[Alicia Davis] So if you are a leader that needs to hold people accountable, this will be a really good video to listen to, because that has been a theme that we have been talking about this past couple of weeks, isn’t it, Stacie?

[Stacie Watson] Oh gosh. It seems like every recent session that you or I have done related to the topic of leadership, this idea of accountability comes up. And you know, it’s so interesting to me, Alicia, because often, when you or I are asked to go in and work with teams who maybe are struggling, this idea of accountability is often something that they are struggling about. And when you start to talk to individual team members, one of the things that’s so interesting is that there doesn’t seem to be really a shared understanding of whatever the expectations are. There might be a general understanding, but when you get into the specifics, like, who’s doing what, when is it do, what does it need to include… that level of detail, I think it just isn’t always there. And I think sometimes leaders think it’s there, but it’s not, right?

[Alicia Davis] Well, it’s not. And I think part of it is, you know, I think as leaders, I mean, this happens for you and I like, we’re thinking about it, we’re thinking about all the details, and then we go to communicate it, and there’s just assumptions that are made. Or we’re moving sometimes so fast that we forget to say, oh, so the bottom line is, you know, you’re gonna, you know, make that post, or you’re gonna reach out to that person. We just talk about it, and then we’re like, well, who’s doing what? And, you know, I think it’s, it’s just so common to kind of miss some of those details. And I think one of the things that we have been sharing with teams and really encouraging people is to be really specific, right? It’s almost like setting a SMART goal, right? Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound. Like, who’s doing what? When are you doing it by? You know, what are you expecting as the outcome? And sometimes it’s the why of it, right? Accountability can also be getting people on board with the why. A little bit of a motivation, but it’s really those specifics that can really trip people up.

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, and you know, even if you’re listening to this and thinking, well, that’s not the issue I have with accountability. I would invite you, or we would invite you to just go back and ask… ask the person on your team, or ask the members of your team, especially if there’s an area where things are just not getting done, or they’re not getting done to expectation. Just ask them to tell you what the expectation is, and ask them to include all those details in that summary back to you. Because it might be that they’re just not doing their work, and it might be that there is some lack of clarity or lack of understanding, and either way, you’ll have more information, which I think can be helpful, and this is a part of the conversation that we have in our Culture of Accountability session, right?

[Alicia Davis] We have the Learning Academy training session coming up on Creating a Culture of Accountability, and that’s coming up on October 24th. So, if that’s something that you think would be helpful for you or your staff, we encourage you to check it out. It’s at Academy.TLStransforms.com and I’m Alicia Davis…

[Stacie Watson] And I’m Stacie Watson…

[Alicia Davis] And we support nonprofits, building nonprofits one skill at a time. Thanks so much for listening.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.