This post is going to revolve around team accountability.  This can often be a sore thorn in the side of a CEO as they grow your business, but it’s an important part of being successful with your team. As a CEO, you may find that people are dropping balls or not delivering the quality of work you expect. It can be frustrating and disheartening, and you may end up feeling like you’re better off doing things yourself from the start.

But what I’ve come to realize is that common sense actually isn’t that common. I want to help you hold your team accountable and have the best team you can to give you the freedom you crave. Learn more about how you can do so below.

Can You Hire Someone to Hold Your Team Accountable?

As a CEO that struggles to keep your team accountable, you may wish you could hire someone to manage it for you. There’s a caveat to this solution, though. You can’t bring someone in to keep your team accountable if you’re not willing to do it yourself. That person can’t force policies and procedures that you’re not willing to, and then doing so will backfire on that person. They’ll be seen as the bad guy and will end up quitting and undermining your business.

So that brings us to the question – what do you do? You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. The truth is that you need to get comfortable with keeping your team accountable. Furthermore, you need to figure out what policies and procedures are that you need to have in place to hold your team accountable.

The Importance of Rules and Regulations

Without rules, regulations, and guidelines, things won’t work. These have to be communicated to your team and made to be the standard. 

The two tasks that you’re 100 percent responsible for as CEO is to create the vision and then hold the team accountable. This shows your team where you’re going.

And here’s the hard truth: if you think you don’t have time for this, you need to switch priorities around. This is a huge part of developing a capable team to delegate to, so it’s of utmost importance.

In my own business, anytime I put anyone on the team ahead of the vision, I failed the vision. That means that if there’s a team member not performing to standards but they are 80 percent there and you let it slide and don’t hold them accountable, it undermines the rest of the team.

The team will always adjust to the lowest denominator among them, or they will leave because they won’t feel like there’s no reason for them to work hard towards your vision. Team members desire a community where everyone is hustling and working hard. Good workers won’t stick around if there is someone who is not meeting standards and it’s not being addressed.

Striving for a Strong Culture

A strong culture with ground rules, values, and clearly defined guidelines that everyone in the company can understand are key to your success. You need to be able to do that work because it creates a growth opportunity for your business. This is a great opportunity for me to mentor you, as it’s important to have someone that has your back as you’re stretching yourself into those conversations.

Once this is all laid out, it’s easy to hire a project manager to come in and run things, although you’ll still be responsible for continuing to hold team members accountable from your end.

Empowering Your Team Through Accountability

Accountability is all about empowering your team and building them up. It helps them take more responsibility to step into a bigger version of themselves. Through this, they learn how to problem-solve, how to show up for clients, and how to really rise to the occasion of their role in the company. 

As CEO, you’re responsible for setting the tone for these things and for setting the stage of the culture you’re creating. It’s all about cultivating a standard of accountability. 

As you go, make sure you’re correcting smaller things that are off and having bigger conversations with team members. It’s so important for you as the CEO to do this constantly with your team. Plus, as new people join, introduce the principles of your business to them and always communicate them as a whole to your entire team. Being transparent with your team members – especially as things evolve and change – is vital.

Keeping this accountability is not hard. Whenever you notice things that you find to be incorrect or annoying, you can now just easily address them. It’s as easy as sending your team member a Slack message. You don’t need to spend tons of time on this or get emotions involved. Instead, be direct, specific, and concise with these communications. Remember that your team members aren’t mind readers – so address them in the moment with kindness and compassion. 

The Key to a Strong Team: The Bottom Line

Accountability is the key to developing a strong team that will stick around and show up for you. It will allow you to be more generous, present, and happy as a CEO. Plus, it’ll enhance the growth of your business, which is always a plus. 

I would love to get connected on Instagram or The 7-Figure Freedom Club Facebook Group so we can chat about your takeaways from this episode. If you’re interested in learning more schedule a call with me today or visit my website!

And if you want to take the next step, take the business assessment quiz to get started.