148. The Accountability Tightrope: The Mindset that Gets Teams Through Difficult Times

Transcript – Episode 148: The Accountability Tightrope: The Mindset that Gets Teams Through Difficult Times

Joe: I’m going to form a working alliance with the person that I am supervising and I’m going to operate from a place of wanting the best for everyone. I want the best for the company. I want the best for our customers or our patients. And I want the best for the employee. Let’s figure out how we can make that happen.

Joe: Welcome back, boss heroes, to the show that aspires to be food for the boss’s soul. We’re doing something a little bit different this summer. A few weeks back, I held a free webinar for subscribers to my Boss Better email newsletter on a challenge that a lot of leaders struggle to navigate: how do you hold people to high standards of performance in the workplace while also being the kind of leader that people would describe as compassionate and supportive and that they enjoy working for? This balancing act is something that I refer to as the accountability tightrope. This webinar was a one-hour deep dive into the habits, mindset, and best practices for holding people to those high standards while also deepening the relationships that make great teams possible. I’ve decided to share this webinar with you, our devoted listeners, in its entirety over four parts this summer. So as the summer unfolds, I hope you enjoy learning how to navigate the accountability tightrope. And if you want to be sure that you don’t miss future special events like this webinar, make sure you subscribe to my Boss Better email newsletter. It’s free and you can get on that list by visiting bossbetternow.com. And now here’s part three of the accountability tightrope.

Joe: Imagine that you’ve just taken a new job and on your very first day you sit down and meet with your new boss. Imagine that almost immediately you can sense her excitement at your arrival. After some chitchat about your trip in, you sit down together and she says something like this: “I have to tell you, I am really excited about you and about everything that you bring to the table. I loved all the diverse experience that was on your resume — it’s going to be invaluable for everything that we’re taking on right now. I love the way that you answered that one question during your interview about how to deftly navigate an environment where there are so many competing personalities and priorities. And I know that I don’t know you very well yet, but my sense is that you are someone who is not afraid to jump in and take on hard work. So I am just super excited that you’re here and I’m excited to help you get started. I can’t promise that it won’t be hard — sometimes it will be — but I can promise that I’ll be right here with you. Along the way, I’ll be as honest and upfront with you as I can in all the work that we’re going to do together. And I feel confident that whatever is happening, we’ll figure it out together. How does that sound to you? Ready to get started?”

Joe: What would that feel like as a new employee? More importantly, what do you already know? You know your boss respects you and your experience. Your boss thinks you’re talented. Your boss believes you can have a positive impact. Your boss has made it clear she’s going to be honest with you while also being right there to support you during any ups and downs. Think about how that conversation sets everybody up for success. Think about how it sets up future feedback conversations, future delegation. Think about how that sets up that leader to hold that new hire to a standard of excellence. This conversation is one example of a leadership style I’m going to refer to today as a mentor mindset. And a mentor mindset is key to navigating the accountability tightrope — that delicate balancing act between holding people to high standards and providing high support — because both are needed for people to perform at the highest level.

Joe: So what are the indicators of a mentor mindset? A mentor mindset is a leadership approach that sees people not for who they are currently, but who they have the potential to become. And it pairs high standards and high support with a focus on growth and performance developing together. Some common behaviors we see among leaders who embrace a mentor mindset: they assign real work that builds skill and confidence. They’re not giving a lot of grunt work. They’re saying, “I’m going to give you work of consequence so that you can earn your way to being a contributor as fast as possible.” This is also a leadership approach that coaches thinking and judgment instead of just giving all the answers and telling people how to do things. Leaders with a mentor mindset describe clear expectations while helping people figure out how to meet them. They also don’t always try to prevent mistakes — they see mistakes as a part of growth. They don’t see failure as something to completely prevent.

Joe: A leader who embraces a mentor mindset is also someone who frames difficult feedback with language around believing in that person’s potential: “I care enough about you to tell you the truth, and I know that you are highly capable. But if we allow this work to continue at this level, I’m letting you off the hook. You are too good and too capable and have too much potential for me to not push you.” That’s what a mentor mindset sounds like. This is someone who invests in the development, the reputation, and the future of the employee — not just today’s results. We don’t just care about the tasks and duties of someone’s job, and we don’t just care about that person’s impact on our customers today. We care about that person’s long-term prospects and their career just as much as we care about those other things.

Joe: A mentor mindset starts from a place of collaboration. The idea here is that I’m going to form a working alliance with the person that I am supervising and operate from a place of wanting the best for everyone. I want the best for the company. I want the best for our customers or our patients. And I want the best for the employee. Let’s figure out how we can make that happen.

Joe: The word mindset is key here because what you tend to believe is true is what comes out. If you believe that the new hire you just onboarded right out of school is young and underdeveloped and overly ambitious and doesn’t really know anything yet, then that’s how you’ll treat them. But if you can take a step back and say, “Well, this person doesn’t have a lot of experience, but they do bring some things to the table. They’re coming to us with fresh eyes and new perspectives, and they’re a promising blank slate to be molded” — then that is how you will treat them. A mentor mindset means that we are giving employees identities as people of worth and status and then teaching them how to be the strongest contributors possible. We assume that they bring something to the table, and we see our role as building off of that and creating opportunities for them to experience real ownership and contribution. This is something that is known as earned prestige, and it’s a key psychological building block for employee commitment.

Joe: Now, why does this approach work? High standards drive growth and performance. And high support accounts for the human condition — that we all need time to learn, that we want ownership while also needing a little bit of safety to explore and overcome doubts and make mistakes. So a mentor mindset is a leadership approach that couples high standards with high support. And we know that it drives employee commitment. It is a needle to thread, a tightrope to walk — an ever-present balance between defining and holding people to those high standards and providing the collaborative support they need to meet them.

Joe: So there you have it, boss heroes. That’s part three of the accountability tightrope. Make sure you hit that subscribe button because part four is coming in just a few days and it’s a piece you’re not going to want to miss. By the way, if this is programming that would be of value to the leaders in your organization and you’d like to have a conversation about how to make it a keynote at your next meeting or a workshop that I deliver to the leaders in your organization, just go to joemull.com and fill out the contact form. We’ll get in touch and have a conversation about how we can be of service to you. Thanks for listening, and remember: commitment comes from better bosses. See you next time.

Joe: Hey friends, did you know that I have been publishing my Boss Better email newsletter for more than 10 years? That’s right. If you want to keep in touch with me and keep your finger on the pulse of all things employee engagement and retention, workplace culture and leadership, then go to bossbetternow.com to subscribe.