190. The Problem With Peter Pan
190. The Problem With Peter Pan
Accountability is all about the "Two Options"
Neverland is an odd little island. Actually, I’m not sure it’s little.
I’m assuming you know that Neverland is the island where Peter Pan lives. Well, now you know.
He brings the children to Neverland so they can play and never grow up.
The details of the island are somewhat vague. For instance, there don’t seem to be any boundaries. The actual description is this: “the map of a child’s mind would resemble the map of Neverland, with no boundaries at all.”
Time is also a little wonky in Neverland. There aren’t any deadlines or time-based requirements. Days aren’t really days and they all kind of blend together in a big ambiguous occurrence.
It sounds kind of nice in a Salvador Dali sort of way.
You know what Neverland reminds me of? This company I once did some work for.
Freedom from Accountability
This company that I once did some work for had no accountability. Everybody was free to do anything they wanted at the pace they wanted.
It was an interesting experiment. If it were an experiment. But it wasn’t an experiment. It was how they actually worked.
There were no timelines instilled by leadership, they were all self-imposed by employees. If leadership said they needed a project done by a certain date, there was no oversight, so things got done when everybody wanted them to.
There were no boundaries of who did what job, it was all decided by what you wanted to do. And if you didn’t want to do much of anything? That was fine too because nobody really cared.
If Neverland were a company, this was it.
The lack of accountability wasn’t a consciously developed experiment for this company. It was just the result of lax leadership.
The thing about Neverland is that it sounds good, but it doesn’t work.
Remember, people never grow on Neverland. They get bored and frustrated. They get into arguments that won’t get resolved without some type of leader taking charge.
Neverland is a terrible place and, frankly, I never liked Peter Pan anyway. He’s a bit of a creep.
Accounting for Ability
For years, I struggled with accountability as a leader. I didn’t know how to hold people accountable. For some reason, it was all a mystery to me.
I now recognize that I wasn’t alone. Many leaders have a tough time holding others accountable. They simply don’t know how to do it.
According to a study by Partners in Leadership, 82% of managers have “limited to no” ability to successfully hold others accountable.
Even worse, 91% of employees say that “effectively holding others accountable” is one of their company’s top leadership-development needs.
It turns out that a lot of leaders are living in Neverland, whether they want to or not.
Fortunately, you’ve come to the right newsletter. I’ve simplified it for you.
You’re welcome.
Holding people accountable is about following a simple process and then, if necessary, giving two options.
If you follow the simple process, you will successfully hold everybody accountable all the time.
Check it out.
The Two Options of Accountability
The Accountability Process has 4 steps, culminating in two options. It is all outlined below.
But if you’re a visual person like me, I put together a flowchart. I love me a good flowchart. Download the Accountability Flowchart here.
Step 1: Set the Deliverable and Due Date
You assign somebody a project and set a due date.
Don’t know what the due date should be? Just ask. Here’s what you say:
“When do you think you can get it done by?”
“[The date] sounds great. Let me know if I can help or if you run into any problems. Otherwise, I’ll expect it to be done by [date].”
Boom. Done.
Step 2: Help them be successful
Mark two things down in your calendar:
The due date
Halfway to the due date
When you get halfway to the due date, check in with them:
“How’s that project going? Anything I can help you with? You still on track to meet the deadline?”
Help them accordingly.
Step 3: The due date
One of two things is going to happen here:
You’ll get the completed project, or
You won’t.
If you get it - awesome. You’ve held somebody accountable! Well done.
If by 3 or 4 hours before the end of the work day you still don’t have it, check in with the employee.
“Just checking in to see if you’ll still get that project done today.”
Again either it will be done or it won’t.
If it’s not going to be done, proceed to step 4.
Step 4: In which you back them into a corner
They didn’t deliver on time even though they agreed to. That’s bad.
Here is the conversation you’re going to have right then and there. Do not wait. I repeat: Do. Not. Wait.
“Did you understand what the project was?”
“Did you understand what your deadline was?”
“Why did you not meet the deadline?”
None of their answers to the questions above really matter. You’ll just get a bunch of excuses.
Even if the excuses seem legit, they still don’t matter.
Either way, you’re going right into the “Two Options” conversation.
The Two Options That You’re Going to Talk About
“Here’s the deal: when you have a deadline for a project, you have only two options:
1. Finish the project on time
2. Tell me in advance why you won’t finish the project on time
Those are your only two options going forward. Is that understood?”
There is no possible way to argue that, short of death, coma, or imprisonment - all of which lead to bigger problems anyway.
If you have this conversation with somebody twice, write them up.
If it happens three times? Get rid of them.
They clearly want to live in Neverland anyway - and you’re no Peter Pan.
Again, feel free to download the Maintaining Accountability Flowchart here.
A Somewhat Relevant Quote
“Accountability breeds response-ability."
Related Tidbits
Check Yourself. Why it matters (get accounting)
Worst. The 10 worst companies by rep (blech)
Coach. Why an accountablility coach is good (action)
Another Useless Website. I can’t even (woof)
