Our leadership team has agreed on the high-level seats on our Accountability Chart, but our managers are complaining that they do not understand the difference between a job description and the five bullet points in an Accountability Chart seat. How do we explain the difference to our staff?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A job description is typically a long, tedious list of tasks and daily activities that quickly gets dusty in a drawer. An Accountability Chart seat is completely different. It defines the high-level accountability and outcomes that a person is responsible for delivering.

Each seat on your Accountability Chart should have exactly five major roles. These roles are broad, outcome-based statements that define the essence of the seat. For example, instead of listing twenty tasks like updating the CRM, sending follow-up emails, and cold calling, the Head of Sales seat should have a single role called Driving Sales Revenue.

Explain to your staff that the Accountability Chart defines what they are responsible for, not how they do it. It gives them the freedom to own their seat and find the best way to achieve their outcomes.

When employees understand their five roles, they can easily determine if they GWC the seat. It simplifies performance discussions because you are evaluating them on high-level accountability rather than micromanaging their daily task list. Keep your Accountability Chart clean and focused on high-level outcomes to maintain clarity across the entire organization.