Almost every day the news brings us another story of some personal indiscretion that is ultimately blamed on someone else. “The dog ate my homework,” and “she hit me first,” are two childish examples. Yet, we now have adults abdicating responsibility for their own misadventures. Unfortunately, this lack of accountability is becoming more prevalent in our workplaces. Managing it must be a high priority.
Source: Leadership IQ, May 18, 2017.
There’s a lot of psychology behind why people fall back on denial, blame, excuses and anxiety instead of just doing what’s asked of them. But you don’t need to climb inside your employees’ heads to bring them up to accountability.
INSIGHTS: Remember to focus on the problem, not the person. Thus, in your coaching feedback use impersonal pronouns such as “it,” “that,” “this” and so forth instead of “you” or “yours.”