Accountability Styles

On the Accountability Styles continuum, most of us lean to one extreme or the other, making the classic mistakes of either forcing things to happen (Coerce & Compel) or taking too little action to follow up (Wait & See). However, there are strengths and weakness for each extreme, and it is important to recognize what they are.

The Coerce & Compel strengths are many and include taking action and stepping in when things go wrong, exercising persistence in follow-up, not giving up easily, ensuring frequent and regular reporting, communicating high expectations, and staying focused on the task at hand. The weakness associated with this extreme are also numerous and include intimidating others, overreacting to bad news, tending to force things to happen, willingly sacrificing relationships, resisting a people-oriented approach, and lacking sufficient trust in others.

The Wait & See strengths are equally plentiful and include strongly supporting people, giving people the freedom to succeed or fail, placing a lot of trust in others, stepping in with great caution, building strong loyalty and support in others, and thoroughly thinking through intervention before acting. The weaknesses of this extreme involve avoiding a proactive approach, striking people as disengaged, making false assumptions that things are happening, failing to follow up often enough, tending to err on the side of not intervening, and setting low expectations.

Either extreme on the continuum weakens your ability to hold others accountable. Acknowledging and understanding your Accountability Style can help place you at a more optimal point on the continuum. We call this point the “Positive, Principled Way” and consider it to be a perfect blend of strengths from both accountability styles, which, of course, mitigates the weaknesses of each extreme. To learn more about avoiding the extremes of the Coerce & Compel or Wait & See Accountability Styles, we invite you to join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review actual client case studies and assess your current Accountability Style more accurately.

Accountability Styles and Accountability Community are registered trademarks of Partners In Leadership, Inc.