The Accountability Gap

Problem:
I worked with a company that had once been on fire — breaking sales records, buzzing with energy, everyone winning. But after some leadership changes and key people leaving, the magic disappeared. Revenue was cut in half.

Morale dropped fast. Negativity spread. People complained more than they worked. The new leader tried to push the team uphill but kept getting dragged back down by excuses and lack of commitment. Eventually, even he gave up on pushing — because it didn’t seem to matter.

The new standard became, “Just do your best.”
And when “doing your best” replaced clear expectations, accountability died — and so did performance.

Power Move:
When I came in, the problem was obvious. There were no quotas, no enforced meetings, no production standards, no consequences. The culture was allergic to accountability.

So we started simple: set a quota, estimate what it would take to hit it, and hold everyone to it. And yes we hounded people.

In situations like this I always expect people to do 1 of 2 things: RISE or LEAVE. The ones that rise go on to be valuable team members. The ones that leave, honestly, were already gone… So do we really lose anything? No. In fact we give them and us an opportunity to achieve our full potential in a way that meets our needs.

In 5 months, sales quadrupled. Because accountability doesn’t kill morale — it revives it.

As promised, actionable advice to grow your business in under 60 seconds.

– Alex Edwards
Founder, Nth Power
Helping business owners turn performance into power.

P.S. Want to scale your business smarter and faster? Book a free consultation for even more actionable advice.