Worksheet 3: Accountability & Structure
01 / 05
High Performance Leadership Teams
Worksheet · Success Factor 3

Accountability & Structure

A reflection and discussion tool to clarify roles, surface implicit norms, and build genuine peer accountability.

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02 / 05
Part 1

Role & Responsibility Clarity

Guiding Questions
  • Where are there genuine ambiguities in roles and responsibilities within the leadership team?
  • Where are the grey zones at the interfaces between your functions -- where nobody clearly owns something?
  • Can each team member precisely describe what the others are accountable for?
Function / AreaOwnerClearAmbiguousNote
Why this matters
In most leadership teams, role ambiguity isn't about job titles. It lives in the interfaces -- the shared territory nobody clearly owns. That's where friction accumulates silently.
Your Notes
03 / 05
Part 2

Accountability Patterns

Guiding Questions
  • Where does accountability currently flow only through the leader -- and what does that cost the team?
  • Where do you naturally hold yourself accountable -- what makes that feel easy? Where do you avoid it?
  • Which commitments are regularly missed -- or quietly renegotiated without acknowledgment?
Why this matters
The pattern of avoidance is as informative as the pattern of follow-through. Both tell you something real about the team's relational foundation.
Your Notes
04 / 05
Part 3

Explicit Team Agreements

Guiding Questions
  • What explicit agreements does your team currently have about how you work together? If none -- what implicit norms are you operating on?
  • What gaps in your collaboration point to a missing agreement?
  • For each agreement: who holds whom accountable -- and how?
TopicStatusOwnerHow we check in
Why this matters
Most leadership teams run on implicit norms. Making them explicit is the precondition for actually living them -- and for calling each other out when they're not.
Your Notes
05 / 05
Synthesis

What We're Committing To

From ambiguity to clarity. From implicit to explicit. From vertical to peer accountability.

One role ambiguity we will resolve -- and what clarity looks like in practice
One team agreement we will make explicit -- or recommit to
How we hold each other accountable -- peer to peer, not only through the leader
Tips & Tricks
  • The best agreements are specific enough to be violated -- vague norms aren't norms
  • Peer accountability requires safety first -- if calling a colleague out feels risky, that's a Worksheet 4 conversation
  • Revisit agreements regularly. A norm that's never reviewed becomes wallpaper