WINNERS-at-WORK Pty Ltd

06/10/2026

Here’s an uncomfortable thought: psychological safety can become an excuse for poor performance.

Not because psychological safety is a bad idea.
Because we sometimes confuse feeling safe with feeling comfortable.
They are not the same thing.

✳️ If nobody challenges poor performance because they’re worried about upsetting someone…
✳️ If deadlines are repeatedly missed without a difficult conversation…
✳️ If leaders soften feedback until the message disappears…
✳️ If “being supportive” means avoiding accountability…

You haven’t created psychological safety.
You’ve created psychological comfort.

And comfort rarely produces exceptional performance.
Real psychological safety should actually make more difficult conversations possible—not fewer.

In a genuinely safe team, I should be able to say:
“I disagree.”
“I made a mistake.”
“Your behaviour is affecting the team.”

And even:
“You committed to this. It hasn’t happened. Let’s talk about why.”

That’s where psychological safety becomes powerful.

Because the goal isn’t:
Safety OR accountability.

It’s:
Safety AND accountability.

High accountability without psychological safety creates fear.
High psychological safety without accountability creates comfort.

But high safety combined with high accountability?
That creates performance.

That’s exactly what I’ll be exploring in my latest masterclass:
"Psychological Safety Without Accountability Is Just Comfort" https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychological-safety-without-accountability-is-just-comfort-tickets-1990930937027?aff=oddtdtcreator

If we want high-performing cultures, we need to stop protecting people from every uncomfortable conversation.

The best teams aren’t always comfortable.
They’re safe enough to tell the truth.

Register for "Psychological Safety Without Accountability Is Just Comfort" https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychological-safety-without-accountability-is-just-comfort-tickets-1990930937027?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/10/2026

Imagine sitting down for your annual performance review feeling reasonably confident—only to discover your manager has been unhappy with your performance for the past six months.

Missed deadlines. Lack of initiative. Problems with colleagues. And you’re hearing about it for the first time.

Who has the performance problem—you or your manager? If an employee is genuinely surprised by something raised in a performance review, the problem probably started months earlier, when an important conversation didn’t happen. Performance reviews should never contain surprises. They should simply confirm what regular, honest conversations have already made clear.

This is the focus of my latest newsletter. If you enjoy this newsletter, please subscribe to receive future editions.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-employees-should-never-surprised-performance-review-baker-dytbc/

21/09/2026

Most accountability problems don’t start when someone fails to deliver.

They start much earlier.

Usually in a conversation that never happened.

A manager says:

“Can you get this back to me fairly soon?”

The employee hears:

“Whenever you get a chance.”

The manager means:

“By Thursday at 3 pm.”

Then Thursday arrives.

Nothing.

And suddenly we have an accountability problem.

Except we don’t.

We have a clarity problem wearing an accountability hat. 🎩

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is assuming that because they said something, the other person understood exactly what they meant.

But expectations aren’t clear because they were spoken.

They’re clear when both people leave the conversation with the same understanding.

Before asking:

“Why didn’t they do what I expected?”

Try asking:

“Did we ever have a conversation that made the expectation unmistakably clear?”

That question can be uncomfortable.

It can also save you a lot of performance-management meetings.

This is one of the ideas I’ll be exploring in my upcoming masterclass, "The Accountability Myth: Why People Don’t Do What You Expect."
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1990930113564?aff=oddtdtcreator

Because accountability isn’t something you impose after things go wrong.

It’s something you build through the conversations you have before they do.

Most accountability problems start with unclear expectations. Learn how leaders create ownership without micromanaging.

20/09/2026

We’ve never had more ways to communicate at work—email, Teams, Slack, Zoom, dashboards, notifications, and now AI—yet somehow the conversations that really matter are still being avoided. We’re drowning in communication and starving for conversation.

In my latest Leadership Matters newsletter, I explore why sending a message isn’t the same as creating understanding, why some of our biggest performance problems begin with a conversation that never happened, and a simple test for knowing when to stop typing and start talking. If you lead people, there’s a good chance you’ll recognise yourself—or someone you work with—in this one. Have a read, and subscribe to Leadership Matters for practical, thought-provoking ideas on better conversations, stronger leadership and better results.

16/09/2026

Most accountability problems are diagnosed too late.

The deadline is missed.
The standard isn’t met.
The leader is frustrated.

And then comes the familiar sentence:
“We need to hold them accountable.”

Maybe.

But first ask:
Was the expectation ever genuinely clear?
In my experience, many accountability problems are really clarity problems in disguise.

The leader seems to assume the priority is obvious.
The employee assumes they understand.
Everyone nods.

Three weeks later, everyone discovers they were working from different assumptions.

Before blaming accountability, check three things:
→ Was the outcome clear?
→ Did we agree what success looked like?
→ Did we agree when we’d check progress?
If not, demanding accountability is a little like giving someone vague directions and getting annoyed when they arrive at the wrong address.

Accountability isn’t something you do to people after things go wrong.
It’s something you build with people before the work begins.

That’s the focus of my latest FREE masterclass:
"The Accountability Myth: Why People Don’t Do What You Expect" https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-accountability-myth-why-people-dont-do-what-you-expect-tickets-1990930113564?aff=oddtdtcreator

I’ll explore why accountability breaks down and how leaders can create genuine ownership without micromanaging.

Because sometimes the person who needs to be “held accountable” isn’t the employee.

It’s the leader who never had the conversation.

Most accountability problems start with unclear expectations. Learn how leaders create ownership without micromanaging.

14/09/2026

“They need to be held accountable.”
I hear this from leaders all the time.

But whenever I hear it, I’m tempted to ask:
Accountable for what, exactly?

Because many so-called accountability problems aren’t really accountability problems.
They’re conversation problems.

A leader says:
“I thought I was clear.”
The employee says:
“I didn’t realise that was the priority.”
And somewhere between those two sentences sits the performance problem.

We often assume people understand:
What good performance looks like
✅ Which priorities matter most
✅ What authority they have
✅ When something needs to be done
✅ What happens if expectations aren’t met

Then we’re surprised when they don’t deliver.
That’s when the leader reaches for the accountability stick.

But you can’t reasonably hold someone accountable for an expectation that was never properly clarified in the first place.

Accountability starts before performance—not after it.
It begins with a conversation.

✅ What are we trying to achieve?
✅ What does success look like?
✅ What do you need from me?
✅ What can I expect from you?
✅ What might get in the way?
✅ And when will we check in?

These aren’t difficult questions.
But leaders often skip them because everyone is busy.

Then, three weeks later, everyone suddenly finds time for a two-hour meeting about why things went wrong. 😄

That’s the irony.

A 10-minute conversation upfront can prevent hours of frustration later.
That’s exactly what I’ll explore in my latest free masterclass:
"The Accountability Myth: Why People Don’t Do What You Expect." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-accountability-myth-why-people-dont-do-what-you-expect-tickets-1990930113564?aff=oddtdtcreator

We’ll look at why accountability breaks down—and how leaders can create genuine ownership without resorting to micromanagement.
Because most performance problems don’t begin when someone fails to deliver.

They begin with the conversation that never happened.

Most accountability problems start with unclear expectations. Learn how leaders create ownership without micromanaging.

13/09/2026

If your team can’t decide without you, you don’t have an empowered team. You have a dependency problem.

Every question comes to you.
Every problem lands on your desk.
Every decision waits for your approval.

And while that might make you feel indispensable, it’s actually costing you—and your team—more than you realise.

I call this "The Leadership Tax": the hidden price leaders pay when every decision falls back on them.

In my latest Leadership Matters newsletter, I explore how leaders unintentionally create dependency, why being “needed” can become a dangerous leadership habit, and how to break the cycle without losing control.

If you’re carrying too many monkeys on your back, this one is for you. Read "The Leadership Tax: What Happens When Every Decision Falls Back on You"—and subscribe to Leadership Matters while you’re there so you don’t miss the next edition.

If every decision falls back to the leader, you don’t have empowerment; you have a very sophisticated waiting system. The Scenario I once coached Tom, a capable manager who complained that his team lacked initiative.

11/09/2026

Have you ever noticed how quickly other people’s problems can become yours?

Someone walks into your office and says, “I’ve got a problem.”
Ten minutes later, they walk out feeling considerably better.

Meanwhile, you've somehow added another item to your to-do list.
The monkey has changed backs.

This idea comes from the classic management concept of Who’s Got the Monkey? The “monkey” is the next action required to move a problem forward. And one of the easiest traps for capable leaders is taking ownership of monkeys that belong to other people.

It usually happens with good intentions.
An employee says, “What should I do?”
The leader knows the answer, so they give it.
Problem solved.

Except something else has happened: the employee has learned that bringing problems upwards produces answers. Do that often enough and you create dependency.

Before long, the leader is overloaded while everyone else waits for instructions.
There is a better response.

Next time someone brings you a problem, resist the temptation to immediately solve it. Ask:

“What do you think we should do?”
Then perhaps:
“What options have you considered?”
“Which option would you recommend?”
“What will you do next?”
You’re still supporting the person, but the monkey remains firmly where it belongs.

This is one of the fundamental shifts from managing to coaching. Great leaders don't demonstrate their value by solving the most problems. They build people who become increasingly capable of solving problems on their own.

Of course, occasionally a monkey genuinely belongs with you.
Just make sure you know the difference.

Because if you're finishing every day wondering why everyone else seems to have gone home while you're still working through their problems, it might be worth checking your back.

You may be carrying an entire troop of monkeys you never actually owned.

Join me on 25 September for my popular free masterclass: "The Accountability Myth: Why People Don't Do What You Want." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-accountability-myth-why-people-dont-do-what-you-expect-tickets-1990930113564?aff=oddtdtcreator

08/09/2026

One of the most common phrases I hear from frustrated leaders is, “But I told them what I expected.” My response is usually, “Yes, but what did they hear?”

After decades of working with leaders and teams, I’ve become convinced that many so-called accountability problems begin much earlier in the process. Often, an expectation is mentioned instead of discussed, a deadline is assumed rather than agreed upon, and what constitutes “good quality” can mean one thing to the manager and something entirely different to the employee. Then, three weeks later, disappointment arises.

The leader thinks, “They’re not accountable.” The employee thinks, “I did what you asked.” Somewhere between those two statements lies the root of the problem.

Accountability doesn’t start when someone fails to deliver; it starts when you set the expectation. That's why simply telling people what to do isn’t enough. I’ve found that ownership increases when people actively participate in clarifying the expectation with questions like:

✅ “What do you understand the outcome to be?”
✅ “What does success look like?”
✅ “What might get in the way?”
✅ “What will you take responsibility for?”
✅ “When should we check in?”

These questions can save a lot of follow-up later.

There’s another important benefit: you won’t need to hover over people asking, “How’s it going?” every 45 minutes — a practice that employees often perceive as micromanagement, even when we disguise it as “just checking in.” Clarity creates the conditions for autonomy.

When people know what they own, what success looks like, and when they need to deliver, they are empowered to take responsibility. This is one of the central ideas I'll explore in my upcoming FREE masterclass, "The Accountability Myth: Why People Don't Do What You Expect." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-accountability-myth-why-people-dont-do-what-you-expect-tickets-1990930113564?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwY2xjawUNTo1wZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUNrMnA2cU5oNHNkVVBINlBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe24f6dmIvkUDR2o6svnH0T8jEwnxpLB-sHGdME-s09uZr2nQZnN3iL_F93Ng_aem_oTpRHylJ9_oBN9dvXReqLQ

We’ll examine how leaders can foster greater ownership, strengthen follow-through, and improve performance through better conversations instead of increased control.

Before asking, “Why didn’t they do what I expected?” consider asking, “Did we ever have a conversation that made the expectation genuinely clear?”

Most accountability problems start with unclear expectations. Learn how leaders create ownership without micromanaging.

06/09/2026

Psychological safety is often mistaken for harmony — polite meetings, friendly exchanges, and very little disagreement. But what if the absence of difficult conversations is actually a warning sign? In my latest LinkedIn newsletter, "The Safest Teams Have More Difficult Conversations, Not Fewer," I explore why genuinely safe teams are willing to challenge ideas, question decisions, admit mistakes, and occasionally tell the boss, “I think you’re wrong.” Because the real test of psychological safety isn’t whether everyone feels comfortable — it’s whether people trust each other enough to be uncomfortable together. Read the latest edition and ask yourself: is your team psychologically safe … or just psychologically polite?

Most accountability problems start with unclear expectations. Learn how leaders create ownership without micromanaging.