Everlasting Wisdom Principle #7 Holding Others (and yourself) Accountable

It is always a good practice for leaders to care about the well being and improvement of those that they lead. It’s o.k. for leaders to have a compassionate side to them and show their followers that they do care about their welfare. The key though, is to be able to separate wanting to be popular with direct reports vs. holding them accountable.

Most of us try to avoid major disagreements with close friends and associates that we have worked with for a long time. When we have close friends and family members in the organization that report to us, it is sometimes difficult to strike the right balance of accountability.

Even the slightest hesitation in holding others accountable can be a potential disaster waiting to happen. For one, if others feel like someone is getting special preferential treatment; the avalanche of negativity can be disastrous and extremely time consuming.

The other area gets us back to letting things slide for a while and maybe they will work themselves out if we don’t take any action. This is not only dangerous thinking, it shows no leadership.

Good leaders provide the vision and direction of where the organization is headed, and then they must hold direct reports accountable to achieve the results that were agreed to.

From Everlasting Wisdom, written by Brian Hazelgren

www.brianhazelgren.com