Expectations and Accountability Matrix

As a leader part of your job is holding people accountable. Holding your people accountable is inherently tied to setting expectations.

Accountability runs the full spectrum of feedback, coaching, low performance ratings, talks with HR, running a PIP and eventual termination.

In sequencing, setting expectations happens before you hold people accountable. Setting expectations lives in the important but not urgent category so it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Also see the Horstman Curve, that explains doing hard things now makes life easier in the future.

If you find yourself needing to hold people accountable and you haven’t set expectations bro, you f-d up a long time ago. But do the needful, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now. Do the hard work of setting expectations, communicate that to your people and help them understanding what they need to work on.

Imagine yourself walking into a meeting where you need to deliver serious accountability. Maybe HR is joining. At least for me it’s never easy and If you’re a human you have a pit in your stomach. Okay, back to the now. Set the expectations right now that your future self wishes you would have delivered prior to going into that meeting.

The Quadrants

Dead Sea - you’ve set no expectations and you’re not holding people accountable

• Low performers stick around
• High performers are demoralized and sometimes leave because they see their hard work isn’t rewarded and bad work is permitted

Better Dead Sea - you’ve set expectations but you’re still not holding people accountable

• At least you’re setting expectations and that levels some people up
• Low performers eventually figure out you’ll live with their bad behavior
• High performers will still leave

Surprise - you’ve set no expectations but you hold people accountable

• You hold people accountable but don’t give them opportunity to know what’s expected of them
• You’re losing some people that could have turned it around if you would have set expectations
• Your people don’t know where they stand
• Low performers, HR and their peers they didn’t see it coming
• It’s more difficult to hold low performers accountable, you go into tough conversations knowing you didn’t do the pre-work

Good Stuff - you set expectations and you hold people accountable

• More good people stick around because they know their hard work is rewarded and you don’t put up with low performance

If you got this far maybe you’re wondering how to set expectations. The Manager Tools feedback model is a good start.