Oh, how we hate that word…

Accountability. There's a word that can cause nausea, stress and fear. Nobody "likes" to be held accountable. Yet, why do people hire financial planners, life coaches and personal trainers? Because intuitively, we know that if it’s something we aren’t an expert about, we will need support, encouragement and help to stay on course.

Isn't that the essence of being a leader and manager? To support, encourage and help your team stay on course to reach their full potential? Those words don’t sound bad at all. Who wouldn't love those things every day? That's accountability.

Here's some startling research from Gallup in a research paper from the Brandon Hall Group entitled: The ROI of Modern Performance Management:

82% of managers acknowledge they have "limited to no" ability to hold others accountable successfully

91% of employees would say that "effectively holding others accountable" is one of their company's top leadership development needs.

Only 14% of employees feel their performance is managed in a way that motivates them.

26% get feedback less than once per year.

70% of employees feel their managers aren’t objective in how they evaluate their performance.

69% of employees don't feel they're living up to their potential at work.

Reread those numbers. Wow, the opportunity to do better is incredible. If people hire coaches to hold them accountable in other areas of their lives, why do they resist it so much at work?

We're doing it wrong.

As leaders in a performance-driven industry with what I refer to as "sales process metrics" (dials, contacts, conversions, asks, closing ratio), these are all mathematical calculations that are easy to gather. Sadly, it seems our "scorecard" of late is based exclusively on these metrics.

Advice from Harvard Business Review is:

Make Dignity the Foundation

Managers must understand the weight of their own judgments. A recent study of the brain shows how other people's opinions of us influence our sense of self-efficacy. When leaders believe their role is to create conditions in which people make their best contributions — and genuinely enjoy doing so — the core foundations of accountability improve.

I'm not a Harvard grad, so let me simplify. Treat people like people. Have compassion, understanding and knowledge of their personal goals and their vision of the future. Legendary sales trainer Norm Goldsmith said, "You can't change what a person is thinking unless you know what they are thinking." Sellers aren't just cogs in the big machinery of your company; they are the revenue drivers; they face incredible challenges from an ever-changing media landscape. Bringing empathy first is the best way to help them open up to your coaching, leadership and accountability.

I believe people want to do good work. I believe they want to perform at the highest levels their skill set will allow, and they want to grow beyond that skill set. We help them get there by building them up, not beating them up. Sure, it involves difficult questions and asking people to admit their weaknesses and shortcomings. As leaders, we must create a "safe space" where people feel free to fail and know we have their backs and will help them overcome it. If your sellers aren't failing regularly, they aren’t pushing enough. Or maybe they are afraid of your wrath.

Leaders must provide compassion, understanding of personal goals and expertise in helping them achieve what they want from life and their careers. Dr. Max Goodwin is the lead character in the NBC show New Amsterdam. Whenever he encounters one of his employees with a problem, his first question is: How can I help?

Consider starting there: How can I help? Once your team recognizes that you genuinely want to help and you've created a culture where failure is rewarded with learning lessons rather than punishment, they will be free and more likely to open up about things they may have tried to hide from you in the past.

You can't help someone, let alone hold them accountable, until you know what's going on in their head and what’s potentially holding them back.

As you begin the week, who is the seller you can offer compassion and understanding to? Who will you ask, "How can I help?" today?

Happy Monday!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.