Accountability vs. capability and how to avoid being micromanaged

Let me put my old person hat on for a second…

I’ll skip the part where I talk about how I walked to school uphill in the snow BOTH WAYS, but… back in my day, I remember debating people which format was best for studying for the cpa exam — live, in-person, online, or self-study (cd-rom at that time).

The same debate goes on and on about the study hacks and all that good stuff but something I read yesterday triggered a thought I haven’t been able to shake.

The post said:

‘Thank you for reminding me’ vs.

‘I already did that, don’t you trust me?!?’

When does reminding someone become too much like micromanaging?

What is an acceptable level of “closing the loop?”

This is actually a concatenation (I see you, Excel people) of two individually important ideas that need to be divorced — accountability and capability.

Capability is binary, as in do you have the technical skills (right now) to do the task that’s asked? And I say “right now” because I believe anyone can learn any skill. Different things will come naturally to different people so you have to decide if investing in a given new skill makes sense for the time it will take you.

Accountability is all about communication, as in did you do what you said you were going to do when you said you were going to do it? That last bit out the timing is key so make a note of that.

In the case of the CPA exam, some people need the formal checkpoint to keep them on task. It’s the same as putting review meetings on the calendar to force you to get things done. If you don’t do that, I suggest you try it.

You might surprise yourself with what you can get done under pressure.

I like when people proactively communicate. When people go dark, bad things tend to happen. So to answer the question above, I think the phrase “trust but verify” fits perfectly.

“Trust but verify” is also the reason I have a refundable application fee for my Success Factory coaching program. Trust me now and verify when we talk. If you don’t like what you hear, then we call it on the spot and you get your $125 right back.

Read more here:

https://ericpbutts.com/success-factory-v2/

– EB