The Leadership Loop

My husband and I spent the afternoon with some friends. These friends, let's call them Oliver and Lisa, are leasing out commercial space to a non-profit. As with many choices we make out of the best of intentions, the decision to lease out their space to this non-profit isn’t going very well.

Oliver and Lisa have done all the “right” things to ensure they set everything up correctly and with good business principles. They have a solid and highly recommended property manager. The tenants signed a contract full of stipulations and guardrails to ensure easy enforcement of local rules and regulations, and yet neighbors are complaining.

Why are things going sideways despite clear expectations? Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances and other times, there are individuals who don’t see contractual obligations as important to them. In a workplace, we as leaders must understand this distinction, as one circumstance will require empathy and the other accountability.

Setting clear guidelines and expectations is the role of any leader. Whether you are leading a project team, or a team of thousands, your role is to set the guardrails and boundaries. Once you have done so, your role is to then hold the team accountable. That closed loop is what keeps an organization running smoothly and growing.

As we continued our connection with our friends, Lisa began sharing all the times their tenants had extenuating circumstances as to why they weren’t adhering to the terms of the contract. One by one, as Lisa began to list them all, we began to see a pattern. These weren’t all extenuating circumstances, but rather an inability to and perhaps a lack of desire to follow the rules as laid out by the contract.

Lisa had been falling into the story that was being weaved by the tenants, but it was clear, that nothing would change unless they held the tenants accountable. Now, Lisa and Oliver are working with their property manager, to begin documenting all that has been out of alignment, reset expectations, and establish a clear escalation path should they not adhere to the contract. Though Lisa and Oliver are hopeful, the property manager isn’t. From what I’ve heard, I’m not hopeful either. In my experience, the sheer amount of infractions that occurred within the last six months, lead me to believe this isn’t going to change.

I understand and have been in Lisa and Oliver’s place before with employees. You hope and hope that something will change. You sometimes change your leadership style, or even expectations, to help the employee improve. You listen to their story and show that you are empathetic to their cause, but often that doesn’t help. This is why the loop of clarity of expectations and accountability is so important.  As a leader, this is all we can do. We cannot take over ownership of someone else’s behavior, so perfecting the art of clarity of expectations and subsequent accountability is essential. How adept are you at this loop? Are you good at one half of this loop and maybe not the other? Take a moment to reflect, getting better at both aspects will help you and your teams grow!