When leadership accountability is unclear, people default to protecting their own function. Managers are promoted for competence and then judged on this aspect of organisational leadership, which nobody trained them for. Work is grounded in real cases drawn from the wider organisational leadership agenda, which each participant adapts to conditions in their own organisation. Teams frequently over-invest in documenting leadership accountability and under-invest in testing it. The most reliable predictor of sound this part of organisational leadership is whether anyone reviews it when nothing has gone wrong. Content is organised around the decisions practitioners actually face in the organisational leadership discipline, not around theory headings. The programme suits teams tackling leadership accountability together as readily as individuals attending alone. The outcome is a practitioner who can hold a position on this aspect of organisational leadership and revise it on evidence. The programme closes with an action plan for the organisational leadership capability that each participant writes for their own organisation.
Expected Learning Outcomes
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Align leadership accountability with the wider objectives of the management team rather than optimising it in isolation.
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Manage the emotional load leadership accountability places on you and on the team.
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Delegate responsibility for leadership accountability without losing sight of the outcome.
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Translate leadership accountability into objectives each person can see themselves in.
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Select indicators that show whether leadership accountability is improving, and reject those that only look useful.
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Draw practical lessons from failures in leadership accountability without assigning blame that suppresses reporting.
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Protect the team's capacity so leadership accountability is not delivered through exhaustion.
Who Should Attend
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Executives leading multi-function programmes involving leadership accountability.
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Staff seconded into improvement work on leadership accountability.
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Department heads and senior managers accountable for leadership accountability.
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Human resources partners advising leaders on leadership accountability.
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Team leaders responsible for daily delivery of leadership accountability.
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Managers of multi-site operations seeking consistency in leadership accountability.
Course Modules
Open any module to see its sessions and topics.
01
Leadership accountability: influence across functions you do not control
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1The meeting that finally unblocks leadership accountability
Ask the team what they think is wrong with the plan for leadership accountability.
Define acceptance criteria for leadership accountability in advance.
Confirm that the people affected by leadership accountability heard it from you first.
Check that records of leadership accountability answer the questions likely to be asked.
Session 2What your team concludes from how you handle leadership accountability
Identify which function can quietly block leadership accountability and address it directly.
Draft the minimum viable leadership plan for leadership accountability.
Identify your successor for leadership accountability and the gap they need to close.
Assess the workload leadership accountability adds and what you will remove to make room.
02
Leadership accountability: performance, standards and consistency
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Delegating leadership accountability without abandoning it
Identify the conversation about leadership accountability you have been postponing, and schedule it.
State the outcome expected from leadership accountability in a single sentence anyone can repeat.
Prepare the summary of leadership accountability that senior management will read.
Test whether the team can explain leadership accountability in their own words.
Session 2The cost of leadership accountability and how to present it
Assign responsibility for keeping documentation of leadership accountability current.
Confirm that contractual obligations around leadership accountability are understood.
Recognise publicly one person whose work on leadership accountability went unnoticed.
Decide the point at which you would escalate leadership accountability.
03
Leadership accountability: the conversations that decide the outcome
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Showing that leadership accountability changed something measurable
Agree the standard on leadership accountability and confirm it applies to everyone.
Set the review point at which leadership accountability will be reconsidered.
Confirm that those complying with leadership accountability understand why it exists.
Arrange the handover of leadership accountability so capability survives staff changes.
Session 2The hard cases in leadership accountability and how to reason about them
Set escalation thresholds for leadership accountability that work out of hours.
Establish who is informed, consulted and accountable in leadership accountability.
Identify where judgement in leadership accountability is legitimate and where it is not.
Test the procedure for leadership accountability against a realistic scenario.
