3 Strengths-Based Practices That Help Managers Create Accountability

Less than one-fourth, 22%, of individual contributors strongly agree that they have a clear definition of exceptional performance for their role, according to an August 2025 Gallup survey of U.S. employees. A lack of clarity can contribute to employee performance problems and leave managers without a clear basis for holding people accountable. A strengths-based leadership approach gives managers a practical way to create accountability through goal setting, coaching and ownership practices based on what each person does best.

1. Set Strengths-Based Goals and Expectations

Managers and employees should set goals based on the employee’s strengths so employees understand what is expected of them and how they can realistically achieve it. When people see their responsibilities through the lens of their natural talents, accountability becomes personal, and expectations can feel more achievable. 

In practice, strengths-based goal setting might look like:

• identifying the specific strength(s) that may naturally motivate the employee to complete each goal
• reviewing a job description to determine how the employee's strengths uniquely position them to fulfill each responsibility
• adjusting processes or assignments to better match each team member's natural talents, including pairing employees with complementary strengths to improve collaboration

2. Hold Frequent Coaching Conversations

Managers hold people accountable by turning accountability from a policy into a practice through frequent, strengths-based coaching conversations. Gallup’s research published in 2023 shows that weekly manager coaching conversations that include recognition, setting priorities and strengths-based development are among the most effective habits managers can build. Managers should lead these conversations proactively and consistently.

Coaching at work might look like:

• beginning a check-in conversation by connecting the employee's latest achievement to their talents
• identifying the most important work ahead and discussing how the employee's strengths position them to approach it
• discussing how the employee wants to develop and which strengths they can use to achieve their goals

3. Inspire Work Ownership

Gallup’s research on teams, based on three decades of data from more than 183,000 teams, identifies using employees’ strengths as a best practice of high-performing teams. The research also finds that collaborative goal setting can promote ownership of individual work and that setting goals with employees’ strengths in mind can increase motivation.

When managers use CliftonStrengths^® to connect employees with work that draws on their natural talents, the work can become more engaging and meaningful. Employees may feel more motivated to invest in work that fits how they think, feel and behave. That motivation shifts accountability from something managers impose to something employees take personal responsibility for.

Managers can inspire ownership by:

• inviting employees to propose how they would approach a goal given their strengths
• encouraging team members to share their strengths at the start of a cross-functional project so colleagues understand the talents each person brings to the task
• recognizing exceptional performance by identifying the specific strengths that contributed to outstanding results

For a broader look at accountability challenges across teams and organizations, see “How Can Leaders Build Accountability and High Performance at Work?”