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I Swear by Apollo
By Bruna Martinuzzi
"I swear by Apollo"... so starts the Oath of Hippocrates, an oath
of ethical, professional behavior sworn by all new physicians - a
promise to practice good medicine to the best of their ability, for
the good of their patients.
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The Language of Accountability
By Gregg Thompson
The next time you are listening to a leader speak, listen
carefully to the speaker's use of the word "I." The manner in which a
leader uses this one little word reveals much about his or her
inclination towards accountability. Most leaders learn early in their
careers to speak in terms of "we.
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The Two Faces of Accountability
By Valarie Willis
We are all quite familiar with accountability as it relates to
measurable things like goals and objectives. Achieving stated goals
is one side, how we behave while working towards the goals is the
other side. I believe that some organizations have a "Jekel and Hyde"
complex.
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The Chemistry of Accountability
By Ron Crossland
About three-quarters of the mass of the universe is hydrogen,
with that unreactive, cosmic loner of an element, helium making up
nearly the rest of the mass. The third most abundant element is
oxygen, and in the cosmic recipe book, one part oxygen and two parts
hydrogen make water.
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I Swear by Apollo
By Bruna Martinuzzi
"I swear by Apollo"... so starts the Oath of Hippocrates, an oath
of ethical, professional behavior sworn by all new physicians - a
promise to practice good medicine to the best of their ability, for
the good of their patients. It essentially boils down to a
commitment to "do no harm". Wouldn't it be great to have such an
oath for leaders - an oath of personal accountability, not just for
business outcomes and for leading others, but for
leading oneself. I am reminded of the biblical proverb
"Physician, heal thyself", suggesting that one should take care of
one's own faults first before correcting the faults of others - so I
add to the above:
Leader, heal thyself.
Any nuts-and-bolts leadership primer will explain that one of the
key leadership competencies is holding others accountable which
entails, among other things, setting clear expectations and
guidelines, clearly communicating goals and objectives, following up
to ensure fulfillment of responsibilities, providing feedback on
performance, coaching those whose performance is not up to par and
finally taking any necessary corrective action. But a leader cannot
expect to successfully hold others accountable if they are not
holding themselves accountable first.
While this is an important dimension of leadership, it is easy to
slip when it comes to accountability for our own behaviors. This can
happen even for leaders who do a great job at holding themselves
accountable for the big ticket items such as driving for results,
whether in sales, operations, marketing or financing; identifying
root causes for business problems; developing a vision and strategy;
and managing resources effectively.
Let's clarify something before we proceed: no leader worth his
salt wakes up in the morning deciding that he or she is not going to
be accountable today. No one wants to do a bad job. But things
happen during the course of the day that can divert the best of us
from our good intentions, and more often than not, it is
unintentional, personal "slips". It is about these seemingly
innocuous personal slips that I want to talk about. They take many
subtle forms. Let's explore a few of the garden-variety ones:
- You have a chronic problem employee, but instead of making the
tough decision to let the individual go, because you are a nice
person, and after much deliberation and agony, you decide to transfer
the person to another department - essentially moving the problem to
another part of the company and hoping it goes away. Deep down, your
intuition is whispering to you that the problem will not go away but,
in your elation to having found the solution to a nagging problem,
you hush your intuition and you come to the office the next day, with
a spring in your step and a song in your heart - relieved at having
shed a burden off your shoulders.
- A senior member of your team has a habit of treating less
influential ones very poorly in meetings, interrupting them,
discounting their contributions and generally exhibiting poster-like
bad behavior. It mortifies the recipients, embarrasses other team
members and even bothers you, but, again, because you value harmony
and hate confrontation of any kind, you reluctantly choose to ignore
the offending behavior and hope that it will stop on its own. The
fact that the perpetuator is an aggressive, high achiever,
successfully delivering results makes it even harder for you to step
up and do something.
- You have just announced the company's drastic cost-cutting
measures and asked for everyone in your department to cooperate by
eliminating all discretionary spending for a while to help the
organization ride out a difficult period. You delivered a genuinely
inspiring speech to your team, and everyone is on board to make this
work. Two days later, employees see a $1,000 chair delivered to your
office - an earlier purchase you had genuinely forgotten to cancel.
Others, of course, don't judge us by our intentions - they only have
the appearance of events to judge you by.
- A mistake was made, the ownership of which falls on several
shoulders including yours. Driven by the anxiety and chaos that
ensues, you minimize your role in the fracas, and even unwittingly
suffer from temporary corporate amnesia, forgetting that you were
fully briefed in advance and setting out to find a scapegoat,
genuinely convincing yourself that it is surely their fault. This
can easily happen in times of stress because, as a leader, you handle
dozens of issues on a daily basis. However, others involved only
handle a few issues and remember the course of events with laser-like
precision.
Well, the list can go on. Some slips are due to personality
preferences, others just from the sheer amount of work and stress
that leaders can easily function under. The reasons are multiple and
really not important. It's the behaviors that are important. They
are all examples of behaviors you would not condone in others when
you set out to hold them accountable. And as we all know, when there
is a disparity between what you tell others to do and what you do
yourself, people will believe your actions and not your words. The
fallout of this scenario is an erosion of trust, one of the high
prices we pay for lack of self-accountability.
Let's also not neglect to mention that being in a leadership
position is not necessarily being in a popular spot. Just doing
anything can ipso facto elicit criticism. You are always in a
fishbowl.
So what are some strategies you can adopt to be more careful, to
be self-accountable - to essentially report to yourself?
1. Just as companies are rightfully concerned about how they are
viewed by customers or shareholders, consider taking time to reflect
on how your actions are viewed by all stakeholders: your direct
reports, your peers, your clients. Go through a formal 360
Leadership Assessment process or simply get hold of a leadership
assessment form and use it to reflect on how others in your team
would rate you on each dimension. For example:
Puts the interests of the team before own interests; Shares credit for successes; Readily shares relevant information; Asks how am I doing; Treats others with respect regardless of their position; Fosters teamwork across all departments; Stands behind decisions made by the team; Provides honest feedback on a timely basis.
How would others respond to these questions about you?
2. At the end of each day, when you clear your desk before you
head home, take a few short minutes to mentally go over your day.
Think about significant conversations you held, meetings you
attended, emails you sent and other actions you undertook. Are you
proud? Could you have done better? This will inspire you to plan
your next day around your highest purpose. Getting into this habit
of introspection will pay dividends in the long run.
3. Decide to hold yourself accountable for developing other
leaders. By mentoring a protégé to enhance their personal and
professional growth, you strengthen your own leadership skills and
reinforce your determination to be self-accountable as you become the
model.
4. Form a closer alliance with your human resources people -
leverage their expertise in human relations and seek their advice on
the more bewildering people issues so that these events don't derail
you from your best intentions.
5. Be self-accountable for your own happiness. No one can go on
a diet for you, just as no one can be responsible for your state of
mind. We are totally responsible for the impact that others have on
us. Spend time to understand the disruptive effect that emotions can
have on your behavior and resolve to do something about it.
6. When something goes wrong, look inwardly for solutions. It is
especially in difficult times that our self-accountability is
challenged. Martin Luther King said it poignantly: "The ultimate
measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy."
7. When a mistake is made, do you ask: "Whose fault is it?" or do
you say: "What can we learn from this?" or "What can I do to improve
this situation?" To that end, consider reading John G. Miller's
book: Reading the book
QBQ! The Question behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life.
inspires one to move away from the blame game we have all been
tempted to play at one time or other and take ownership of issues.
8. Think about promises you make to new hires during the
interviewing courtship period. In our zeal to want to attract the
brightest and most talented, we can easily over promise. Keep a
record of your interview notes and what you promised to candidates.
If subsequent events make it impossible to keep the promises, at
least you can address them with the individual. This is better than
forgetting about them altogether.
9. What about promises you made to yourself? Write out your
personal and professional goals with clear targets. Read them once a
week. Are your day-to-day actions aligned with your values, your
standards, your philosophy of leading? What are your boundaries? Do
you take measures to protect them? If your answers to these
questions are negative, what is causing this? What insights does
this give you? Use this information as a means to spur you to action
rather than guilt.
10. Along that vein, consider how easy it is for us to slip into
neglecting our intimate self when we embark on the leadership
journey. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, where
would you score yourself on your ability to monitor and grow your
physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions? Do you approach
these three key areas with the same careful analysis you devote to
the components of your P & L statement?
11. Moliere, 17th century French dramatist, said: "It is not
only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are
accountable." Is there anything that you are avoiding doing that
needs to be done? For example, are you putting off a difficult
conversation? Are you delaying any important decisions? Are you
delegating away responsibilities that should stay in your court?
Self-accountability, then, is staying true to ourselves despite
difficult circumstances. It's doing the right thing even when we are
tempted to bend a few rules for expediency's sake. Perhaps Deborah
Lee put it best: "Self-accountability is who you are when no one is
looking". It's also the best anti-dote to feeling victimized by
circumstances and in so doing, frees up precious creative energy for
us to accomplish what matters to us. Above all, it entails owning up
to the consequences of our decisions and choices, because there is no
choice without accountability. This is eloquently explained in a
poem from an unknown source:
Choice and Accountability
Feel me. I am your freedom.
I am your wrong decision and hard consequence,
But then I am your sacrifice and your rich blessings.
Your knowledge needs me to grow.
I am the reason you have knowledge.
I am responsibility.
I am the freedom and justice.
I hold wisdom and foolishness,
Truth and untruth,
And the difference between them.
There are two parts to me.
One part cannot exist without the other.
I am a pattern, consistent and strong.
You experience me all throughout your life.
You need me to learn.
I will teach you if you pay attention.
I am your Choice and Accountability.
Bruna Martinuzzi is a Senior Consultant with Bluepoint
Canada and can be reached by
email.
Copyright (C) 2006 by Bruna Martinuzzi. All Rights Reserved.
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The Language of Accountability
By Gregg Thompson
The next time you are listening to a leader speak, listen
carefully to the speaker's use of the word "I." The manner in which a
leader uses this one little word reveals much about his or her
inclination towards accountability. Most leaders learn early in their
careers to speak in terms of "we." What should we do? How will we
work together? What did we accomplish? They recognize that much of
their role is to give voice to the organization's plans and
performance and that in that context the use of "we" is most
appropriate. But when it comes to their personal accountability, it's
all about the "I" word. As you listen, you will quickly become adept
at spotting leaders who have a strong sense of personal
accountability and those that do not.
Consider the four sample statements in the non-accountable list
below. When leaders use these or similar statements, they are
signaling a lack of accountability. Conversely, the corresponding
statements in the accountable list signal a strong sense of personal
accountability.
Not Accountable
1) I had to...
2) I cannot...
3) I need to...
4) I am unable to...
Accountable
1) I chose to...
2) I will not...
3) I want to...
4) I am unwilling to...
The difference between these phrases may appear subtle, but if
you listen closely, they speak volumes about the degree to which a
leader takes responsibility for his or her thoughts, opinions, and
actions.
How often do you hear a leader saying things like...
"I had to fire him"
"I cannot get along with the Board"
"I need to get more support from the company"
"I am unable to agree with you"
These comments denote a lack of personal accountability and erode
leadership effectiveness. I believe that we are always listening to
those around us, almost unconsciously, and grading them on the
accountability scale. We naturally attribute the qualities of
leadership to those individuals who assume personal accountability
and discount the leadership of those who do not.
Think about the language you use. Does your language suggest that
you hold yourself accountable for your own performance, or do you
deflect responsibility elsewhere? It may seem like a small matter of
language choice, but its impact on how you are perceived as a leader
is enormous.
Gregg Thompson is the President of Bluepoint Leadership
Development and can be reached at (513) 289-0141 or
greggthompson@bluepointleadership.com
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The Two Faces of Accountability
By Valarie Willis
We are all quite familiar with accountability as it relates to
measurable things like goals and objectives. Achieving stated goals
is one side, how we behave while working towards the goals is the
other side. I believe that some organizations have a "Jekel and Hyde"
complex. Jekel is behavior accountability, and Hyde is goal
accountability.
Jekel's Face
In
Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team,
author Patrick Lencioni writes about team accountability. Not only
is the team responsible for the goals of the team, the team is
responsible for how the team behaves. Yet most people don't want to
deal with the conflict and angst that comes with addressing bad
behavior. Dysfunctional behavior that goes unchecked can create huge
problems for organizations.
During my corporate experience we had a sales person who could
make his sales goals with no problem. He consistently achieved goals
as he consistently violated every corporate value on the books. He
was constantly disrespectful, temperamental, controlling, overbearing
and not a team player. His behavior went unchecked AND he would
receive awards for achieving his sales goals. The service department
was furious that they had to take abuse and someone was being
rewarded. This behavior demoralized individuals and created friction
within the sales team. The violations became so bizarre that action
was taken, but damage to the team and the entire organization had
already been done.
In most organizations there are stated values displayed along
corridor walls, printed on the back of ID cards, and posted on
websites. While the values are visible the accountability question
is: Are these values real or just posted? The answer lies in watching
behavior. If the values aren't being lived out and no one "checks"
the behaviors, then the values have no value. There is no
accountability for the behavior. This often gets passed over as a
minor infraction not worthy of the leader's attention, yet it should
be screaming for the leader's attention. When minor violations are
allowed to go unnoticed, it creates a domino effect; eventually it
all starts to fall apart.
I recently spoke with a Southwest flight attendant, getting the
scoop on the real Southwest. She echoed what business people read
about - Southwest has a strong values culture. The flight attendant
told me that you would get fired faster at Southwest for mistreating
another employee, than a customer. Now, that is not saying that they
tolerate poor service, but as she said, "If you don't treat your
co-workers well, you aren't going to treat the customer well. We
work as a team, that's how we get the job done." The Jekel syndrome
has no place to take root here.
Hyde's Face
Sales and Marketing Management recently reported that
customer service is suffering in many industries. Their article
entitled "Poor Customer Service Causes Churn," cites the
reduction of service in several industries. "Retailers suffered the
greatest number of customer defections, followed by internet service
providers, banks, home telephone service providers, wireless/cell
phone companies, and cable/satellite TV service providers. Utility
companies and life insurers suffered the fewest customer defections
(selected by 3 percent of respondents each) followed by airlines (4
percent) and hotels (6 percent)."
Who is accountable for this mass exodus of consumers? The
leaders, the front line workers, the sales people? Somewhere along
the line, a weak accountability link was formed. If we were to survey
these businesses, it probably wouldn't necessarily be easy to spot
the link. I suspect that if we could eavesdrop on conversations, we
may have heard, "That is not my problem," or "Someone else will take
care of that." Often we avoid being accountable because we have to
take on something that is outside of our realm of responsibility. We
keep passing the problem down the chain. If this were a relay race,
we could never win, because the baton is not being successfully
passed on.
However, if we want to achieve the goals and objectives, we need
to think about what we have agreed to be accountable for. When we
sign up to achieve a goal, then we have to go the distance and make
sure that it happens.
There are real costs associated with not being accountable. Goals
are not achieved, and more importantly, key relationships with
consumers and clients are at stake. Customer loyalty once lost is
hard to regain. Everyone in an organization is accountable for
retaining customers. We probably don't help everyone understand this
critical component of their job. The
Sales and Marketing article reported Robert Wollan, managing
partner for Accenture's Customer Contact Transformation business, as
saying, "High-performing companies recognize that customer
satisfaction is built or destroyed by how well they coordinate every
step of each interaction-they're focused on translating their
existing service technology investments into satisfying experiences
that keep customers coming back. As industries fall victim to
commoditization and barriers to changing service providers are
removed, those that neglect any aspect of the customer service
experience risk losing market share to competitors."
Successful organizations recognize the two powerful
accountability faces and ensure that both are being honored at all
times.
How are you doing in holding people accountable for both their
behaviors and their goals? What would you recommend that people do?
Let's hear from you.
Valarie Willis is a Senior Facilitator at Bluepoint Leadership Development. Email Valarie Willis
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The Chemistry of Accountability
By Ron Crossland
About three-quarters of the mass of the universe is hydrogen,
with that unreactive, cosmic loner of an element, helium making up
nearly the rest of the mass. The third most abundant element is
oxygen, and in the cosmic recipe book, one part oxygen and two parts
hydrogen make water. In his book
Life's Matrix: A Biography of Water,
Philip Ball writes elegantly, even poetically, about water, and
while it would seem that water as a subject could never take up the
space of a book, Ball reminds us that, "Over two-thirds of the
planet's surface is covered by liquid water, and over one-twentieth
by ice. We call our home Earth - but Water would be more apt."
I've selected water as my analogy for discussing accountability.
Many researchers study accountability, and their work is a little
like studying water by only examining the oxygen portion. They
discuss accountability's importance to organizational functioning
(oxygen is necessary for human life), that a lack of accountability
puts out an organization's performance (most fire extinguishers work
by pushing oxygen away from a fire, thereby killing it), and that as
important as accountability is in an organization, it does not work
alone (half the Water's, uh I mean Earth's, crust is oxygen and it
comprises over a quarter of the entire mass of our planet - but only
a tiny fraction of that is the oxygen in the air).
It is the last point that I'd like to take up, and why I think
accountability is like oxygen - meaning that while it exists on its
own, it normally does itsest work when connected to other elements.
With HOH you get water, necessary for biological life. When
accountability (A) is paired with two traveling companions,
enablement (E) and appreciation (A), you get AEA, or what I call
engagement, necessary for organizational life.
For years I've done the following exercise with managers in many
regions of the world. You can try it yourself. Ask a group to
consider the following: if you could produce a totally engaged,
productive, accountable workplace, what would leaders and followers
have to give up - and what would leaders and followers get in return?
It only takes about ten to fifteen minutes of discussion for a
small group to flesh out this two by two matrix (leaders get/leaders
give up/followers get/followers give up) with nearly all the
important terms that accountability researchers study. Individuals
understand they must be held accountable for their work and outcomes,
but before they commit, they want the following from their leaders
(what leaders have to give up or provide), which could be considered
as the conditions of accountability:
- Time to complete their work
- Authority to carry out their work
- Fair access to resources to complete their work
- Commensurate appreciation for completing their work
- Autonomy to work through issues
- Back-up from superiors when issues outside their influence come
into play
- Help in building appropriate skills to do the work
When they get these things, followers report that they are more
willing to commit to tasks and task outcomes and accept the
consequences of under or over-completion of those tasks. Simply put,
if the conditions of accountability are met, then individuals will
commit to being accountable. A close look at the above list shows
that appreciation and enablement are key components that create
favorable accountability conditions.
And followers report they get in return for this:
- Increased job satisfaction
- Increased sense of self-worth
- Greater opportunity for advancement or other compensation
- Greater willingness to take on more responsibility
- Greater commitment to the organization
Many business leaders try to deal with accountability in ways
that are like trying to deal with water by only addressing the oxygen
atom. But imagine being asked to be accountable without receiving
sufficient resources, lacking skills, being chronically
underappreciated, being tasked with insane time constraints, and
being micro-managed at every step. While some of you may feel this
reads like your job description, I would suggest it eradicates any
sense of accountability. Accountability, like a single oxygen atom,
doesn't stand alone.
In fact even pairing accountability with either enablement or
appreciation alone is insufficient. Accountability plus enablement
less appreciation is a sweat shop. Accountability plus appreciation
less enablement is a farce. Any discussion about accountability will
soon include components of enablement and appreciation. The September
2006 issue of Harvard Business Review contains an example in an
article by Steven Berglas entitled,
"How to Keep 'A' Players Productive."
Over the course of the article, Berglas discusses many factors about
how well enabled these top performers are (they have talent and
experience), and yet one of the ideas he emphasizes is, "'A' players
crave praise."
Accountability, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Just as the two
most abundant, reactive atoms in the universe unite to create what
scientists often refer to as the universal solvent, accountability
must unite with enablement and appreciation to create the universal
fuel.
Ron Crossland is Chairman of Bluepoint Leadership Development. Email Ron Crossland.
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