Evaluate actions

Evaluate behaviors, not stories. Hold people accountable for actions, not intentions.

Too often I see leaders say something like “well he had good intentions.” Great! I love that he did. Doesn’t matter. His execution is what fell short, so let’s evaluate that and decide what to do with it.

When we get caught up in the subjective, it becomes difficult to take action. It’s almost impossible to effectively call bullshit on an intention – you’re not them and you’re not in their head. This requires you as the leader to be clear on the standard, and then to be clear on whether or not their behavior fell below it. This is clear. When you are clear, your team can be clear.