Learn2 Leadership Tool
How to Hold Employees Accountable: Results versus Reasons
You either have the results you say you want, or reasons that explain why not.
Most managers try to hold employees accountable with more check-ins. The updates fill with reasons: the delay, the budget, the other team. Reasons sound responsible, and the result still does not move. The fix is in the language, not the check-ins.
Doug Bolger on where Results versus Reasons came from and how it changes the way a team works.
Hear the difference
| Results language | Reasons language |
|---|---|
| Yes, and... | But... |
| How can we...? | If only... |
| What if we...? | Why can't we... |
| They could... | They should... |
| What? How? | Can? Do? |
| We would need to... | They won't... |
| Here's what we still need to do | Let's try |
Results language raises the odds that someone acts. Reasons language lets a conversation avoid responsibility.
Turn a reason into a result
- Put every reason you are carrying in one column, in your own words.
- For each one ask: is this true, or is it the cost of not deciding?
- Keep the true ones. They go into your plan as obstacles to plan for.
- Turn the rest into a decision, an owner and a date.
Results questions
- What questions open up actions.
- How questions open up information and tactics.
- What if...? opens possibilities.
- What would have to be true...? explores what a result needs.
- What's getting in the way? names what to discuss.
- What else could you do? keeps building responsibility.
Explore the past only to improve what you do next. Follow any reasons question with a What? or a How?
Try it today
In your next meeting, count the reasons you hear. Pick one and ask: "What would have to be true for this to work?"
Questions leaders ask
How do you hold employees accountable without micromanaging?
Agree on the result, not the steps. Then listen to the language in updates. When you hear a reason, ask a results question: What would have to be true for this to work? The person keeps the how. You keep the focus on the what.
What is accountable language?
Results language: Yes, and..., How can we...?, What if we...?, We would need to... Reasons language sounds like But..., If only..., They should..., Let's try. Accountable teams hear the difference and say it out loud.
How do you respond to excuses at work?
Do not argue with the reason. Sort it: is it true, or is it the cost of not deciding? Plan around the true ones. Turn the rest into a decision, an owner and a date.
How do you hold a team accountable for results?
Make the result visible, put a number on it and review it weekly. Follow every reasons question with a What? or a How? Accountability is a habit the whole team practices, not a talk one person gets.
What is Results versus Reasons?
A Learn2 tool built on one line: you either have the results you say you want, or reasons that explain why not. Participants practice it in Save the Titanic and Lead the Endurance.
Build it with your team
Results versus Reasons
Whole leadership teams practice the switch from reasons to results on their own work, so the language changes in every meeting.
See the Results versus Reasons programWhere participants practice it
A card on its own is one more handout. The tool sticks when your team uses it on a real problem, with real stakes, and owns what happens next. These are the Learn2 experiences where participants practice this one.
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See how your team communicates
The same words land four different ways on one team. The free Team Diagnostic gives you a report on how each person prefers to hear a change, a concern or a coaching question. It takes about five minutes.
Start the free Team Diagnostic