Accountability & Responsibility

Usually, I talk about Lambda School, and I talk about programming but let me put on my management hat, and my sales manager hat.

I have worked in multiple sales and management roles over the years, and there was always a constant. People hate taking responsibility, and accountability. It was always a critical gap that had to be put on the table for performance evals.

Let's ask ourselves why that might be. The biggest reason is that people do not particularly like to be wrong, and certainly do not want their mistakes highlighted. Worst yet there are managers who thrive on doing a reprimand in a public setting.

First, do not be the manager who chews out an employee in public, unless there is a critical issue (safety, security, etc. ). It is going to happen on occasion, but do not make it the norm for your team to endure public humiliation.

Now that we have the elephant in the room addressed what do we do to inspire people to be responsible, and to take accountability. In truth, you can work your tail off trying to get people to adopt those traits and there is a percentage who will never get it. They will skate, and you will lose your mind trying to get them onto the same page as the rest of your team. It will not happen. As harsh as it may seem: fire them. Immediately. They are dead weight and need to be in a…