A lot of managers talk a good game about accountability. But few actually do it consistently. No one likes being the one who has to say: “We needed you to do this job, and you didn’t do it.” But avoiding accountability hurts your team more than that conversation ever will.

Gen Z and Millennials now represent a substantial portion of the global talent pool. Their perspectives on work, career progression and well-being are not the same as their predecessors. In this article I look at two important dimensions: how should managers adapt to these folk, and how should senior leaders lead and manage these people as they move into management? 

It’s all well and good to talk about accountability. Setting goals, tracking progress, regular check-ins, these are things we should do to be clear about expectations and then hold people to account. We know it’s important, and we know what happens (or doesn’t happen) if you don’t have accountability.