As a manager or business leader often one of the last things you want to hear is that you’re seen as a micromanager. Micromanagement can not only be viewed as the ultimate sign of a poor leader, but it’s unlikely that you have the time or interest to manage every single minute facet of your employees’ performance.
So the question then becomes how do you hold employees accountable in the workplace, in terms of training and performance, without becoming the dreaded micromanager?
Create Standards That Outline What Accountability Means In Your Organization
This sounds so simple—employees need to know what the expectations are in order to adhere to them—yet it’s something that often goes undone and that falls on the shoulders of managers and leaders.
From the day you bring a new employee onboard and begin training that individual they need to have a clear idea of what the standards of performance are, and they need to know they’re expected to adhere to these standards at all times.
Maintain Consistency
Accountability is something that starts at the top and goes downward through an organization. In order to create accountability there also needs to be consistency in a business.
That means standards for training and performance are unwavering and everyone across the board, regardless of rank or position, is held to those standards.
Accountability isn’t something that can come and go and it’s not something that’s only meant for lower ranking people in a business.
Lead by example in the quest to create a culture of accountability.
Track Training and Development
So many organizations will take the initial effort to invest in and implement employee training, but they then fall short when it comes to follow-through, particularly in terms of tracking that training.
Using a learning management system is a good way to sidestep this hurdle that leads to a lack of accountability. With an LMS you can incorporate automated tracking and reporting features that let you view how each employee is doing in terms of both initial training and also career-long development.
With a robust sense of training and development performance it’s easier to hold employees accountable, and when they know they’re being measured in terms of training performance they’re more likely to be engaged through the learning process.
Integrate Performance Reviews and Goal Setting Into Business Strategy
Performance reviews and creating objectives and strategies for employee performance are often looked at as menial must-do tasks in the workplace, and that sets the tone for your employees’ sense of accountability.
Rather than creating the concept that performance reviews are a monotonous bit of bureaucracy, integrate them into every facet of your business strategy, larger goals and employee development.
If you don’t view performance reviews and objective-setting as important, neither will your employees.
These performance reviews need to not only be held in high regard throughout an organization, but they also need to be comprehensive and above all, honest. If employees don’t know where their shortcomings and strengths lie there’s really no impetus for them to change their performance, leading to a lack of accountability.
Individualize Your Approach
While consistency is key that doesn’t mean your approach has to be one-size-fits all.
Training, development and performance management are all aspects of business that should be personalized to the individual because not every employee is the same and not everyone is going to respond to things in the same way.
One way to recognize these differences is in how you deliver training. e-Learning provides the framework to let your employees tailor their training and development experience to their own needs and to approach training at a pace and in a style that suits them. This doesn’t promote inconsistency, because while the delivery may be unique, the metrics and standards should remain the same.
It’s About Rewards As Much As Punishment
One final note about accountability in the workplace—it shouldn’t always put the spotlight on negative performance or behavior.
Just as much as holding your employees accountable in the training process and throughout their performance is about identifying remedying gaps, it’s also about highlighting strengths and promoting and encouraging them by rewarding employees.
In order to avoid micromanaging your employees through strengthening their sense of accountability, begin looking at not just the negatives but also the positives.
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