebraska medical center, I couldn't spend an hour with each one of them.
I had 15 minute blocks, and just with the people that were reporting to me, the more senior leaders on a regular basis, sometimes I'd go to their office and sit down and say, hey, we got a meeting in ten minutes, can we start now? And they tend to get up. And I said, where are you going? Let's do it here.
It doesn't have to be on my home ground. This is a power play. I'm here to help, to help you be a leader for yourself, for your for your team, whomever. So establishing that regular rhythm of accountability conversation is critical. Number four. This is no surprise. Measure progress, not just the final results. If all you do is measure progress, that is the final result.
It can be detrimental. I loved law school. I loved the education. And some of you might be saying, where's he going? But I had a lot of classes where the only results you got was at the end of the year. No quizzes, no tests, one final exam, 4 to 6 hours. On one subject. I loved learning law school.
In fact, I probably go back. I had a million. Millions and millions and millions of dollars and just audit classes. I loved it, but the one thing I didn't like was there were no metrics measurements that were part of the progress. Not in every class, but in a lot of them, which meant I had to find and I think a lot of other people did metrics and sense of progress in other places, and that's how we did study groups.
So the first part is, if you're waiting toward the end of the situations, you're missing out on all the opportunity for growth and intervention and the opportunity to help people. I don't wait till the end of the kids for them to figure your, hey, there's a problem. Seventh grade and fourth grade. I'm checking grades two three times a week, and I'm looking for assignments in.
I'm not looking to. May be great if they did, but I'm looking to get everything in. And if you got a seed, we know what we missed. And because usually education builds, the same is true in an office. So the key here is to look at little steps in the process and then have that rhythm, that regular accountability rhythm to ask about them.
Number five addressed missed commitments early. I feel like this is like a parenting podcast. And it's not meant to be, but I keep coming back to if I see holes in my kids power school, I think it's the program they use, see missing homework assignments and things are on. I can get it so that we can fix it.
And you should ask questions when there's a problem. Questions like were the expectations unclear? Were the goals unreasonable? Did you have all the support you needed? Did the priorities change? Was there a skill or a knowledge gap? Because I want to know where they believe the hole was. Now we all have run into this, particularly if you've been a leader where it's actually effort.
That's a tough one to fix. I can't fix someone's inner drive, and I've talked about this in another podcast about hiring that we need to look. The first thing we should look for is not experience, but a fire in the belly. Are they going to show up early, stay late, get the job done, or try to get the job done?
If there's not a fire in the belly at some point, this isn't going to work. But if you have that, then my role as a leader to create accountability is to find the ways in which to deal with helping, assisting the missed commitments, whatever the metrics were. And if I can't, finding someone else that can. All you do is wait till the end.
That makes you a pretty poor leader, to be honest with you. Put it on the valuation. Ever had a conversation that's on you as the leader, not the employee? Number six is buy into the concept that accountability really leads to development opportunities. Where does someone need help? One of the great joys of consulting, if you really do it right, it's not the final product, but is watching someone grow as a part of the process?
The conversations that I have, the advice that I give, asking the questions and getting them to realize certain things. If all your concern about is the numbers and the output, that makes you shallow as a leader. But if you invest in your people and create opportunities for them to develop in the conversations, informal, maybe formal, what you end up with is people who buy into where you're trying to go and where the organization and team are trying to go.
And what happens is progress happens, the opportunity for them to grow. You'd be surprised when people think that you believe in them and realize you believe in them. Because you invest in them. They'll stick around longer. They'll put more time in. Fire in the belly grows. It has to be there to start, but it grows. So six tactical things that you should take away.
Number one, define success before it starts. Number two, create a mutually understood series of commitments. Third is create that regular accountability rhythm regular check ins. Number four is measure the progress, not the result. Number five is fix things early in terms of miss commitments or missed or missed opportunities or problems. Challenges. And number six is combine that accountability with the opportunity for people to grow.
If you do this, accountability becomes clear and it will be an expression of leadership that is powerful. People deserve to know what you expect of them. They deserve to know what they should expect of themselves. They deserve realistic goals that align with the larger organization. So they're not just out there doing something. They think it's successful, but doesn't help the organization or this team or the staff get to where they want to go.
And if you're a newer leader, the challenge is, is the resistance to extremes. Meaning going too fast or going too slow. You create accountability by alignment first, clearly established objectives thereafter following through, communicating and building, and then coaching people towards improvement. When accountability is done well, individuals become stronger. The team becomes stronger. They become more dependable. The organization blossoms and there's a greater probability of a success not only for individual goals, but for team goals, organizational goals.
And that's really what we all want. Remember, accountability is can be taught built, developed. Like anything else, it is in power. It's empowerment for everybody's success. Don't forget to check out the blogs at HallettPhilanthropy.com. Two per week. Interesting. A lot of people read. You can get a feed right to you and if you want you can email me podcast at subject.
You've got something like hey, could you address this? Send it to me. I'd love to chat about it and find a way to help you solve your problems and challenges. Which brings me to the end, where I tend to say, remember, some people make things happen, some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened with live in a world where philanthropy is so needed in the works of nonprofits, the ability for us to help others is critical.
You do that as a board member or CPO gift officer, infrastructure, whatever. You are someone who is making a difference, and we look for people in the community who want to mirror what we do in that ability to be someone who makes things happen. And between donors and volunteers and organizational structure and maybe a little accountability, we see development of opportunity to make a difference in our world.
And I don't know a better way to spend each day, almost 30 years of doing this, man, I've been lucky. I hope you feel the same way, and I hope you know the difference you're making for people, places, and things in your community that are truly wondering what happened. I look forward to seeing you the next time, right back here on the next edition of Around with Randall.
And don't forget. Make it a great day.