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We have seen in several organizations that many organizations and many leaders want to see their team members be accountable. They want to see them produce result, they want to see them do what they have been asked to do, delivering on the result that they have been ask. But much more than requiring our team members to achieve their objectives and bring forth result and deliver all that we want them to do, it is important that as leaders ourselves, we are also accountable. Because the truth is, accountability breeds accountability. And what does this mean? It means that if you are accountable, your team members and your workers, those that are with you will also be accountable. And if you are a mediocre, it would also breed mediocrity. Mediocrity will always breed mediocrity. What this means is that if you are also a mediocre, your team members will see this and they will respond as well as mediocre. And that is why you have to watch yourself so closely as a leader.
Listen to Podcast: Leadership Management and Accountability
Remember some weeks back, we talked about Self-management for leaders. This is why it is that important that you manage yourself first as a leader and remain accountable. And in case someone is wondering: what is accountability? Accountability you know happens when an individual reliably deliver on their commitment, showing others that they can be trusted to do what they say they would do. This is what accountability means. It means that you can be trusted in what you say you would do. And accountability also says that you demonstrate responsibility for the outcome of your actions and decisions as a leader. You know, for the organization as a whole, how responsible are you for your outcomes and the decisions that you are making? It simply shows that you are accountable. If you take responsibility for it, it shows that you are an accountable leader. If you look at an example in the Bible, the word of God, Scripture says in John 17:12: “while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. those whom you gave me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.”
There we will see an environment where Jesus was being accountable to His Father, God, and this is how we as leaders should be. We will be accountable to the organization with which we are serving. You should be available and be responsible enough to give accountability. Jesus was saying it here to the Father: “while I was with them…” praying to the Father, given a report as it were to the Father that “while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name…” So, what would you say? How would you say you are accountable for your team members and the people you are leading in an organization? How would you say you are grooming them and what would you say you are doing to them? Are you being accountable for their growth? This is what Jesus is saying here, it says: “while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name…”
As a leader, you are saying “I kept them in the name of the organization that I am working with.” So, it means for example, if I am giving an account to my Director, I can say for example that those you have kept in my care as my team members, I ensure that I groom them, I ensure that I do what I ought to do for them. I ensure that they produce result and they do what they ought to do. This is what we are talking about as being accountable as a leader. You being a leader, you are not looking at how your team members are probably not doing the right things, you don’t. As a matter of fact, as a leader, you don’t glory in the fact that your team members are not producing. Your glory should be in the fact that you are driving them because you are supposed to be providing guidance for them, and that is why you cannot lead them without growing. You can’t leave them without showing or giving results, without producing outcomes. And this is what Jesus is saying here that “while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name…”
I kept them based on the instructions and based on the things that you say we should do together, based on the desired goal of the organization. Those whom you gave me, I have kept, those that you have given to me, the people that are working with me, the people that are working for the furtherance of the goal of the organization, those that you have given to me, I kept them, I ensure that I put myself in them. I ensure that I communicate well with them. You know, one of the challenges of some leaders is how to communicate properly. They just tell you, “okay, this is what we want you to get done”, but they don’t provide guidance. For example, an employee is asking questions about how you can help him or her in the department and then you are like “go and fix or sort yourself out”, No! provide guidance, that is why you are a leader, you are supposed to guide them into it. If they need counsel, coaching or one thing or the other, you are supposed to help them and guide them towards that path so that they can be better in that role and so that they can be better as a person and as an individual themselves.
So, communication is one thing that is very key and very important as a leader. Be willing to show your team members the way and explain yourself well. And as a leader, you ought to be accountable for the people you are leading per time. Be accountable for them. And we see in that Scripture where Jesus said “those whom you gave me I have kept and none of them is lost…” which means they are not lost on the way to achieving the desired goal of the organization, especially when you don’t communicate with those team members very well, when you don’t carry them along. For example, you ask people to do something, you have given them the vision or the target that they are expected to meet in their departments and then you are expecting them to report back to you at a certain time, but at the point where they are reporting to you, they have nothing to report because they were not carried along properly, there was no correct communication with them to be able to get the achievement of that desired goal.
This is why Scripture was saying here: none of them was lost, I have not lost anyone or anybody. I still have them together, grooming them, getting them better; developing them. They can stand on their own eventually after I must have poured myself into them. And that is how it was. When Jesus left, His disciples could stand on their own, they could function and do much more, and that was how they saw Him. He poured Himself so much into them that other people that knew Christ then saw them and started calling them Christians because they knew that He had been with them. So, what are you doing? How are you being accountable for your team members and for the people you are working with in an organization? Vey importantly is that you have to assume responsibility for the performance of the people for whom you are responsible and for this to happen, it means you must be ready to also hold yourself in high standard. Be accountable yourself.
Jesus was accountable. He was accountable to His Father, be accountable as well. Don’t be that type of a leader that is expecting others to be accountable to him but is not ready to be accountable as well or provide guidance or ready to do the right things he or she is supposed to do. And what are the conditions for holding someone accountable? It is important that you understand and agree on expectations. Let them know expectations, let them know what they are supposed to do. You know, according to a work place accountability survey, it showed that 85% of the professionals that were surveyed at that particular time, they missed clarity on the company’s expected result. They did not understand. So, the expectation was not clear and that is why is important that the expectations be cleared from the beginning.
Then very importantly as well is training on the job. Train people to do the job, help them to grow into it, then you also follow them up and access them in their performance, not that you will just leave them like that and they are doing as they like, but ensuring that you are following them up, and also ensure that you get feedbacks, this is very important. Ongoing feedbacks is a great way to measure progress in the organization as a leader. These are the key things that you as a leader should take cognizance of as a leader that is accountable. On this podcast, I believe that we have gotten all it takes to be an accountable leader, to be a leader that would manage others, manage themselves, develop people, ensure that they are kept and communicated with properly, and also ensuring that no one is lost in the communication gap as the organization moves on all in the bid to get the organizational objectives and goals achieved.
I trust you have been blessed on this episode of Leaderview and I hope you would put all that you have learnt today into practice in your respective organizations. God bless you.
Article Source: [Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
