I've written here before about giving constructive feedback using a coaching approach. That's one that I'd recommend all newer subscribers check out, and one that's worth revisiting periodically.

But I haven't written much about accountability.

This is a messy topic, because your individual context makes all the difference. And there's a big difference between holding someone accountable when they first start slipping, versus trying to bring some accountability into a situation where someone has been getting away with doing the least for several years.

And this is where we really need to be clear on what we mean by “coaching”.

I've heard more stories than I'd like about employees who dread the idea of being coached, because a past manager thought that coaching meant guiding someone through remedial training. There are times and places for remedial training – especially when we're talking about someone failing to follow all of the correct steps in a rigid process like financial procedures. But when we're talking about something more flexible, when there are many different ways to reach the same outcome, this sort of approach can damage morale.

For the rest of this, I'll be talking about coaching as defined by the International Coaching Federation:

This involves asking a lot of questions and actively listening to the responses.

So, we might start with providing some feedback and asking what's going on:

Those examples clearly state what happened and why it matters in non-judgmental terms, and then use very open, non-leading questions to invite the person to explain.

I can already hear past-me scoffing that this just invites them to make excuses for bad behavior! (A lack of accountability was a big issue at my library, too, and I had some big feelings around this!)

If this is your first time taking this approach, and especially if you don't have a solid foundation of trust built with this person, then you very well may get some defensive excuses instead of explanations at first.

So ask more follow-up questions – sticking to the qualities of a good coaching question and staying focused on the issue you need to deal with, not getting derailed into just complaining about a bunch of external stuff.

The goal here is to find out what's going on below the surface, so that we can address the root cause, instead of just playing whack-a-mole with symptoms.

In that first example, I can make up eleventy billion possible reasons someone has been missing deadlines – maybe they need more training in grabbing those usage stats, maybe they need better time management skills, maybe they can't focus because they're terrified that their spouse is going to be disappeared by ICE, maybe they're trying to do 3 jobs to cover 2 vacancies and need better workload management, and on and on.

I added the second example just to include yet another possible explanation: it's really hard to meet expectations that aren't communicated clearly. Even if you believe that an expectation is clearly outlined in their job description, if they've never actually done that and no one said anything for years about it, then they may believe that it doesn't actually apply.

This is the first big way that coaching supports accountability – it helps you find those gaps in clear communication, to make sure that you're both working with the same understanding of expectations. In an ideal scenario, just clearly communicating what expectations your employee needs to meet can resolve the problem. Of course, most of us don't live in that ideal world, but it does happen sometimes!

Once you've uncovered the root of the issue, then it's time to set some clear goals. What this looks like will depend on your context and what they're being held accountable for.

If we're talking about someone who is falling short on the track record they need to build to earn tenure, then maybe you can give them more space to decide what goals and timeline to set within that externally imposed tenure clock.

In other cases, you may need to set the clear expectation and timeline - “I need you to get those stats to me on time going forward.” Or “I need to see you consistently meeting this expectation within 6 months.” Or whatever fits.

And then clearly outline the consequences.

Whether you or your employee sets it, having that clear timeline supports you in holding them accountable to that deadline. Having the consequences clearly outlined in advance means that there's no surprise if they fail to meet the deadline.

And then, you support them in building their strategy, by asking open questions like “what do you need to be able to meet that expectation?”

Just because you asked doesn't mean you have to provide everything they asked for, but it does open a conversation. If they tell you that they need another team member to share the load, and there's no way you can get the budget approval for that, then you clearly can't provide exactly what they asked for. So what can you do? If they're asking for another person, then that suggests their workload is too heavy. How can you support them in managing that? What can be taken off their plate, either through reassigning work or discontinuing low-impact services?

This is where coaching is about you being on the same team as your team members, partnering with them to figure out what is going to best help them succeed.

Our goal is to figure out how to support someone in meeting expectations in a way that works for them.

Again, life doesn't always work out the way we'd hope.

One of the key components of maintaining a coaching mindset is acknowledging that the person you're coaching is responsible for their own choices. You can make sure the expectations, timeline, and potential consequences are clear, and then support them in building their own improvement plan, but you can't control whether they follow it.

If you do have to bring HR in or instigate disciplinary procedures, then you'll be on much firmer ground if you can show that you've already gone through this process and tried to support them in meeting clear goals.

What follow-up questions does this leave you with?