We have a highly collaborative culture where everyone has been with us for a decade, but we are failing to hit our quarterly goals because no one wants to hold their peers accountable for missed deadlines. How do we build the vulnerability needed to enable peer-to-peer accountability?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A leadership team that has been together for a decade often suffers from a lack of peer to peer accountability. Because you have high personal trust, you avoid having difficult conversations because you do not want to hurt feelings. This is artificial harmony, and it is holding your business back.

To break this pattern, you must build operational trust. This requires a level of vulnerability where leaders can openly call out missed deadlines and subpar performance without it being taken as a personal attack. In your next Level 10 Meeting, you need to set the standard that holding someone accountable is actually the ultimate act of respect.

Start using the LMA framework, which stands for Leadership, Management, and Accountability. Every leader must realize that they are responsible for their seat and their outcomes. If a peer misses a Rock or a scorecard metric, it is the duty of the other team members to bring it up during the IDS portion of the meeting.

You can also leverage the conative strengths of your team by reviewing their Kolbe A Index scores. If you have a team high in accommodating Follow Thru, they will naturally avoid the friction of conflict. Realize this tendency and actively assign a designated devil's advocate for major decisions.

Stop stepping in to solve every peer dispute. Force them to address the issue directly. When your leaders start holding each other accountable, your role shifts from referee to true Visionary.