SuperLeaders: Accountability
In This Episode
Did you know that you can drive greater accountability on your team with four simple questions? Check out the first episode in our SuperLeaders series to find out how.
Transcript
Vanessa Tanicien, narrating: Hello, and welcome to the LeaderLab, the podcast powered by LifeLabs Learning. I'm your host and LifeLabs leadership trainer, Vanessa Tanicien. In each episode, my Labmates and I distill our findings into powerful tipping point skills – the smallest changes that tip over to make the biggest impact in the shortest time. Welcome back to the lab, listeners. For the next theme on the LeaderLab, we're going to be talking about SuperLeaders. Specifically, what are the behaviors that separate the good leaders from the bad ones. At LifeLabs, our very sticky and very useful leadership trainings are built on this kind of insight.
Vanessa Tanicien: And we'd like to share that with you today. Why should you care about being a SuperLeader? Well, it's because we know that SuperLeaders reduce anxiety and create psychologically safe workplaces that lead to more productivity, engagement and retention across the board. So, to start us off in our conversation around SuperLeaders, we have McKendree Hickoryback in the lab. To remind you, she has her PhD in industrial organizational psychology, is a leadership trainer and lead at LifeLabs and finds it really enjoyable to run really long distances on the weekend. So, we have really different definitions of fun. Welcome back to the lab, McKendree.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Thanks, Vanessa. Glad to be here.
Vanessa Tanicien: Yes. So, right now we're talking about SuperLeaders and I'm stoked because you're one of our SuperLeaders at LifeLabs. So I'm curious, what is the SuperLeader trait behavior tool that we're going to be talking about today?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah, so today's trait is all about accountability, how to drive it and how to create it on our teams.
Vanessa Tanicien: So, when thinking out the difference between a SuperLeader and a not so good leader around accountability, what are they doing differently?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: I think the fundamental thing that a SuperLeader is doing differently is that they're creating clarity. They're really setting their team up for success from the get go.
Vanessa Tanicien: So, you sound so definitive, from the get go. Well, how many different layers does it take to think through creating clarity for your team?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah, so I think about this in a couple perspectives. So one is really diagnosing, right? So the only reason we start talking about accountability is likely because our team hasn't done something in the first place. And so, one really easy place to think about is diagnosing the right problem. And that's where I really want to use one of my favorite tools, which is the three lenses model, which is basically a way of thinking about the problem from multiple perspectives. So lens number one is the individual, right? Does this person have the skill or the will to get the task done? Lens two is you as a manager and how you've contributed. And then lens three is the org, things like values and competing priorities that also might be impacting somebody's ability to get the task done. Now, my recommendation is that SuperLeaders always first and foremost, focus on the second lens, the manager lens.
Vanessa Tanicien: And I'm guessing it's because it's the one that we probably as SuperLeaders have the most control over.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Absolutely.
Vanessa Tanicien: Okay. Well, how does it work?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: So-
Vanessa Tanicien: Don't keep me in suspense.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Use it from here, you figure it out, right? So, I’ve had a good time. Thanks for having me. Yeah. It's a great question. So, we'll focus today on the second lens, which is you as a manager and specifically the clarity questions that you can use to drive accountability on your team. So whenever I'm delegating a task, a project, we are kick starting something important. The four clarity questions are, what is the definition of done? What does success look like? When's it due? And when are we going to collect feedback?
Vanessa Tanicien: All right. Gotcha. So in the four clarity questions, it sounds like two of the questions are kind of similar. So this idea of success versus definition of done, can you walk me through the difference?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah. So the two important distinctions here, definition of done is what is the thing we're walking away with? So are we building a workshop? Are we creating a platform, right? What's the actual product? And the important part of success is ensuring do people actually know what success looks like. So what are the outcomes we're expecting? How will we measure whether this was a worthwhile project? That's what we mean when we start thinking about success.
Vanessa Tanicien: Gotcha. So the clarity questions allow us to approach a conversation around accountability, more thoughtfully. And I think the reason why this truly matters is that SuperLeaders know that they have to give information for both. I often see leaders giving one or the other, but when they work in tandem, we're truly achieving that clarity that of course will drive that accountability.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Absolutely, right? We never want some and especially in a remote world sitting at home being like, great, I think I got this thing done, but I'm not quite sure, is it good enough, right? And then the manager feels bad. They have to hold someone accountable to something they didn't actually make clear in the beginning.
Vanessa Tanicien: So I want to take this thing for a spin. Do you mind leading me through this SuperLeader accountability drill?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah, absolutely. So Vanessa, what is a project that your team is working on? Something that you are overseeing and will hold people accountable for?
Vanessa Tanicien: So right now, one of the things that my team is working on is creating a product backlog and a new management system for the product team. So, that's a big task that we're all taking on.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Awesome. So you know where I'm going with our first question here. If I were to sit your team down and said, hey, what's the definition of done for this project management system? What do you think they'd say?
Vanessa Tanicien: Hmm, good question. What would they say? Shout out to Thu-Hang. I think the thing that they probably would say is that we would have a centralized space where everybody would know what each person on the team is working on when it's due and what dependencies there might be.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Okay. So it sounds like that's pretty clear. Let's move on to what do you think they believe the definition of success is?
Vanessa Tanicien: Hmm. You threw me for a loop there McKendree.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: A long pause there, taking a moment to think about that one?
Vanessa Tanicien: Yeah. So I'm recognizing I don't know as much as I should in this arena. What are the unintended consequences of that from your perspective?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah. So I think if you are not clear on what success looks like, right? I find it challenging, A, to be hard to have that accountability conversation because it's going to be a lot of the like, hey, I know I didn't clarify this, but I wish you had done this thing. So, that's going to be an unintended consequence. I also think about the motivation piece. So people aren't sure what success looks like. They might also be feeling frustrated or not quite sure exactly how much effort to be putting in because they don't actually know what the end goal is.
Vanessa Tanicien: Yeah. So, that already sounds like definite anxiety increasing, lack of psychological safety across the board.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yes, yes. Absolutely.
Vanessa Tanicien: Okay. Okay. So I got some work to do around that. What about the next question that we're working with?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah. So the final two questions is what's the due date and then when are you going to collect feedback? So what's the due date that you have in mind?
Vanessa Tanicien: That is clear. We're going to get that shipped out by the end of the quarter.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Awesome.
Vanessa Tanicien: And then the feedback checkpoint, another action item for Vanessa. Okay.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Cool.
Vanessa Tanicien: Good job, McKendree.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: That's why I show up here, just to keep you... I'm just trying to hold you accountable. That's all I'm trying to do. Are you glad you invited me today?
Vanessa Tanicien: So glad, so glad. So in my brain, clarity questions means accountability's actually going to happen. So, that's one of the first leadership applications of this particular skill. Can you walk me through some others?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah. So one, you can use this as a checklist anytime you're doing any type of project kickoff. But this also is probably some really good retrospective questions that you can do with your team. So if you're mid project, and you're not clear what success looks like, right? Pull the team together and calibrate on what success for this project actually mean to make sure it actually gets over the finish line successfully. And if it's too late for that, the project's finished, right? And we realize that there wasn't clarity. It's a great opportunity to again, do a quick retro as a team and identify where those breakdowns happened in the first place. That way you can hold each other accountable for success in the next go around.
Vanessa Tanicien: Yeah. So it helps us from making those assumptions that are not helpful. And we can just all live with clarity around the expectations that we have.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah. And hopefully, you feel really excited and motivated, right? I think that's the key piece around clarity too. It's not just about ensuring the work gets done, right? But is it significant? Does it feel meaningful? Does it link up to something more important? And that's where we get our engagement and motivation from.
Vanessa Tanicien: I love that. All right. So, that brings us to our LeaderLab listener experiment. So Dr. Hickory, what should our listeners be experimenting with in their laboratories of life?
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Yeah. So what I want our listeners to do is to systematically work through the clarity questions. So for any project you're working on or that you're owning, make sure you actually know what is the definition of done, success? When's this thing due? And how are we going to give each other feedback? And if you find that you're not clear, or you think that you haven't actually been clear with your team members, that's the opportunity to have a conversation. Chances are, if you're not actually crystal clear, they aren't either, which is definitely going to increase anxiety and absolutely lower that psychological safety, right? From there, you can drive the accountability of conversations that are necessary.
Vanessa Tanicien: Well, thanks so much for breaking down how to make our teams more accountable, one SuperLeader at a time. Thanks, McKendree, see you soon.
Dr. McKendree Hickory: Thanks for having me.
Vanessa Tanicien: And that's a wrap of another episode of the LeaderLab. Make sure to subscribe and share this with at least one other person so we can all be SuperLeaders. It's pretty awesome. The LeaderLab is executive produced and hosted by me, Vanessa Tanicien. NeEddra James is our senior producer and Alana Burman is our director and editor. If you'd like to hang out with us on social, go ahead and find us on LinkedIn at LifeLabs Learning and on Twitter at LifeLabs Learn. To bring training to your team, head on over to lifelabslearning.com. See you in the lab soon.
