Accountability
Individual commitments are not ambitious and clear?
You
If you do not feel that your commitments (objectives/tasks/responsibilities) are as ambitious and challenging as you would like, consider the following questions:
If the challenge is more on the clarity of your commitments try the following 3-step process:
1 Prioritize your commitments
2 Assess the individual commitments on your list
3 Align your commitments with the relevant persons
Your team
In a high performing team everyone must be ambitious and challenge themselves. If just one team member is getting away with mediocre performance, there is evidence that this can pull down the whole team.
So, as a team, it’s important that high ambitions are shared, and that the team helps out if individual team members performs under par, for whatever reason:
In a strong and empowered team it is usually not necessary to share commitments across the team in great detail, as the team members know and are perfectly capable of playing each their part.
But, if a team is low on commitment, and if lack of clarity is identified as a challenge, it can be worthwhile to spend time agreeing on, and sharing, commitments. To do this, the following process can be put in place:
1 Commitments on team level (see also “Shared results”)
2 Individual commitments
3 Decisions/actions
Low responsibility for individual commitments?
You
If you feel a low responsibility for one or more of your commitments look for causes – and define appropriate actions. Focus on the commitments that are most important and/or time consuming.
Below is a list of typical causes for low responsibility – and a few possible questions and actions that can inspire you to approach the commitment challenge:
Your team
If low commitment is a general challenge in your team it can be valuable to spend time agreeing on, and sharing, commitments. To do this, the following process can used:
1 Commitments on team level (see also "Shared results")
2 Individual commitments
3 Decisions/actions
Low expectations on each other’s behalf
You
If you have low expectations to all, or specific members, of your team, have a look at the following list of typical causes for low expectations and possible actions.
Walk through the list below for each team member in question -- starting with the person you have the lowest expectations to:
The person is unambitious or dis-engaged
The person is incompetent
Your team
If low expectations have grown into becoming a general challenge for the team it can cause low performance as well as general disengagement.
The challenge can be linked to unclear commitments and therefore it can be valuable to spend time agreeing on, and sharing, commitments. To do this, the following process can used:
1 Commitments on team level (see also "Shared results")
2 Individual commitments
Share an overview of most important individual commitments
Share how the commitments involve individuals/groups of individuals
Recommendation: Allow for open idea generation/discussion under the headline "What can be improved?"
3 Decisions/actions
If this is not the right cure, maybe have a look at one of the more fundamental TeamDrivers:
Underperformance is not called out
You
The best approach for addressing underperformance is to be very specific at defining clear ambitions and expectations early in the process, so you can point to objective deviations in deliverables and/or process.
Criticism is generally not a constructive route. Therefore you should look for ways to formulate the observed deviations as objectively as possible, and make it clear that you are focusing on meeting ambitions – not on criticizing individuals.
Discussing underperformance can be challenging and lead to conflict and disagreement. Therefore, many people avoid them altogether.
But, from a performance perspective, this can be quite damaging on the longer term, as underperformance will simply become the norm. So, the guiding principle is that we all owe each other to call out when underperformance occurs.
Your team
If low performance is rarely called out in the team, this has become part of the team culture.
This can be highly damaging for team performance as it will teach everyone that it does not really matter if people live up to their commitments. And that’s a slippery slope that will gradually undermine individual as well as team performance.
As for some of the other challenges related to Commitment it can be linked to unclear commitments. Therefore, it can be valuable to spend time agreeing on and sharing commitments. For this, the following process can used:
1 Commitments on team level (see also “Shared results”)
2 Individual commitments
3 Decisions/actions
If this is not the right cure, maybe have a look at one of the more fundamental TEAM-Drivers:
Lack of spontaneous feedback
You
To quote the leading expert on team development, Patrick Lencioni: “The most effective means of maintaining high standards of performance on a team is peer pressure from respected teammates” (From: The Five Dysfunctions of Teams)
Key question to you:
If not, you are missing a golden opportunity to drive performance.
Below is listed a set of common reasons for not sharing spontaneous feedback – and the argument against them:
Giving positive feedback is an art form that you will need to practice if it’s not part of your everyday behavior.
Start by practicing your feedback skills with people you trust and know well, and work your way up.
The ground rules of giving feedback:
The ground rules of receiving feedback:
Your team
The feedback culture is a team is highly contagious. This is true both for poor and for excellent feedback cultures.
So if this is a challenge in your team it can be worth spending time on.
A good starting point is to establish specific situations where feedback is actively asked for, for example:
It is always helpful if team members talk about their own learnings and mistakes openly – especially highly respected team members and/or the leader of the team. This makes it more socially acceptable not to pretend that everyone is perfect.
To drive an open feedback culture forward think of ways to weave in open questions that inspire alternative viewpoints and perspectives at as many occasions as possible, for example:
Finally, remember the ground rules for feedback (repeated from last section):
The ground rules of giving feedback:
The ground rules of receiving feedback:
CultureDrivers © 2023 CVR 37934178