5.+Avoidance+of+Accountability

 Excuses, excuses! Unfortunately, too many students (and adults!) do not have the strength and willingness to take accountability for their actions or, to kindly, but firmly confront others when they have not lived up to their responsibilities.

Lack of accountability seems like an epidemic in our culture. (Think about the recent bank failures, Madoff's ponzie scheme, the automobile industry's meltdown, among others.)

Avoiding accountability is the fourth dysfunction in Patrick Lencioni's model. Being accountable and holding one's teammates accountable can be difficult and uncomfortable. People tend to avoid difficult conversations -- and what is more difficult than pointing out someone else's shortcomings. The irony is that people often avoid these types of conversations because they don't want to jeopardize their relationship, however, avoiding these issues eventually causes relationships to deteriorate due to resentments and disappointments.

What do leaders need to do to insure that this avoidance of accountability does not infect their teams - whether made of teachers, students, parent teacher associations, or the many other teams that contribute to the achievement of our students? The team leader must create a safe environment and encourage team members to "enter the danger zone with one another".

Here are three must-do action steps in order to avoid avoidance of accountability!

=1) Publish Goals and Standards. =  Keep agreements posted where everyone can see them. When goals and standards of behavior are made public they are not easily ignored. When goals are clear, excuses are harder to make.

=2) Hold simple and regular Progress Reviews. =  Provide a regular structure for feedback about behavior and performance. Team members should regularly communicate with one another - giving feedback to their teammates about how they are doing in progressing toward their goals. Without this structure, accountability is easily avoided.

=3) Reward your teams. =  Shifting rewards away from individual performance and toward team achievement makes it less likely that other teammates will standby while others do not pull their own weight.