Accountability isn’t just about checking whether others are doing what they’re meant to do. It’s also about checking our own perceptions against what’s actually happening.

Apparently, we Victorians love a public holiday.

And to be fair, I can see why we’ve earned that reputation.

Here in Victoria, Australia, two of our public holidays are for sporting events, the AFL Grand Final and the Melbourne Cup, which probably makes us look a little more public-holiday happy than most.

But according to Google, Victoria actually has 14 public holidays, while other parts of Australia have 15.

So, our reputation doesn’t quite match the reality.

And it got me thinking about how easily our perceptions can become our reality, without us ever stopping to check the facts.

Particularly when it comes to leading people.

Last week on LinkedIn, I spoke a lot about accountability and my 3 R’s to Accountability framework.

The idea is pretty simple. Accountability shouldn’t only happen when something goes wrong. It’s an ongoing cycle that encourages others to take responsibility for what’s been agreed and be answerable for the outcome:

• Requirements: get clear on what’s expected from the outset.
• Review: check in regularly on progress, what’s working and what isn’t.
• Reinforce or Re-adjust: recognise what’s working or make changes where they’re needed.

But accountability shouldn’t be one-sided. When something isn’t progressing as expected, our role isn’t simply to judge the outcome. It’s to understand what’s happening, what might have changed and what needs to be adjusted.

Which is why asking curious, open-ended questions (included in the framework) is so important.

It stops our perceptions from becoming conclusions without checking what’s actually happening.

We might think someone isn’t taking ownership, isn’t committed or isn’t delivering. But a regular review gives us the opportunity to get curious, hear their perspective and understand what’s really going on.

Sometimes our perception will be right. Sometimes there’ll be more to the story.

Either way, we’re working with what’s actually happening rather than what we assume is happening.

Accountability isn’t just about ensuring others are doing what they’re meant to do. It also requires us to check our perceptions against what’s actually happening.

Something to Ponder this week:

What assumptions might you be making that you haven’t yet checked?

What could you learn by getting curious and asking a few more questions?

As always, I trust this has got you thinking and has been helpful in some way, shape or form.

Until next week, be well and lead well.

Kylie