How Managers Build Team Accountability During and After Meetings

Meetings don’t fail because of bad agendas. They fail when decisions don’t turn into action.

In this episode of the podcast for managers, Desiree picks up from last week’s conversation on meeting fatigue and zooms in on what happens next. You’ll learn why accountability often feels like micromanagement, how clarity and support change follow through, and what real team accountability actually looks like after meetings end.

This episode walks through three things every manager is responsible to their team for: clarity, support, and accountability. When these are present, meetings become a leadership development tool instead of a source of conflict at work.

Key Takeaways
 • Why clarity closes the gap between expectation and reality
 • How support prevents accountability from feeling like micromanagement
 • What managers can do after meetings to protect team standards

Listen to more episodes on meeting, conflict and accountability!

3 Ways Meetings Drain Your Team and Create Conflict at Work

A Manager's Guide to Keeping Top Talent and Stopping Negativity Before it Spreads
5 Steps to Rebuild Trust and Handle Conflict at Work as a Manager
How Great Managers Prevent Conflict Before it Starts

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

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Transcript

Desiree (00:05.026)
biggest frustrations I hear from leaders and teams I've worked with can be summed up in one word, accountability. How do we hold people accountable when they either don't get something done or they don't get it done to the level that's expected? Follow-ups feel awkward, assuming we don't just decide to do it ourselves. Conversations can feel tense, assuming we can get up the courage to have the conversation in the first place.

And for a lot of managers, accountability starts to feel like micromanagement because it feels like there's no other options. So today we're going to play off of last week's episode where we discussed the value of meetings and how to have them in a way that makes the team stronger and burn out our employees at a slower rate. We're gonna zoom in on what to do during and after the meeting to hold our teams accountable to the standards that we have set for our team. So welcome back to You're the Boss, Now What? I'm your host, Desiree Petriq.

And our goal here is to help you lead yourself and your team with confidence. So lean in and let's get started.

Cough cough

Desiree (01:15.31)
I'm going to start with what we are all thinking. Accountability is hard. But as a leader, there is an extra layer of pressure at work because we are responsible for other people holding themselves accountable. It's not just about are we setting our alarm and waking up to it without hanging snooze or going to bed at a certain time or reading or exercising if we say we want to. It's not just holding ourselves accountable. We have to hold our team members accountable.

And the thing I think that we as leaders get wrong about accountability is that we think we are responsible for the output of our team. In a way, yes, we are because we need to take responsibility for the final output. But from the start of the conversation, through the process and to the deadline, we have to remember that we're not responsible for our team. We are responsible to them. We are responsible to provide them with three things, clarity, support,

and accountability. It is their responsibility to reach those expectations, but it's our job to provide them what they need in order to do that. Clarity is going to make sure that the expectations are actually clear. They're not just assumed by us. We're not expecting something that we shouldn't be. Clarity is making sure the expectations are there. Support is removing obstacles and answering questions without doing the work for them.

and accountability is just following up in a way that protects the standard. So let's dive into each of these individually. Number one, clarity. It is going to close the gap between reality and expectation. So last week, we talked a lot about meetings, how we can go before the meeting and during the meeting to make sure that we are doing them in the right way, in the right way for our team and for our goals. Now we're going to talk clarity within the meeting.

before we get to the pieces of afterwards.

Desiree (03:24.384)
If I had to guess, I would say this is the number one thing that is repeated to me by people who listen to this podcast or who have heard me speak. And that is always assume positive intent. It's something I've been saying for years and years, always assume positive intent because we know our team wants to do good work. They want to be valued as a team member. Our employees are not trying to be difficult.

by ignoring us or by not meeting our expectations. If you've ever had a team member say something like, well, I thought someone else was handling that, or I did what I thought I was supposed to do, and they say it in a defensive or a genuinely surprised kind of way, it's likely that there was different interpretations during our meetings about the decision that was made. Their interpretation of what we said was different than what we meant.

That's the difference between reality and expectation. So how do we go about making sure that this gap is actually getting closed? I'm gonna tell you this, you're gonna hear this today. You've maybe even heard me say these things before, but this is not a one time fix. This is in every meeting we get to work a little bit more on making sure that we provide our team with two things, clarity and buy-in. Patrick Lynch only when he wrote the five dysfunctions of a team.

These are the two main pieces of the puzzle for commitment. How do we get our team to commit to something and not just nod their head and say, yes, I'm, I get it. I'm in, but actually commit to and understand the impact that that decision can have. two things, clarity and buy-in. They will leave the meeting knowing exactly what's expected of them as a team and specifically what their part is in outcome.

So how can we go about this? There are ways that we can build this clarity during the meetings. Number one, clearly restate the decision before the meeting ends. Say we're in a meeting, there's five of us and a decision needs to be made on what color to paint the walls. Clearly restate the decision before the meeting ends.

Desiree (06:00.632)
So what are some ways to actually build this clarity during our meetings? One of the things is buy-in. We sometimes listen to the loudest voices because they are there and they're willing to speak, which means that anyone in the room who is either too shy or just takes a little longer to process things or is very adverse to any sort of conflict, they are not going to likely speak up.

At least not right away. And what happens is we then lose any of that knowledge or creativity or understanding of what the best option might be. So as a leader, it's our responsibility when it comes to buy in to be asking questions to certain individuals, giving room and space for everyone in a room to talk. That might go that might look like going around and saying, what do you think? What would your vote be? At the end of the day?

If we're needing to paint the room red or yellow, there's going to be either a consensus, in which case, great, but that doesn't normally happen. There's going to be a certain number who choose one color and a certain number who choose the other, and they are going to have reasons as to why. And it's your job as the leader to get buy-in from every person and then to make the decision. Once that decision is made, it is your responsibility to build clarity by restating

that decision right before the meeting ends. I could say, we are going to paint this room red. And by the time we leave that meeting, everyone could have forgotten or just completely.

Desiree (08:03.874)
right before the meeting ends, saying something along the lines of, the final decision that we made here today after hearing everyone's opinion is, this room will be getting painted red. Now, the next piece of building clarity is naming ownership and the timeline. So it might sound something like this. Beth, it is your responsibility to call the place where we get the paint, the hardware store. I had a brain for it there. We're gonna call the hardware store.

Desiree (08:38.305)
Beth, it's your responsibility by the end of the week to call the hardware store and get the options for red to bring back to the team for our next meeting. That is naming ownership. That is naming the timeline out loud. Next meeting comes, we've now decided on what color red, and it might sound like, Jim, you are here earliest in the morning to open the doors. It's your responsibility on Tuesday when they're coming to paint to open the door and make sure that everything is supplied for them.

that is needed, naming ownership, naming the timeline. Once we've done that, we now have something to hold someone accountable to. If we are saying, all right, we're gonna paint the room red, decision made, but nothing else is talked about, and you just assume that Beth knows that it's her responsibility to call the hardware store, and a week later you go and hold her accountable to not doing that, whose fault is it really?

that that didn't get done. And the personal attack that Beth now feels for being held responsible and accountable to something that she didn't understand was her responsibility, that's where tension comes in. That's where frustration and this feeling like you got attacked comes in. So if we can get buy-in from every team member, clearly restate the decisions that are made, name ownership and timeline so that we actually have something to hold them accountable to.

and then confirm what the boundaries of the project are. Where is there still some freedom for interpretation? What is okay and what isn't? That is what is going to help us to create that clarity. If we don't do these things in meetings, we're gonna end up having to try and clarify later. Whether it's five separate one-on-one meetings where everyone is still interpreting something different because they weren't all in the same room together. We're going to end up having to create tense and personal

moments of frustration from our team that feel like micromanagement because we didn't clarify in the meeting. So that's number one. It's a big one. There's an episode on this podcast going over the five dysfunctions of a team. It's going to talk about clarity and commitment and buying a little bit more. So I'll link that in the show notes for you. But let's dive right into step number two. We've now been in the meeting. We've done what we've needed to to create clarity in that meeting.

Desiree (11:06.762)
Now it's our responsibility to give support. This is the second piece of the puzzle. Support is often misunderstood as either being too hands off because I support my team member. I believe they want to do good. I'm not going to, you know, manage them in any way, shape or form because I know they know what they're doing. That's what hands off looks like. Or we end up stepping in too much and either doing what

looks like micromanaging or we do the work ourselves. Neither of those things is helping us to build accountability on our team. Think of support like a spectrum. On one end, it looks like complete hands off. It looks like not giving our team what is needed because we don't want them to think that we're micromanaging. A personal example of this is when I was managing

Desiree (12:06.796)
when I first became a manager, I really wanted a budget. I wanted to be able to say that I stayed within the budget while still making things better for our team. And I wanted to be able to say that I did a good job. And not only that, I wanted to receive some words of affirmation, which happens to be my love language, from my boss and have him tell me that I did a good job. But when I would ask for a budget, he would say something along the lines of,

It's okay, I trust you, spend what you think you need to spend. Okay, great, I'm glad you trust me. However, when I went over budget, I was brought into the office and told you went over budget, you spent too much on this. Again, I immediately got frustrated and defensive because I was not given a budget to stay within. And that felt like a complete misunderstanding and misalignment between

he and I, and I was therefore terrified to spend money after that for the next two years. So what I want you to understand is a hands off approach is actually not what your team wants. You might think it is and they might even think it is, but we need to give our team boundaries. We need to give them support and those timelines we talked about and that clarity and those expectations, because that's what helps us to know we're doing a good job. That's what helps us to know.

that we are creating value and that it's useful and helpful. And it also helps us as a leader to say, you did a good job. It helps us to give those words of affirmation or to appreciate our team members in that type of way. It's really hard to do that if we don't have any sort of boundaries to hold them accountable to, or for themselves to hold themselves accountable. So the other side of the spectrum though is

Desiree (14:07.736)
But on the other side of the spectrum, I think is where most leaders are actually terrified to get to, which is, I don't want to be a micro manager. I don't want my team to think that I don't trust them. I don't want my team to think that I am standing over their shoulder making sure that things are done.

Desiree (14:33.236)
That is valid. I understand that. Trying to find the middle of the two extremes between, you know, total hands off and what we consider to be micromanagement is really hard. But I want you to think about something. Micromanagement and management tend to look the same from the outside looking in. If we don't have trust built up within our team, if we're not able to have these hard conversations, we

term it as micromanagement, even though micromanagement and management are technically the same. But what it comes down to is how are you communicating expectations? What is your intent behind what it is that you're saying? If in a Monday meeting you said, okay, by Friday, we need to have these colors done. We need to have these paint samples in. And on Friday morning, if you check in with Beth and you say,

Hey, did you get a chance to call the hardware store? Beth has two options. She can assume you're micromanaging and that you don't trust her and that you are not believing that she did what she was supposed to do and say, my gosh, yes, I called them. Don't worry, they will be there for our meeting this afternoon. Or Beth could think, I am so glad that she reminded me. I did it already, but if I hadn't done it, I would have been really glad that she said something. And she could respond with,

Thank you so much for the reminder. I did actually call them. The samples will be here in time for our meeting on Friday. It's all about the way that we communicate and our belief that

Desiree (16:17.942)
and our ability to say, assume positive intent. This is not only for you as a leader, but for us to coach our employees. It's all about the way that things are being said and the way that they are intended and the way that they are accepted. And that's something that is built with time and the building of trust and the constant communication that is required between a leader and their team members.

Desiree (16:48.728)
to finish up this conversation around support. If we can set those clear expectations that we talked about, and we can say things like, here is the outcome that we are aiming for, here are the boundaries that we need to work within, I am going to check in to make sure you don't need anything from me, and I will give feedback if adjustments are needed, but I fully trust that if you need me, you will come to me.

And I trust that you are going to do the absolute best that you can because I know how dedicated you are to this. That is very cheesy and it was very long and it was probably unnecessary, but that's what it would look like. Bits and pieces of that is what it would look like for it not to be management, but for it to be leadership. Checking in on your team is necessary. Following up on deadlines is necessary. Giving feedback is part of your job as a leader. It's what will make

your team not just good, but great. It's not micromanagement when it's done with the right intent and communicated in the right way. That is what support looks like and it is something your team needs from you. So let's get into this final piece. Technically, we've been talking about accountability the whole time, but this third piece is not in the meeting and not at the end of the meeting, but after the meeting.

Some leaders are going to say that they don't hold their team accountable because it doesn't make a difference anyway. They're not going to listen to what I say. They don't care if I'm putting pressure on them, et cetera. Some leaders are going to say that they don't like conflict. And so they're just going to do it themselves or they're going to avoid it. And again, neither of those options is good. As a leader, part of your responsibility is to keep people

Desiree (18:51.544)
but there's something I want you to understand about accountability. If the first two pieces of the puzzle, clarity and support are in place, then accountability doesn't need to feel hopeless or hard. It's simply honoring the standard that was already agreed to. We as a team already agreed to what the end result should look like. Accountability is then just having a conversation on your team of how does that actually look? How is that actually implemented?

Here's another thing that Patrick Lincione talks about in five dysfunctions of a team. And it was a new concept to me. That is that peer to peer accountability is actually where most of the accountability should be happening on a team. It is the leader's final job to hold someone accountable if needed. But if we can create the expectations on the team that our standards are high, our standards to our customers, our standards to our

goals, our standards to one another are high. It is then the team's responsibility to hold themselves to that standard and to put pressure on other team members to reach that standard. Where accountability breaks down is when one person gets away with not being held to that standard. That's when the other team members say, well, this person doesn't have to do it. I don't have to do it either. Or if the leader is not going to hold them accountable, I'm not going to

either if they're not going to get in trouble for not reaching the standard, then I won't get in trouble either. That's how it breaks down. So what we really need to do with accountability is to make sure that there is this standard. And if that standard is missed, whether it's a deadline that's missed or a quality control issue or the way that one coworker speaks to another, either one on one or in a meeting.

We have to make sure that we are immediately and directly holding that person accountable by checking in with them on it. I have worked with so many teams that think that firing someone is accountability. If they do enough things wrong, we'll just fire them and it'll fix the problem. And I will tell you, I was one of them. And I can think of two people at this moment in my very first management job that I fired thinking that was me holding them accountable.

Desiree (21:13.878)
If you asked me, would tell you I did not have a conversation with them probably even once leading up to the point where they got fired. They had no opportunity to raise their standard and maybe they thought that they were doing a good job and they didn't know. So it's not accountability to get to the point where it's the last resort. The last resort is the expectations.

Desiree (21:48.642)
Firing someone should be seen as the last resort after expectations weren't clearly set or supported or reinforced. Only then should it be at that point. And there's actually a podcast episode that we did that talks about how do you know if it's actually time? How do know if you've done everything that you need to do? So if there is a person on your team where you can't assume positive intent and it's really hard to hold them accountable and your team is really frustrated with them, go listen to that episode.

part needs to come first. But just know that real accountability, the thing that we are ultimately talking about happens long before the performance issue ever reaches a point where someone would need to get fired. It happens in the way that we close meetings with clarity. It happens in how clearly we name the ownership and how open we are about providing support when needed. It happens with whether or not we follow through on what we say we're going to do, which is holding the team accountable.

we get to set the standards and then we get to protect those standards based on what it is that we want for our team. That's what accountability is. So let's recap. Accountability does not start after something goes wrong. It starts with the clarity, follows with support, and it's then reinforced with accountability. Accountability feels hard because we don't put in the other tools to make it more effective. So when a clarity and support are in place,

Accountability doesn't feel like micromanagement. It will feel fair. It's going to feel predictable because it's you already said that you will hold someone accountable if these things are not followed through on and it's just going to become part of how the team operates. And as you are setting these high standards and as you are making sure that there's pressure for the team to hit those high standards, accountability is actually going to be needed a lot less because it's going to be peer to peer. It's going to be your individual employees holding themselves accountable.

and you won't actually have to do it that often. That is why it's important. So this is how meetings are going to stop being conversations that feel good in the moment and you think there was so much progress being made and then nothing actually happens afterward. Because we will put in place the tools that will actually move the work and the team forward in not only their communication and their development, but also their trust and respect for one another. I hope that this episode was helpful to you.

Desiree (24:14.296)
This is something that you will always likely continue to struggle with because it's never gonna be super easy or all that sexy for that matter. It's just something that needs to be done in order to create the cohesive teams that I know that we want. So thank you again for joining me. Next week we're going to take a break from this conversation on meetings and dive into a conversation around productivity with my friend and fellow keynote speaker, Sarah O'Hassian. So make sure you hit follow or subscribe so you don't miss a future episode.

And please share this episode with other leaders. That is how we make sure that you are able to lead yourself.

Desiree (25:05.73)
Make sure you hit follow and subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. And please share this episode with other leaders so that no leader is left without the resources to lead themselves and their teams with more confidence. Until next time, friends, just remember that leadership is a privilege, but it's also a really big responsibility. And you're the boss now. So what are you going to do with it?