Charlotte dreads her upcoming meeting. She’s got to give performance feedback to James, one of her longtime employees. He’s frequently late on project deadlines; each time he has a different—and plausible—explanation. But there’s a pattern affecting his relationships with his co-workers.
How to Have an Accountability Conversation Without Pain
This is Part Two of a piece on accountability conversations. If you haven’t read the original piece, you can find it here. You can also find a free PDF worksheet, 5 Reasons to Tackle That Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding here.
Quick recap: Many of us find oodles of ways to avoid having conversations focused on holding someone else accountable. And yet, there are so many situations that could use such a conversation:
Your co-worker always shows up eight minutes late for your weekly team calls. Meanwhile, the rest of you spend that time making idle chitchat.
Your neighbor’s dog barks all night long. Every night.
Your daughter leaves dishes in the sink, right after you’ve finshed the dishes.
Your direct report is a lovely person who just happens to have a chronic backlog of overdue assignments.