Latest / Daily Influence / 695. Accountability Without Harshness — Why Clarity Outperforms Pressure

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695. Accountability Without Harshness — Why Clarity Outperforms Pressure · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IE Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
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• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And make us part of your Daily routine, whether it's during your commute, on a walk, or an quiet moment just for you, because you're influenced matters.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, Brian Smith here with the Iron Team series and your daily influence.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today we're going to be talking about my favorite topic or second favorite topic, I guess, is accountability.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And first favorite's always slowing down, but you know, accountability is right up there.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And specifically recently, I've been attached with dealing with some accountability issues for some clients.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually going to talk about accountability without being harsh, having some empathy within accountability.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, accountability is not always about discipline.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just about supporting people, holding them to that standard that they've agreed to for themselves and for your organization and in leadership accountability.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is greatly misunderstood sometimes, you know, a lot of people avoid it because they don't understand it.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: They'll hope that issues good and bad will resolve themselves.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Others will lean into aggressively and turn it into discipline, believing pressure creates performance.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you know,
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Both approaches miss the point.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Accountability is not about avoidance.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not about force.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: It is about clarity because when expectations are clear, measurable, and consistently reinforced accountability stops being emotional.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: And it actually starts becoming structural.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It becomes part of who we are a foundation in today.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Going to talk about how to hold people accountable without creating fear, or without creating confusion,
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: In how smart discipline allows leaders to stabilize performance without becoming an enforcer or even needing an enforcer.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look, most leaders fall into one of two common traps.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Avoidance.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want conflict.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't like conflict.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: They'll figure it out on their own.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, now's not the right time to do this or have this kind of conversation.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the other side of that is aggression.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Delayed feedback becomes more and more emotional, public corrections instead of having private conversations and bringing private clarity to the issue and tone that is driven by frustration, emotion, but not in caption.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Both of these create instability.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And avoidance creates confusion and drift and aggression creates fear and disengagement.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Neither creates accountability.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: because accountability is not about how hard we push.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's about how clearly we define what the issues are.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And look when leaders rely on punishment, they are reacting to a system that was never clearly defined.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Punishment says you've failed.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Clarity says, here's what success looks like and how we measure it.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is where responsible influence can show up for us as leaders
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Clear expectations upfront give us a place that we know we need to be and it defines the outcomes.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he gives us agreed upon metrics.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it also provides for us to have consistent follow-up or inconsistent feedback loop.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if someone misses the mark, the conversation can then become.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where did the process break?
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was unclear and what needs to adjust?
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: These are smart conversations.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: The brain's specificity, measurement, attainability, relativity, and timeliness into this discussion, which is amazingly important.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it stops being, why didn't you do this or why did you do this?
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: It also provides for accountability to be a shared responsibility, because it is shared.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a top-down correction.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: It looks smart, can be our emotional stabilizer.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Emotions enters accountability when measurement is absent.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: When there is no structure, everything feels subjective.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Feedback feels personal in conversations escalate quickly.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: smart metrics remove that volatility.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Smart creates specific expectations, measurable outcomes, and time-bound checkpoints.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now the conversation shifts from opinion to data, a motion to observation, and from reaction to adjustment.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of, I feel like this isn't working, we begin to say,
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at where we're at now, and that single shift changes everything.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It protects the relationship.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: It also protects the standard, and it helps better understand and define the outcome.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is why smart is not just a planning tool.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a behavior.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an emotional stabilizer for leadership.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So like accountability doesn't require harshness.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: It requires clarity.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: It when expectations are clear, metrics are defined, and follow up as consistent.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to force performance.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: You create an environment where performance becomes the natural outcome.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's responsible influence.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in a world where leadership often swings between a voice and a aggression, the ability to hold people accountable with discipline and respect is what separates reaction from real leadership.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be responsible to make your influence count.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for joining me today on daily influence.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: We look forward to talking to you the next time.