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Author: Marc Carriere, Managing Director, Marketing Tactics Pty Ltd

Holding team members accountable for their achieving their targets and KPIs helps maintain performance levels up to at least minimal standards to ensure quality customer service or sales.

If team members aren’t regularly held accountable for their targets and KPIs, not only are you sending a sign of weakness in your leadership, it’s more difficult for you to provide recognition or coaching.

Holding team members accountable for achieving their targets and KPIs is linked to higher performance and increases their commitment to the team and overall morale. And, what happens when there’s no accountability? Easy answer - it damages the team!

Tolerating missed targets or KPIs, lack of punctuality or unfinished work without addressing these behaviors creates the impression that they are no big deal. People learn that missing their targets or KPIs or consistently being 10 minutes late for their shift is okay. Your team suffers because having a team member who isn’t meeting their commitments and isn’t being held accountable causes frustration and disengagement with the rest of the team.

Two of the biggest reasons why team leaders resist holding team members accountable is simply because they’re not comfortable doing it or they simply don’t have a clear process for doing it.

To make sure you are consistently holding your team members accountable for their performance, religiously follow these 3 simple practices:

Firstly, set clear expectations. Quite often, the reason you aren't getting the best performance from your team is because you're not crystal clear about what you want them to do.

Setting clear expectations is the core of holding your team accountable! Setting clear, measurable goals makes it unambiguous about what is expected from a team member. If you both agree on what their goals and KPIs are, it’s much harder for them to argue about them later when they fall short, and it makes sure they understand their accountability from the beginning.

The second thing you need to do is follow up regularly. As obvious as it seems it's amazing how often following up with team members gets overlooked whether that’s because of all the fires that need to put out every day, or just because it can be uncomfortable discussing poor performance.

One habit you need to develop is regularly meeting with each of your team members at least every two weeks for 10 to 15 minutes to discuss how they’re performing against their targets and KPIs.

Yes, that might mean spending a few hours in these meetings. But the payoff is that you create alignment and can get them back on track moving in the right direction with more coaching if they need it, or patting them on the back for doing really well.

If you meet with them regularly you'll find they’ll come to the meeting prepared to discuss their progress rather than coming up with excuses.

Thirdly, be honest and share the brutal truth. It doesn’t help anyone tip toeing around a situation. You need to give them honest corrective feedback, when necessary.

That doesn’t mean slamming them for falling behind. Simply give them the facts, explain what they’re expected to do and find out if and where they may need help. And, if they need help give it to them with more coaching or training.

Now accountability isn’t just about holding your team accountable, it’s a two way street. You need to be accountable for following through and getting done what you said you’d get done.

It’s recognizing that your team members are dependent on the results of your work. It’s about open, proactive communication to keep team members informed of where you are with your commitments because it has a direct impact on their ability to achieve their targets and KPIs. It’s taking ownership and initiative, doing the right thing for the team and taking responsibility for results - it’s the opposite of passing the buck.

Trust is the backbone of high-performing teams. When team members see that you are truly accountable and take ownership of the team’s results, you’ll earn their trust. They’ll trust you to do the right thing, and that you’ll do what you said you’d do.

Once you’ve earned their trust they’ll work to earn yours. So, work on your feedback skills because it’s one of the most important things you need to do as a Team Leader. Feeling ignored by not giving feedback is one of the most demotivating things you can do to your team.

And, keep track of your commitments and hold each other accountable.

If you make a promise to provide more positive feedback or coaching, make sure you schedule it and hold yourself accountable for delivering on it, and if a team member commits to something make sure you have a way to check-in it to keep them accountable.

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