Hold your people accountable in a way that feels supportive rather than negative. (Complete video script below)

Video Content Script:
In the last video we discussed how you can tap into each person’s individuality by asking well-crafted, open-ended questions to uncover what truly motivates them so that you, as the manager, can best align your business objectives with their personal and career goals.

But what happens when you go to stretch your new coaching muscles and attempt to hold your people accountable for their business objectives? Managers are the first to admit these are the tougher conversations they have a tendency to avoid and procrastinate –often until it becomes too late to save that person or the manager has gotten so frustrated; that all of their positive coaching style gets replaced with a reactionary explosion of mass proportion!

The globally acclaimed author of Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions, Keith Rosen, has based the materials of this video on his book and decades of experience transforming managers of the world’s best companies into highly effective manager coaches that achieve their business objectives faster and easier. So, even if you, like most managers, struggle to find ways to effectively hold your people accountable, it’s not too late to learn a better way, while at the same time, managing them how they want to be managed!

According to Keith Rosen, here are five approaches of what not to do that he’s heard managers use in an attempt to drive further accountability. Listen to these examples and remember, don’t feel bad if any of these sound strangely familiar to you because it’s in your power to change your strategy starting today! Here we go:

1. If you want to have a successful career here, then this is what needs to be done.
2. Don’t you want to make more money?
3. Why do you need to do this? Because I’m your boss and I told you this is what is expected of you.
4. Listen; these aren’t my goals, these come from corporate. I’m in the same boat you are, so lets just focus and get this done, okay?
5. To get you back on track, I need for you to report to me each week on your activity and the results you are achieving, okay?

How motivated, inspired, and supported would you feel after being managed like this? What if managers didn’t run away scared, get frustrated, or try to bulldoze their way through these conversations? Imagine if they let go of their agendas and calmly focused on their direct report’s point of view instead! Now, once your direct reports’ business objectives and quotas were established, think about how your people would respond differently if you asked the following questions in a safe environment that you have established with them, using charge neutral tone:

1. How can I best manage and support you to achieve these goals?
2. What’s your action plan to achieve this goal? How does this break down into your daily routine?
3. What concerns do you have, or barriers you need to be mindful of, that could get in the way of reaching these goals?
4. What type of reward or incentive would drive you to achieve even more?
5. How can I hold you accountable in a way that will sound supportive rather than negative?
6. How do you want me to approach you if you don’t follow through with the commitments you make? What would be a good way to bring this up?

We know that people believe what they say, but often resist what they hear.

Think about it: if you ask your team these questions, and you truly remain open to hearing what they say, then they are the ones detailing how they’d like to be managed, motivated, and held accountable. They become the ones setting the rules. And when people create their own rules, they own them. And when they own them, they are far more likely to act on them; instead of you, the manager just telling them what to do instead. Finally, since they’re the ones setting the expectations, and you’re simply reinforcing them, you are never positioned as the bad guy anymore!

When you can successfully help your people set the rules and expectations up front  by consistently utilizing an ever-growing collection of well-crafted questions from your toolbox, you’ll be well down the path of successfully holding them accountable and managing them how they want to be managed–an absolutely essential part of getting and keeping your team motivated and another example of how critical it is to tap into each person’s individuality!

Just remember, the solution to eliminating most of the challenges you’re faced with is the same solution used to build a team of sales champions and drive more sales  …the new ABC’s of leadership…Always Be Coaching!”