Accountability that Improves Performance

​Accountability that Improves Performance.

​I used to think accountability was like confession: confronting people with their errors and getting them to admit their mistakes. I found that this approach created awkwardness, defensiveness, and resentment. Instead of improving performance, my approach was damaging relationships.

​Atlassian, a leading software company known for products like Jira and Confluence, had a blame-centric culture that hampered innovation and collaboration. The company’s rapid growth led to increased pressure on teams, and managers quickly assigned blame when projects went awry. This created a culture of fear, where employees were hesitant to take risks or admit mistakes, leading to stagnant performance and low morale.  

​I learned a better way: focusing on improving future performance rather than past mistakes. So did Atlassian. Shifting from a blame-centric approach to one that emphasizes growth and improvement, enhanced employee morale, fostered innovation, and improved performance by 20%.

​When approached in this way, accountability is about shaping behavior and enhancing performance, not assigning blame. In this session, you’ll gain:

• ​A diagnostic tool to help you assess where your accountability system might be breaking down.

• ​The four types of feedback, why positive reinforcement is your most potent behavior shaping tool.

• ​A step-by-step process to use supportive criticism.

• ​How to use feed-forward to improve future performance and avoid the defensiveness that comes with constructive criticism.