Happy Thursday,
Accountability is a word we use a lot when something goes wrong. It’s also a question I often hear in leadership workshops we run: how do I hold someone accountable? Fair question. But perhaps also the wrong one. Because there’s another question that needs to come first: were they actually clear on what they were accountable for? This single question sits behind many failures, disappointments, disagreements and personal grievances. So let’s talk about it.
🧠 LEARN something.
Many accountability problems start as clarity problems. Because there’s a real gap between what we communicate and what another person understands. But there is an even bigger, more dangerous gap between what someone thinks they understand and what they actually understand well enough to execute. That’s a real barrier to effective delegation. We delegate an outcome or a task, explain what we need and ask, “All good?” They say yes. Sometimes they don’t want to look foolish. Sometimes they want to appear confident or capable. Sometimes they genuinely believe they understand. Either way, both parties can walk away from exactly the same conversation believing there is clarity. It’s often only when the work starts, or worse, when it’s delivered, that we discover there wasn’t. I’ve seen versions of this play out in performance conversations many times. People are told they’re underperforming and are genuinely surprised by the feedback. The expectations were clear to the leader, but never made clear to them. Then leaders hold them accountable for expectations they didn’t understand. That’s backwards.
Here’s the slightly uncomfortable part: the burden of creating clarity sits disproportionately with the leader. We’re not giving anyone a free pass on accountability. We’re actually doing the opposite. We’re dialling up the clarity so accountability becomes real. That means going beyond “Do you understand?” and actually testing for understanding. What outcome are we trying to achieve? What does good look like? When is it needed? What’s most important? What decisions can they make? Who needs to be involved? The more senior the person you’re delegating to and the more complex the work, the more important this becomes. You don’t need to prescribe how they do it, but you do need to create enough clarity about what success looks like to fairly hold them accountable for delivering it. You can’t assume clarity and then be disappointed with the outcome. And you can’t hold someone accountable for clarity you never created.
🤔 REFLECT on an idea.
A slightly depressing thought for anyone whose job involves talking to people! But there is something useful in it. Communication isn’t what leaves your mouth. It’s what arrives in someone else’s head. That doesn’t mean the leader owns every misunderstanding or that people shouldn’t ask questions. Accountability still matters. But accountability becomes much fairer, and much more meaningful, when we’ve first done our part.
😊 SMILE a little.
Holding someone accountable without creating clarity is like typing six vague words into ChatGPT and getting angry when it doesn’t read your mind. 😂
✅ DO IT to get results.
Here’s a quick litmus test of whether you’re creating clarity: who is doing most of the talking? Next time you delegate something, spend no more than half the conversation explaining what needs to be achieved. Then spend the rest asking open questions to test what they actually understand. More communication doesn’t necessarily create more clarity. Better questions do. And there’s a bonus: you’re not only creating clearer expectations for accountability, but you’re also developing their thinking in the process.
🙏 Thank you
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Kia pai tō wiki
Kenny Bhosale
CEO & Founder, The Bridge Leaders
