The Hogan 360 Leadership Model and 14 Core Competencies
Self-Management	Relationship Management	Working in the Business	Working on the Business
Integrity Resilience	Communication People Skills Team Player Engaging	Capability Efficiency Results Customer	Accountability Motivation Strategy Innovation

The first competency listed under the last quadrant, Working on the Business, is Accountability. This competency concerns pushing others for results and holding them responsible for getting things done. Higher scores are often described as assertive, opinionated and fairly vocal around performance expectations. When performance is not up to par, they often recognise the poor performance and provide critical feedback for success. Lower scores are less likely to push others to see their point of view and shy away from driving them to meet performance expectations. We may also see them falling short of holding others accountable for the organisation’s values and/or expectations overall. Leaders who score low on Accountability may struggle with pushing their team to meet expectations and likely don’t hold them responsible for getting things done. As such, it will be important for the coach to help them establish firm guidelines as to what the performance expectations are for each of their team members and help them set a strategy that will enable their team to meet set objectives to be successful. Another coaching strategy is to help the lower scorer to provide consistent and constructive feedback on an on-going basis. This will help the coachee to feel as if they are receiving a reliable message so they have a better understanding of what is expected of them.

The first area to focus on when coaching individuals who score low on Accountability is establishing and setting firm guidelines for performance expectations. There are a few things to consider when working with the lower scorer to determine the breakdown in performance expectations to their team. Is it because they assume others know what is expected, or do they communicate in a vacuum? Is it that their objectives and goals are not clear, such that others have a hard time understanding what’s expected? Either way, it will be helpful to work with the coachee to begin outlining what key goals and objectives they will need to communicate and link them to performance expectations. Once there is a firm outline of responsibilities and expectations, work with them on how to best communicate each. As a trial run, have them work with a direct report they have a good relationship with. When they provide their overview, have them ask the employee for a summary of what they feel they are accountable for along with expectations; check for alignment. Provide the coachee with a few different ways to present the information and encourage them to be open for feedback and questions that may arise. Determine from the first conversation whether it is how the information was communicated, lack of clarity or anything else that they can modify when working with the rest of the team. This will help them as they put together their plans for creating accountability for themselves as well as their team. Lastly, have them look for opportunities to be more of an active leader by showing enthusiasm or providing positive feedback when their employees perform well.

The second area to work with the lower scorer is helping them to provide on-going consistent and constructive feedback. This should occur on a regular basis as it is essential to employee development. There are a few ways to begin providing feedback to gain a few small wins in the beginning. This is especially important if the lower scorer hasn’t provided feedback in the past. This could be as simple as developing the habit of providing feedback by letting others know they are available and want to be involved. As stated in the previous exercise, they now have clear goals and expectations for their staff. Using this as a guideline, have them work on being more visible with their team on projects and assignments. As they interact with their staff, have their staff provide updates and suggest any assistance with challenges they may be encountering. During these interactions, this is the place where the lower scorer can provide any insight they see on positive or negative behaviour that may help their employee improve their performance. If the coachee is providing constructive feedback, help them devise specific examples of the strengths and development needs. The focus should be on understanding the feedback in relation to optimising their skill and performance. Providing honest and respectful feedback around what works and what doesn’t will set the stage for successfully providing on-going feedback. This will allow them to become more comfortable with providing feedback over time.