Decrease Productivity Paranoia Through Accountable Leadership

Productivity Paranoia
.... a new phrase to reflect the emotional state of some organizational leaders (coined by Satya Nadella)

Productivity Paranoia can be defined as the obsessive suspicion that remote & hybrid employees are not working as efficiently as they would be if they were observable in the office.

Of course, this is simply an unjustified suspicion and mistrust of employees (hence, paranoia) which does nothing to increase the morale or productivity of said employees.

No one does well when we feel like there's someone breathing down our neck, when we feel like we are not trusted. Trust is a core concept of a good relationship, any relationship.

What is required here is ACCOUNTABLE LEADERSHIP.

Accountability is not just for the employee, but the leader as well. Managers often blame employees when they don’t deliver but to build a culture of accountability, leaders should create paths to trust and verify. And then hold them accountable.

Here are 3 ways a leader can increase this skill within their team.

1. CLARITY of CADENCE: Ask, don't tell. Ditch the stating-questions and opt for open-ended questions: "What will it take to succeed? Do you have what you need? When do you expect to complete this by? What's standing in your way?" This engages your team-members in ownership of their objectives and outcomes. Be sure to practice active-listening and coaching conversations to unpack, understand, and take measurable steps of accountability.

2. LEARNING through DELIVERY: A consistent feedback loop is essential, to truly understand any bottle-necks. Did the delivery and deadline work, or why didn't they worK? A leader is like a water-pressure regulator, their job is two-fold here: to ensure the team has the tools they need to help them in completing the work, and a hand in removing obstacles and obstructions as necessary. This shows active engagement from the leader, and not simply showing up at the end with a "Is it done/not done?" Share your own failures and how you’ve learned from them to foster psychological safety, and most definitely, don't punish them for sharing theirs. The faster we learn, the quicker we all achieve the desired outcomes.

3. AGENCY of PURPOSE: When we feel an intrinsic sense of purpose, and are equipped with the agency and respect to fulfill that purpose, most of us feel actual joy in doing the work. The purpose of the leader then is to help the team members understand the purpose of what they are building and striving towards, so that they themselves can articulate how the team’s work aligns with the organizations' targets. After that, the leader's job is not to manage them, but to give them the agency to create and flourish.

Accountable Leadership is modeling the behavior you want to see, then expecting others on your team to be accountable leaders, too.

Now, imagine if the leadership at every level did this? There would be no need for Productivity Paranoia.