Accountability Partner – Management Theory
Change & Transition
February 23, 2023Jargon vs Speaking Plainly
April 10, 2023Lately in our work discussions, the role of a Team Leader has come up. At Backyard Bookkeeper, we’ve settled on the idea of a Team Leader being an Accountability Partner for their teammates. According to Google, an Accountability Partner is someone who “supports another person to keep a commitment or maintain progress on a desired goal.”
The challenge of leadership is often finding the balance between oversight and autonomy. Too much oversight and you’re micromanaging, too much autonomy allows people to get into the weeds on projects that don’t serve the greater goals of the company. Being an Accountability Partner to your team ensures that balance.
How do you do this as a Team Lead? Here are a few tips:
- Ask what the Team Member is working on, what their goals are, and how you can support them in it
- Ask the Team Member about their specific responsibilities, have them show progress on their end goal, and have them show you the parts they’re stuck on
- Have the team member show you a “finished product”, when they feel they have achieved their goal and help them tweak it to be even better