Accountability and Grace

One of the hardest things about leadership is learning to balance accountability with encouragement.

There are deadlines that need to be met.
Standards that need to be followed.
Work that can’t fall through the cracks.

My job is to make sure nothing slips and that the things we do are done with excellence.

But it is hard to remember that people aren’t robots.
They have their own set of tasks on their to-do list—
their own issues that need to be solved.

“Don’t just see the tasks, Nikol. See the people,” a boss once said to me.

See the people.

I’m trying.

I’m still learning to balance accountability and grace—
compassion and criticism—
excellence and encouragement—
honesty and humility.

It feels like an impossible tension.

Both are necessary. Both move things forward.

I’m just learning that holding both well…
is what makes someone worth following.