Accountable

3 Steps to holding your team accountable



We have discussed why it is important to hold your team accountable, but what does this really look like? Is it breathing over their backs and checking in on every single thing they should be doing – some may call this “micro-managing”? Is it providing clear guidelines and letting them run with them?

Here is our three-step strategy — applicable across businesses — for holding your team accountable.

  1. Create and establish goals.

    Your teams need to be aligned with strategic direction and goals. If goals never exist, there is nothing with which you can measure efforts and performance, nor anything unifying your people to rally around.

    Goals or key performance indicators (KPIs) need to tie to strategic direction and plans. Sales goals are easy because they tend to associate with a revenue marker – for example, new logo revenues, cross-sell/up-sell revenues, win rate and gross margin. Marketing goals are harder to determine, but if you think through the things you can measure, you can build out goals to work toward – for example, pipeline contribution and lead conversion ratios. Your product team can focus on quality and customer feedback, determining goals based on those factors.

  2. Develop a system of measurement.

    Goals mean little without a system of measurement. The next step to accountability is developing a strategy for measuring efforts. Things to keep in mind: Is it a laborious task to measure your goal? Do you need to hire more people in order to keep a pulse on the data and metrics? What is your cadence of measurement? Are these metrics worth measuring — are they propelling you forward and making a real impact?

    When business leaders do not consider how they will measure goals, they already are losing their handle on accountability. Goals that go unchecked are goals that go unachieved. As the old saying goes: “Do not expect what you do not inspect.”

  3. Read between the lines.

    Once you establish the numbers you want your teams to reach and how you will keep an eye on those numbers, you must ask yourself: What do the numbers truly mean? How will you as a leader respond to these numbers?

    For metrics to mean anything, leaders should strive to find context. Ask your teams questions. Find out why something worked or why something is failing to work. Determine with you team what the impact is (upside or downside) of hitting the mark. As you have these conversations, you will be better informed to make decisions that will have a real impact on your revenue performance.

If you are interested in diving deeper into a strategy for accountability, let us connect and discuss your specific needs further

 

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