Watch out for Accountability Gaps!!!
Accountability gaps are like potholes in a road. The gaps are holes that need to be filled quickly with specificity before greater damage is done. Just like potholes in the road need to be filled quickly with paving materials before the holes become so large that they damage the cars on the road, an "accountability gap" exists when specificity is missing.
Let's take poor Max, who was hired by a large company. His boss told him, "Max, we're glad to have you on the team, and as long as you do a good job, your employment with us is solid." Unfortunately, his boss didn't tell Max, specifically, what a good job looked like (count this as one pothole). When Max headed the team for a major project, the boss said, "Get that final report to me as soon as you can." Once again, did that mean tomorrow or next week? Max did his best but the report was several days tardy in his boss's eyes (another pothole).
By the time Max was fired, his tenure was rutted with potholes, lacking specificity and becoming deeper and causing more damage as the weeks and months went by.
Max failed because there was specificity missing in every expectation and assignment. Nothing was clearly stated at the front end ... and when there's no specificity on the front end, Max was set up to fail.
But, let's not throw Max's boss under the bus just yet. Max made a big mistake, as well. He "assumed" he knew what the boss meant when he was told to "do a good job" and to get the report completed "as soon as you can." Assumptions dig deep potholes and are great contributors to accountability gaps leading to a failed project or relationship ... and these lead to bad feelings, which become a vicious cycle of dysfunction. Accountability is a two-way street. If you complete a task that was not specific and someone is disappointed in your work, you are the one who is considered unreliable. You're past the point of no return. It's too late for expectations. It's a "gotcha" of the worst kind in every sense.
It is the role of both the sender and the receiver of the information to make sure all the potholes are filled before the task begins.