Accountability and Results

One of the challenges in organizational leadership is that of holding people accountable for performance and results. What adds to this challenge in a Christian context is the perception that God is the One who gives the ultimate results. While this is certainly true, the reality is that God works through the gifts, abilities, and efforts of people to bring about those results. A person’s performance is a composite of those efforts in achieving agreed upon goals and results; effective leaders provide accountability for such in order to determine both successes and needs for improvement. They keep the focus on results with limited concern for how those results are achieved. They concern themselves with performance issues only when desired results do not come about. Micro-managers, on the other hand, focus on the minutia of day-to-day efforts, and lose sight of the bigger picture. How have you learned to provide accountability without slipping into micro-management?