From Court-Side to Conference Room: Why Accountability Is the Real MVP
Article | Accountability Insights
Corporate leaders can bring their organizations’ results from airball to slam-dunk with these key accountability takeaways from NBA superstars.
Slam-Dunk Success
The NBA’s top performers have figured out a few concepts about winning – concepts that can as effectively position corporate leaders for slam-dunk success. Below, we unpack some key take-aways from this year’s semi-finals. Leverage these accountability lessons from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ and Golden State Warriors’ finals showdown to foster deeper organizational engagement and effective collaboration across roles.
The Cleveland Cavaliers: The Repercussions of a Lack of Team -Wide Accountability
The 2017-18 Cavaliers illustrate that even under the leadership of the highest-ranked player in the world, success is impossible if all members of the team don’t pull together to meet the team’s goals.
“Everybody’s accountable for the team,” said 14-time NBA All-Star and three-time NBA champion Lebron James in February. Yet his call for team-wide accountability was left unfulfilled this season, leaving James to carry the Cavs into the finals: “I have to pick up for everybody when my teammates aren’t playing up to their potential.”
This prophecy played out in Game 1 of the finals, during which James scored 51 of the team’s 114 points. In the fourth and final game, impeded by a debilitating hand injury, he scored 23 points — still well above the average points per game scored by 88% of the Warriors. Yet the rest of the Cavaliers, rather than rising to the occasion by holding one another accountable for the win, relied upon James alone — which ultimately led to a painful defeat at the hands of the Warriors.
To avoid this type of painful defeat, employees at every level of a company must resist the tendency to rely on one or two key players to drive results. Instead, leaders should strive to establish a culture of accountability in which each and every employee feels motivated to help achieve organizational objectives. Motivating employees to work collaboratively towards Key Results leads to higher levels of employee engagement, teamwork, and employee satisfaction across the board.
The Golden State Warriors: All-Star Accountability
This year, the Warriors set themselves apart in their fourth consecutive championship matchup against the Cavaliers. With an All-Star packed lineup, they demonstrated that when each leader remains personally accountable for fulfilling his responsibilities, success naturally follows.
Unquestionably the best shooter in the NBA, Stephen Curry is known for his smoother-than-butter three-pointers and playful attitude. He says, “Actions speak louder than words. I approach leadership knowing that I have flaws and things to work on on a daily basis.”
Recent Warriors acquisition Kevin Durant credits Curry as the team’s leader while quietly holding himself accountable for delivering on offensive results, proving repeatedly that he can create opportunities to lift the Warriors’ score all on his own.
Balancing Curry and Durant’s offensive finesse is Draymond Green, who took home last year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. In addition to his steely resolve as a defensive player, Green is able to seamlessly move between positions from center to power forward, demonstrating that true accountability demands adaptability.
Meanwhile, Klay Thompson leads the NBA in three-point field goals per game. With his unique skill of drawing in his opposition’s defense, he creates valuable rebounding and passing opportunities for his teammates to capitalize on. A true team player, Thompson goes above and beyond his duties in order to help others achieve results for the team.
Corporate leaders should take a page from Stephen Curry’s playbook and lead by example, recognizing that “actions speak louder than words.” As the most visible members of an organization, top managers and executives can inspire accountability from all employees by actively holding themselves accountable, thereby encouraging others to follow suit and creating an accountable culture among the organization.
Ultimately, however, as the Warriors proved, it is only through the combined efforts of a number of All-Stars across different positions — each of whom takes full accountability for the team’s success — that teams achieve the biggest wins. When star players in different departments take personal accountability for delivering on results, it will inspire employee accountability in others, collectively working to construct an accountable culture that guarantees game-winning success.
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Leading like an All-Star in the Workplace
From each of these top-performing NBA leaders, corporate executives can glean a few key insights to help them lead more effectively and achieve championship-level results:
- Offer specific feedback to employees that illuminates the ways that their daily actions affect big-picture results, thereby inspiring higher levels of employee engagement.
- Don’t rely solely upon any single leader to deliver on results; instead, foster a culture in which all employees take accountability to support one another and work together to meet benchmark objectives.
- Position your All-Stars to flourish in their unique roles, capitalizing on their talents while ensuring that they understand the crucial role they play in achieving organizational objectives.
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