Step 5: Create Accountability

Follow Every Step of The 5Cs for Success

In Step 1 of The 5 Cs, you committed to salvaging your UE.  In Step 2, you communicated with him about the problem in a frank and effective way.  Step 3 involved clarifying your organization’s goals, and his goals and role in achieving them, which eliminated any confusion about what he’s supposed to be doing at work.  And with Step 4, you’ve coached him to adopt a new attitude.

It would be nice if all your work were now done!  But unfortunately, transforming a UE is rarely a linear process.  Few things in life are permanent, and left to their own devices, most people will begin to backslide almost immediately.

Old behaviors and habits have tremendous power, as anyone who’s ever tried to quit smoking or stay on an eating plan will attest.  The same is true of attitudes, which may be the hardest habits to break of all.  That’s why it’s mandatory that you help your UE stay on track by creating a system to hold him accountable.

Rather than patting your (hopefully former) UE on the back and wishing him good luck as you sail off into your next challenge, put in some serious time and effort to create a system that will help him deliver the changes he’s promised to make and the commitments he’s promised to meet.  The habit of unmanageability can never be rooted out once and for all; the trick is to chop off any new branches before they begin to flower — and Managing the Unmanageable will show you how.