When prosperity rises, urgency often falls. In today’s episode of Lessons in Leadership, Dave Anderson continues his series “The Six Temptations of Successful Organizations,” inspired by his book Up Your Business: 7 Steps to Fix, Build, or Stretch Your Organization. Today, he unpacks the fifth major temptation of successful organizations—one that can easily erode the organization’s culture and success rapidly: failing to hold people accountable.
"The best time to hold people accountable is when things are rolling so you can keep rolling."
When things are going smoothly, it’s easy to ignore bad behavior or lackluster performance. Often, leaders may overlook the first signs of trouble and ask themselves, “Why rock the boat?” However, it’s critical to address these issues in the moment because once overall performance starts to decline, then everyone is suddenly held accountable, creating a reactive rather than proactive environment.
When leaders fail to correct their team or hold them accountable, they are planting seeds of poor performance. These seedlings will quickly sprout, growing into bad habits that spread to weaken the organization’s culture and eventually performance. Left unchecked, these habits become normalized, making it harder to course-correct later.
Anderson poses a simple question: Why?
Why get away from the fundamentals that were the key to success in the first place? While rougher times can be the catalyst to realign a team, it’s entirely avoidable if leaders commit to keeping their foot on the gas and never losing sight of the bigger picture.
If organizations want their teams to continue doing well, they must hold them accountable to reinforce the good habits and processes that made them successful. Leaders set the tone for consistency and excellence, and accountability is the engine that sustains both.
