How to hold people accountable.
Jon’s hands were on his lap under the table. He was looking down at some paperwork. Jon looked up in anticipation because he knew I was there to hold people accountable, namely him.
3 months ago Jon had asked me how to hold people accountable, and start with him. He forced a smile out. I could tell he was stressed and anticipating the questions I was about to ask. I was not his boss. But he still asked me to do this.
“Are you ready?” I asked starting the process to hold people accountable, namely him.

“Yep, I’ve made some good progress, so let’s get to it,” replied Jon.
“Okay, let’s go through the goals one at a time,” I said to kick off the process. I pulled out my notes on the goals with the due dates.

Hold people accountable

I proceeded to ask the following series of “hold people accountable” questions about each goal.

1. What is your SMART goal?
2. When do you want the goal accomplished (date)?
3. What steps are in place to accomplish the goal?
4. What metrics do you have in place?
5. How do you track the metrics? What are they now?
6. What obstacles do you face? What are doing about the obstacles?
7. What is the next step?

Jon answered each question. He was uncomfortable with some of the questions since he didn’t get to all the goals and tasks. I asked anyway and took notes about his progress. Some of the goals had shifted during the process. So new specifics about each shifted goal was adjusted. Dates were changed as needed. Obstacles were identified. Actions to overcome obstacles were identified.
Through the questions Jon was vague on a few metrics. We discussed them in detail until either a specific metric was identified or a plan to get a specific metric in place was identified. Jon did most of the work. I asked questions and offered a few suggestions here and there.
I proceeded to keep track of Jon’s progress on each goal. He knew it.
If you are the boss, then it will be your job to come up with the goals and metrics. Let the person come up with dates, action steps and obstacles. You hold people accountable and coach them through the process. To hold people accountable also means helping them come up with possible solutions. Be ready to give your expertise.
This is a simple straightforward method to hold people accountable.
Take the delegation assessment (down the page about halfway) to see how you stack up.
Check out leadership training programs to improve leadership and management skills.
By the way. I use Asana as a project management tool to keep track of project actions steps and dates. Since it is SaaS tool I have access to it everywhere and on my computer, laptop, cell phone. So far, I’m using the free version.  www.Asana.com

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