Ep220 Accountability in Action - First Friday

Accountability that actually gets work done. In this First Friday session, Humanergy coach Quay Eady shows how to turn good intentions into consistent results using FACET: Focus, Accountability, Compelling Motivation, Easier to Do, and Tracking. Learn to coach one clear priority, create owner-led commitments, tie work to purpose and recognition, remove roadblocks, and measure what matters. No micromanagement, just development. Use FACET in one-on-ones and performance reviews to cut overwhelm, raise trust, and ship results.

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Transcript

Mimi Mitrius – Humanergy

Welcome, everybody. This is one of our First Friday sessions. We host free leadership workshops on the first Friday of every month. In this session, Humanergy coach Quay Eady shows how accountability becomes action by building ownership, making progress easier, and measuring what matters using Humanergy’s FACET framework. I’ll pass it over to Quay.

Quay Eady – Humanergy
Good morning. I’m excited you’re here to dig into one of my favorite topics: accountability. We’re talking about accountability in action, not just a word. How do we make sure things get done for you and your team?

When we asked for the first word that comes to mind with “accountability,” we heard follow-through, fear, trust, results-oriented. On most teams there are pockets of accountability. Sometimes we celebrate the wins and ignore the misses. At times accountability is missing because we avoid tough conversations. In my experience, we’re great reactive firefighters and not always proactive planners. We might have KPIs in place, but we notice problems too late and then the fire gets big. We want accountability intertwined with everything we do as leaders. Thank you, Lindsay.

Let’s start with a definition. Accountability is the practice of taking ownership for our commitments, actions, and outcomes, both successes and failures, while being answerable to others. The keyword is ownership. When accountability is spotty or we’re being reactive, ownership is usually what’s missing. As leaders, our job is to keep ownership alive on the team.

Today, don’t think of accountability as discipline or micromanagement. Treat it as a development tool. Accountability builds confidence. It teaches ownership. It creates self-awareness, strengthens resilience, reinforces motivation, develops prioritization skills, and models integrity. When leaders show strong accountability and hold themselves accountable, it demonstrates transparency and trustworthiness and sets the tone for the team. Your people will be as accountable as you are.

If someone on your team is lacking accountability, assume they’re not unmotivated. More likely, they need a clear picture of what accountability looks like. At Humanergy, our best practice is called FACET: Focus, Accountability, Compelling Motivation, Easier to Do, and Tracking. I’ll walk through the FACET worksheet, then give a workplace example you can use today.

F — Focus
Pick and post. Choose one behavior or way of thinking to target for a week, a month, or the length of a project. Post it visibly. Put a reminder on your calendar, write it on a card, carry it with you, or pin it at your desk. If you’ve done Humanergy’s High Impact Leadership Training or our team trainings, you’ve seen the cards with best practices. Keep the focus front-of-mind.

A — Accountability
Tell others. When you tell someone what you’ll do, you’re more likely to follow through. Tell a teammate, a family member, or a coach. Ask for real-time feedback. Give people permission to hold you to your word.

C — Compelling Motivation
Set positive and negative consequences. Make it a friendly competition with points or rewards. Set a small fine or penalty. Build it into a performance review. If it gets done or not, something happens. We don’t just sweep misses under the rug.

E — Easier to Do
Make it easier to do than not. Remove barriers and set the team up for action. Get support, start with small steps to build momentum, and schedule the work into daily routines. When it’s easier, it gets done.

T — Tracking
What you track is what changes. What you measure is what matters. Create a simple monitoring tool to record progress. Use a checklist, a quick log, or a same-time-daily habit to make it stick.

These five tools keep accountability in action: Focus, Accountability, Compelling Motivation, Easier to Do, and Tracking.

Now let’s put it to work with leadership moves and likely outcomes.

Focus — Leadership move: Coach each team member to identify one priority. Think of the first domino. Change that, and others fall into place.
Outcome: Cuts through overwhelm, builds clarity, reduces fear, and speeds progress.

Accountability — Leadership move: Ask team members to set their own commitments and share them with the team.
Outcome: Builds confidence and ownership. In meetings, ask, “Who owns the outcome?” Once someone owns it, accountability is in motion.

Compelling Motivation — Leadership move: Tie success to purpose or recognition.
Outcome: Shows people their value and sparks intrinsic motivation. For example, “If you get this report done, senior leaders can make quicker, more strategic decisions based on your data.” Tie the task to something bigger.

Easier to Do — Leadership move: Remove roadblocks. Provide templates and resources. Set clear expectations.
Outcome: Models supportive leadership. People want to be stretched, but in a supportive environment, not thrown to the wolves.

Tracking — Leadership move: Create a simple, visible check-in process.
Outcome: Builds transparency and self-leadership. People can see if they’re on pace or behind, adjust, and even start training others when they’re ahead.

That’s the FACET tool. Use it to put accountability into action: create focus, build accountability, set compelling motivation, make it easier to do, and track the work. Five simple steps. You can use FACET in one-on-ones and performance reviews. Use it often to keep attention on what needs to get done.

From me to you, accountability is one of the greatest compliments you can give your team. It says, “I believe you can.” When you believe in people, they find the energy to do more than they thought possible.

This week, choose one goal to coach your team through and use FACET. Watch confidence grow as results roll in, and watch people grow as projects get done. That’s how you create a real win-win. Thank you.