What Does LMA Actually Mean on the Accountability Chart?

You created your Accountability Chart for your business. You feel confident that it accurately captures the structure you need to move your organization forward.

Maybe you even have a few names in the seats already.

But there’s just one sticking point: every person with direct reports has LMA as their first role on the Accountability Chart. You know it stands for Lead, Manage, and hold Accountable. But does that mean in practice?

Actually, it’s a math equation. (Stay with me here.) L + M = A. But this math problem is actually a solution to achieving your big vision for your organization.

Why You Need Leadership and Management Abilities

Anyone with LMA in their Accountability Chart seat needs to have two very different yet equally vital skills: leadership and management.

Leadership

As a leader, you need to be working “on” the business and have a clear direction for where you want to go. Your job as a leader should be motivating, inspiring, and clearing the way for your team to do great things to achieve your vision. Leadership is the thinking skillset.

Management

On the other hand, a manager needs to work “in” the business. Your job as a manager is to provide clear expectations and effective communications so that your team feels connected to the bigger picture and supported in executing their role in the journey. Management is the doing skillset.

Together, these two skillsets create accountability by inspiring your team to achieve your vision and providing clear communication on how you’ll get there.

The Path to Improved Accountability.

When teams struggle with accountability, my job is to help them take a closer look at their leadership and management skills.

We look at where leaders can improve their skills in both areas because this benefits the entire company, not just the people on their team.

Common Stumbling Blocks
EOS helps teams build a culture of accountability If this feels like an unattainable utopia for you, you may have other issues. If your people don’t hold your core values or they don’t get, want, have capacity for their seats, then you’re bound to run into issues.

Here are commons issues I see:

Wrong People
Many leaders spend too much time trying to manage people who aren’t producing and don’t hold their values. These are the wrong people for your organization. .

Micromanagement
Managers can slide into micromanagement through excessive monitoring that lacks any work-related purpose. A real danger is that micromanagement can feel like harassment (talk about a charged word!) to some employees.

Unshared Vision
Often, I see Leadership Team members failing to inspire their teams to see the end results that help them drive their own accountability. If they can’t see where the organization is heading, how will they know their role in getting there?

Lack of Clear Measurables

Having metrics or goals to work toward are absolutely important. We like to say that everyone has a number attached to their role. This helps managers clearly communicate what they expect. The metrics help them inspect what they expect.

LMA Will Work for Your Team

The math doesn’t change L + M = A. It doesn’t matter your size or industry. Done well, LMA will help you build a culture of accountability in your organization. I can show you how.