Category: communication

Accountability Starts at the Top

“Having great power comes with great responsibilities as the popular adage goes and that involves making sure you set a good example for your peers and those people who look up to you.”

Good leadership has never been more important than it is now. Regardless of which organization, firm, company, or working body you oversee or manage, you have a responsibility to be open, transparent, and accountable to both your subordinates and others who have a stake in the leadership role you oversee. Having great power comes with great responsibilities as the popular adage goes and that involves making sure you set a good example for your peers and those people who look up to you.

While what you’re in your own role should not reflect on how others in an organized company, firm, or agency to do their own roles, but you can have an outsized impact on the effect you have on other people you work with by setting a good example for them. What do I mean by setting a good example? There are several ways, including the fifteen I have listed below to do that in a leadership role in the working world and for which will not only help you as a leader but help the workplace that you are both developing and managing.

  1. Own Up to Your Mistakes – Acknowledge personal errors without deflecting blame to your subordinates. This sets up a culture where it’s okay to fail, but it’s crucial to learn from it without being chastised.
  2. Communicate Transparently and Consistently – Keep team members in the loop about decisions, challenges, and updates on a weekly or at least a monthly basis. Transparent communication fosters trust and accountability. Avoiding gossip, rumors, and other loose talk is a key role of a leader to make sure that doesn’t override official guidance.
  3. Set Clear Expectations for Everyone – Define what success looks like in specific terms for each person’s performance and hold everyone, including themselves as the leader or CEO, to those same standards.
  4. Lead by Actual Action(s) – Demonstrate work ethic, punctuality, proper dress code and overall professionalism each day. Leaders who practice what they preach inspire others to do the same. Always be willing to put in serious work relevant to your company’s mission and not just sit in meetings all day when you could be pitching in to help with the big picture, especially for a smaller organization when you may not have as many employees to solve problems that come up each day.
  5. Encourage Consistent Feedback from Others – Actively seek feedback from all levels of the organization for how things could improve or be better for the average worker. This shows that the leader values input and is open to improvement even when it may reflect negatively on them or the organization.
  6. Hold Themselves to the Same Standard – Apply the same level of accountability to themselves as they would to others, regardless of rank or position. Make sure that they are open to having their performance reviewed just the same as anyone else.
  7. Be Consistent in Your Decision Making – Consistency in decisions, actions, and behavior reinforces trust and a culture of accountability. For example, if there is a flexible hybrid or remote work policy and a contract is signed for that part of the work environment, that cannot just be ended without abiding by the contract or letting people know there will be changes after the end of a contract. It’s important to not pull the rug out from your employees when they come into the job with certain work expectations that they agreed to.
  8. Provide Recognition and Consequences – Celebrate successes and address failures in a fair and constructive way. Holding people accountable, positively or negatively, ensures a balanced approach that people will appreciate because of your honesty and consistency.
  9. Empower Other People in Their Roles – Provide resources, training, and autonomy for team members to succeed and be responsible for their roles. Make sure that they can go to conferences, relevant trainings, skills development courses, and other events that they will benefit from whether it’s for IT, sales, marketing, business development, etc.
  10. Always Maintain Ethical and Moral Standards – Model both Ethical and Morally sound behavior for others in your organization, even when no one is looking. This sets a baseline for personal and organizational integrity that others will follow based on your example as the leader of the firm and because they know they are doing right and following the rules.
  11. Be Present and Available to Everyone – Hold open office hours each week and make it a priority to meet with each employee or each team throughout the year to see how they are doing, especially individually. Be accessible to all team members when they need guidance or clarity, demonstrating commitment to their growth and accountability in your firm or organization.
  12. Follow Through on Your Commitments – Demonstrate reliability by keeping promises and meeting deadlines, setting an example for follow-through in the organization. Your word is your bond as a leader in the work you do, and others will want to do business with you or continue the partnership if you are able to do what you said you were going to do.
  13. Foster a Culture of Mutual Accountability – Cultivate an environment where everyone feels responsible for the success of the team, not just individual performance. If you have different teams, make sure they know the role that is expected of them, what they are responsible for, and how to resolve issues with each other when they inevitably come up.
  14. Address Issues Promptly and Privately – Tackle accountability problems early before they grow into larger organizational issues, showing that problems are addressed fairly and swiftly. Make sure to do it privately as well with those affected employees and keep it constructive in terms of ensuring more accountability. It’s never good to air out grievances with your workers in public or in front of a team or group of employees.
  15. Provide Continued Growth and Training Opportunities – Workers want to feel like they are progressing in the job and giving skills or certification training(s) can really help with overall job satisfaction. Being able to provide a long-term trajectory for those people in your firm or company so they stick around and lower the turnover rate is key too.

Being a leader of a company, firm, or organization is not easy, but the reward of being an effective leader of a thriving workplace is worth the stress of it all. You must be a positive example who sets a high standard but also is able to help the people under you develop their own professional futures and be willing to adapt and adjust your own ideas and policies based on constructive feedback. If accountability and transparency are to thrive in any organization, it must come from leadership first and work its way down through the hierarchy.

Call or Text Those Who Matter to You

“You may not think it is a big deal, but I really believe it is one of the kindest things you could do for another person.”

You can tell who really cares about you by those people in your life who take a little time out of their busy days to call or text you. You may not think it is a big deal, but I really believe it is one of the kindest things you could do for another person. They aren’t expecting you to reach out at all perhaps or you have not reached out in a while so they wouldn’t expect any contact, but the fact that you take the time to think of them, to send them a text message or to give them a call, shows just how much they really matter to you.

There are certainly other ways to show your appreciation and care for the people in your life such as meeting them to go out for dinner or for drinks or even a coffee or tea. However, I believe that sustaining a friendship or relationship isn’t just about meeting up every now and then but it’s about actively taking an interest in their life and how they are really doing. Being able to check in on them in a sincere way will make you stand out compared to other people in that person’s life.

Being a simple acquaintance is someone who doesn’t mind meeting up with you but for which you are the one who is always initiating, always reaching out, and always doing the leg work. That kind of one-sided contact can get old after a while as you may enjoy their company but feel as if they never reciprocate or attempt to make plans with you as well. Having a one-sided set up especially if you are always the initiator is what makes that person more of an acquaintance than a friend or a romantic partner. Those kinds of one-sided interactions can be fun and enjoyable, but they don’t have the kind of longevity you should really be looking for.

If you are always the person who is reaching out to call or text them, then good for you on doing so and I recommend it, but don’t let your own kindness and thoughtfulness not be reciprocated at all. Hopefully, the other person will eventually take the hint to do the same for you not just because it is the right thing to do but because they want to do so, and they also care about you. If you are always calling, texting, or making plans, and you don’t mind doing so, you can keep it going if you enjoy that person’s company. Moreover though, if they never reciprocate or show an active interest in your life and it frustrates you to how it is so one-sided, you may need to rethink how often you see or talk to that person.

Kindness should not ever come with an expectation of any reciprocation, but a one-sided friendship or relationship is not going to work out. I still would encourage anyone reading this to not be afraid to check-in with a loved one whether it’s a romantic partner, a friend, or a family member. Don’t expect to always have them to do the same for you but I will say that it’s more likely for them to reach back out to you when you do that for them. You may have to be the first to do so but hopefully you won’t be the only person to do so and they’ll start thinking of you more and wondering how life is treating you.

Whether you are going through good times or bad times, you should call or text those people who really matter to you. It makes a huge difference, more than you would ever think, when you reach out to someone. You are going to brighten their day, improve their mood, or even strengthen the bond or connection you both already have. It truly is a selfless and kind act that we should be encouraging more in our society. If someone knows that you care and are thinking of them, they will feel energized and perhaps a little less sad or lonely as a result.

We may not be able to see that person in person but when you can call or text them to have a conversation, that is the next best thing that you can do. With how much technology has advanced, it’s almost as if they are with you physically and in the room with you. We are all busy and have a lot going on these days in our lives, but a simple call can just take a few minutes and a text message takes less than that in just a few seconds.

Let us strive to be there for one another especially when you know that person is struggling with something or having a rough patch in their life. Reach out to those who matter to you and don’t let it just be you doing it all the time. Make sure it’s a two-way street but if you must take the initiative first, do not hesitate in doing so. Kindness is about caring for one another and making a simple phone call or sending a text message to someone you love or like is the best way to start.

Reading Between The Lines Is A Key Skill

“When you ‘read between the lines’, you understand better what someone means even when they may not be outright saying or expressing it.”

‘Reading Between the Lines’ is a popular expression or phrase that really holds a lot of weight to it when you think of the meaning. When you ‘read between the lines’, you understand better what someone means even when they may not be outright saying or expressing it. Beyond simply verbally conveying their thoughts or feelings, the key ability to perceive how someone really feels through other factors such as their tone, their body language, their interaction(s) with the environment around them, this can really make a difference in how well you read them and what they really mean.

Culturally, indirect speech, behavior, or communication is quite common and what is not said is as important or if not more so important than what is said. You can save yourself a lot of trouble in life by reading between the lines and inferring what is meant or indicated than what is vaguely said or stated to you directly. Maybe you will be able to grasp a basic idea of what someone means through their speech or their mannerisms, but you will often have to look at not just those factors but also the environment for which it was said, the context for which it was given, the body language of the person(s) involved, and the tone of voice that they used to convey the message.

Because of trying to protect sensitivities or not disrupt group harmony or not wanting to ‘rock the boat’, another similar expression, either professionally or personally, you will be asked to read between the lines of what is written and what is said throughout life. Knowing the difference and how to understand what is directly implied to you but indirectly stated will save you a lot of confusion, disappointment, and time above all else. I’ve written before about how important it is to mind your surroundings, and that ties into why it is key to notice the environment you’re in when the speech is given, or where the meeting happens.

Some factors that come into play when it comes to reading between the lines of a speech or a public discourse that is happening, the speaker(s) body language, tone, and whether they are really conveying their true feelings or beliefs in what they are saying. If they are masking what they truly believe or feel, you should be able to pick that up through steady practice. It is not just about the spoken word but also about the written word and this can be crucial when it comes to important legal, medical, or financial documents.

You should constantly be noting the who / when / where / what / why / how of the author and who is the audience they are addressing. It is also necessary to ask are they writing with a specific tone and do they have a personal bias or an agenda that shows through their written piece. It is much easier to read between the lines when you are with that person in the same room and they are speaking to you directly or indirectly in an audience because you can hear the tone, see the body language, and watch their emotional state. It is much harder yet no less important to be able to pick that up through writing whether it is a text message from a friend or a legal contract from a lawyer.

This kind of skill is not taught to many people, but it is a vital skill to have especially when you are trying to tell if someone is being truthful, if they have your best interests at heart, and if they really understand what you are telling them. If you are listening intently, absorbing what you are hearing or reading, and able to come to your own conclusions after putting some thought into it, you will be ahead of other people. Reading between the lines is a skill that takes not only additional concentration but patience as well. You should not be interrupting when you do this verbally, be distracted by another task or person to mix up your attention, really watching the person(s) talking and observing how they act in the environment they’re in, and most importantly, what is your relation to the person, how long have you known them for, and if you know anything about their background for which you can infer something about who they are.

It is easier to know someone’s true thoughts, feelings, or beliefs when you are giving them your undivided attention. You also have an advantage if you know a little bit about them beforehand, their background, what their personality is like, and what their point of view is likely to be based on all those factors. This kind of perspective can make a big difference especially professionally because you’ll know better of who you’re dealing with, where they’re coming from, and what they might be like when they meet and talk with you.

There are going to be crucial points in your life where you’ll need to read between the lines such as during an intense negotiation, dealing with business meetings, and just making sure in your day-to-day life that you’re not being taken advantage of. It can be hard to trust other people at times and you really must screen them hard to see if they are giving you the truth, embellishing a little bit, or outright lying. Being able to read between the lines will not only help with the major events in life but also in small day-to-day interactions as well. Most importantly, if you carry yourself well, give steady eye contact, listen without interrupting, speak clearly and in a steady tone, avoid distractions when you’re reading or listening, you will have a much easier time being able to read people.

You likely won’t be anywhere near 100% successful in thinking you know the person or people you’re reading in terms of body language, behavior, and their actions but you’ll be much better off than before if you at least try. Indirect communication can be a real pain to navigate but it is quite common in our culture and our society. To remedy that, make sure you do your best to read between the lines, make an assessment, and carry forward with the best intentions. I think it is quite likely you’ll be in a better position than you were before by adopting this skill and making it a priority in your life.