Leadership Accountability
The FIRE Framework
A weekly accountability system for leadership teams. Every leader identifies 3–5 priorities tied to the strategic plan and has a brief weekly conversation with their supervisor. The outcome is a status and a brief note per priority, feeding a dashboard that shows where things actually stand.
Interactive Overview
Open fullscreenThe Concept
Built to run at every level of the organization
The framework is designed to run at every level, not just the executive suite. A team leader's items connect to their director's. A director's items connect to their executive's. An executive's items connect to the strategic plan. Progress is visible at every level.
Each week, leaders have a brief conversation with their supervisor covering four dimensions: Fidelity, Impact, Remarks, and Extent. The outcome is a status (Green, Yellow, or Red) and a brief note per priority. Those feed a dashboard that shows where things actually stand.
The weekly rhythm
Leader and supervisor have the FIRE conversation for each priority
Leader submits status and a brief note per item as conversations happen
Dashboard updates. Everyone up the chain sees it.
Your 3–5 priorities
- Each item must trace to a specific strategic plan goal
- Each item must be significant enough to warrant your attention as a leader
- Reviewed quarterly, added or retired with supervisor approval
The Four Dimensions
Fidelity
“Are we executing as designed? If not, is that a deliberate choice or unmanaged drift?”
Fidelity is about whether the work is actually being done the way it was planned. The goal isn't rigid adherence. It's honest awareness. A pivot is fine if it's a choice. Drift is the problem.
Impact
“What are we measuring, what's the target, and what does the current trend tell us? If outcomes are lagging, what leading indicator are we watching?”
Impact is about whether the work is producing results. Leaders should be able to name their measure, their target, and their trend. If outcomes take time, name a leading indicator instead.
Remarks
“What's worth your supervisor knowing right now?”
Remarks is open text. No scaffolding, no prompts. It's the space for what doesn't fit neatly into the other dimensions: emerging concerns, dependencies, things going well that should be protected, anything the supervisor needs to know.
Extent
“Are we doing this work at sufficient scale? How many students, dollars, or people are we actually reaching, and is that volume enough to expect the results we're after?”
Extent is about whether the work is happening at a scale that can produce the desired outcomes. A well-executed program reaching 12 students won't move a needle that requires 1,200.
Status
All FIRE dimensions at or above expectations.
Meaningful deviation in one or more dimensions. Work continues but needs attention, a decision, or course correction.
Progress is materially blocked or at serious risk. Significant focus or intervention is required, whether from this leader, peers, or above.
A dashboard that is completely green is not an honest dashboard. If everything is green, we are either not being candid about our challenges, or our priorities are not ambitious enough.
For Supervisors
The FIRE Conversation
The FIRE conversation is a weekly check-in. The goal is to find out what's actually happening, not what we wish were happening. Ask good questions, listen carefully, and agree on an honest status. This is not a performance review. Red is not failure. It's honesty.
Ask
- “Walk me through how you're executing this right now. Is it playing out the way we planned?”
- “What's different from what we originally intended? Was that a deliberate choice, or did it just happen?”
- “If the approach has changed, do we need to update the plan to reflect that?”
Listen for
Unmanaged drift vs. intentional pivots. Vague answers may signal the leader lacks full visibility into their own execution.
Ask
- “What are you measuring to know this is working?”
- “What's the target, and where are you against it right now?”
- “If you won't know the outcome for a while, what leading indicator tells you you're on track?”
Listen for
Leaders who can't name a measure. Leaders with only lagging indicators. Measures moving the wrong direction.
Ask
- “What's going well that we should protect or amplify?”
- “What's your biggest concern about this right now?”
- “Is anything outside your control affecting this?”
Listen for
Dependencies on other areas. Concerns being downplayed. Early signals of emerging problems.
Ask
- “Give me the numbers. How many students, dollars, or people are we actually reaching right now?”
- “Is that volume where it needs to be to drive the results we're after?”
- “If the scale is lower than expected, is that by design, or is something limiting it?”
Listen for
Low extent with no plan to scale. High extent paired with low impact — worth going back to the Impact conversation.
The Dashboard
One view for every level
The FIRE dashboard shows the status of every priority at every level. Leaders see their own items and their direct reports' items in one view. Supervisors see patterns across their team. The president sees everything.
If a priority hasn't been updated, the last known status carries forward with a flag. The dashboard always has something to show, even when a conversation hasn't happened yet.
My Dashboard
Your own priorities and their current status
Team Dashboard
Your direct reports' priorities, grouped by person
Institutional Dashboard
Every priority across the entire organization, grouped by team
Item Detail
Full history for any single priority: the last 8 weeks of status and notes
Downloads
FIRE One-Pager
A single-page overview of the framework: the concept, the four dimensions, status definitions, and the weekly rhythm. Good for sharing with any leader in the organization.
Download PDFSupervisor Conversation Guide
A full conversation guide for supervisors: what to ask across each FIRE dimension, what to listen for, and how to agree on an honest status.
Download PDFFramework Reference
The complete framework reference: priorities, dimensions, status definitions, weekly rhythm, stale items, and dashboard overview.
Download PDFReady to use it?
Open the FIRE App
The FIRE App is where teams manage their priorities, submit weekly updates, and view the dashboard.