Accountability
performance review phrases

Owns the outcome rather than the task, including the parts that depend on other people.

Flagged the slip themselves, with a revised plan attached, before anybody had to ask.

Corrected a mistake publicly and quickly, which set the standard everybody else now works to.

Ready for something where the outcome is genuinely uncertain and the ownership sits with them alone.

The way they handle their own errors is worth making explicit to the team. Ask them to talk through one at the next retro.

When [project] slipped, I brought the revised plan to the meeting rather than the explanation, and we made the call a fortnight earlier than we would have.

I owned a decision that did not work and wrote up what I would do differently, because burying it would have cost the next person the same month.

Does what they said they would do, in the timeframe they said, and says so early when that changes.

Takes feedback without defensiveness and acts on it within the cycle.

Keeps commitments visible enough that others can plan around them.

Reliable on their own commitments. The next level is holding the shared ones, including chasing somebody more senior.

Owns outcomes well after the fact. Worth practising the earlier version: naming the risk while it is still avoidable.

I met the commitments I made this year and re-negotiated the two I could not, rather than letting them quietly slip.

I have got better at saying no at the point of the request instead of over-committing and managing it later.

Explanations for missed commitments tend to arrive after the deadline rather than before it.

Accepts work without checking whether the timeline is achievable, so the renegotiation happens late.

Attributes setbacks to other teams more often than the pattern supports.

The habit worth building: the moment you know a date is at risk, say so. A date that moves with notice is a plan, a date that moves on the day is a problem.

Before accepting the next piece of work, walk through what would have to be true for the date to hold. If it is not true, say so then.

I have said yes to things I could not deliver on time. I am working on pushing back at the point of the request.

I tend to explain a miss rather than pre-empt it, and I know which of those is more useful to the people relying on me.

Commitments have been missed repeatedly without advance notice, and the pattern has continued since we discussed it in [month].

Responsibility for [outcome] has been declined or deflected on more than one occasion this year.

This needs to be specific and written: which commitments, what notice is required, what support is available, reviewed in six weeks.

I am not asking for perfect delivery. I am asking that when a date is at risk, I hear it from you and I hear it early.

I have missed commitments this year and given notice too late. I want a check-in cadence that surfaces the risk before the deadline does.