Is Your Team Being Held Hostage?

It's the most common thing I hear when I talk to CEOs and Founders.

It's the same thing I hear from the managers I talk with — from Senior VPs to first-time team leaders. It's the thing leaders fall back on when there's a problem in the company culture:

"But they're really good at their job."

The problem is … it's not true.

What I see in the organizations I work with is people spending their day managing around one or two people on their team. I see them compromise their values and play it safe out of fear of looking bad. They look the other way on how people with certain high-value skills treat others.

Most managers come to believe that gossip, politics, and bureaucracy are the way things are. And they make a decision to put their head down and try their best to get things done in spite of that dysfunction.

The way to create a life-changing place to work is to turn that around. It starts by changing the agreement.

Being good at your job means being good at being part of a team. And being a member of a team — especially in the modern office — is all about relationships. It's about learning to name your emotions instead of wearing them on your sleeve and acting them out.

It comes down to one skill. It's a skill represented by a word that's been used so many times that it's lost its meaning. We have to bring it back.

The word is accountability.

And it's the key to transforming your team and your company culture. Accountability is not about nitpicking mistakes or shaming people. Accountability is creating opportunities for growth.