LMA: It’s not just another TLA, without it there is no accountability.

“When people feel accountable and included, it is more fun.” – Alan Mulally, former CEO, Ford Motor Company

Having great people is only part of the puzzle. Accountability helps drive satisfaction and a sense of ownership of results.

One of the struggles that is often uncovered from Visionaries is that they are having a hard time holding people accountable. Of course, they rarely come right out and say that. It typically comes out as we peel back the layers of the onion regarding what they want from their business that isn’t currently there.

People have a hard time admitting that they have trouble holding people accountable as they feel it makes them look like a poor leader, which no Visionary wants to admit. That’s not necessarily the case though.  It could just mean their teams aren’t using simple tools that can help drive accountability. You can’t actually hold people accountable unless you are effective at leading and managing.

Have you ever seen a company with what seems like a bunch of sales people that are just floundering about? And the VP of Sales’s answer is more online training? They are trying a bunch of things but nothing seems to be working. It’s all just a hope and a prayer. Nobody is actually gaining traction.

Often times lack of accountability comes down to not providing clear direction and not setting clear expectations. As much as we’d love people to be able to read our minds to share our vision and then execute on it to perfection, that’s just not how things work. Accountability is the sum of great leadership and great management (written differently… leadership + management = accountability, or LMA). That takes effort and deliberate communication. You have to genuinely care about your people and you have to want to be great for it to work.

For context, LMA is the first role listed on the Accountability Chart for everyone who has direct reports. You may have other TLA (three letter acronyms) listed as roles that are specific to your company, but LMA should be first.  Let’s break it down a bit.

To start, leadership and management are NOT the same thing. For simplicity, here is how we separate the two at EOS…

Leadership:

• working ON the business
• providing clear direction
• creating the opening
• thinking

Management:

• working IN the business
• setting clear expectations
• day to day communication
• doing (execution)

For each of the two disciplines, leadership and management, the LMA tool has an assessment with 5 simple practices to help you be great. For each practice listed you ask yourself if you are doing that practice for each of your direct reports. If NO, what do you need to do to get it to a YES and when do you commit to getting there?

Here are the assessments for each:

5 Leadership Practices 

1. I am giving clear direction. V/TO, Accountability Chart roles and responsibilities…
2. I am providing the necessary tools. Training, tech, people around, your time…
3. I am letting go of the vine. Let people run and figure things out…
4. I act with the greater good in mind. Company needs first, actions and decisions…
5. I am taking clarity breaks. Scheduled time to think, Working ON the business …

5 Management Practices

1. I keep expectations clear. Mine and theirs, roles, core values, rocks…
2. I am communicating well. Know what’s on each other’s mind, listen more than talk
3. I have the right meeting pulse. Balance between micro managing and anarchy
4. I am having quarterly conversations. Expectations, what’s working/not, course correct
5. I am rewarding and recognizing. Feedback within 24 hours, praise in public, punish in private…

Strive towards YES in each of these with each person who has direct reports.  It will lead to clear direction and expectations throughout the org.  No more floundering.  With great leadership and management, comes accountability.  That sounds like something right out of a super hero movie…