Creating a Culture of Accountability
Fostering accountability will be a game changer for you as a leader and for your organization. And it is simple. Maybe not easy, but it is beautiful in its simplicity. The practices in this book have elevated the performance of companies and employees, across varied industries, corporate cultures, size, public or private, start-ups, and Fortune 100 companies.
Employee engagement is at an all-time low—a global epidemic, costing billions of dollars. One of the biggest contributors to this phenomenon is employees reporting a gap of accountability in their companies. When employee engagement increases, so do profits.
Organizations are often consumed with projects. These can include information technology projects ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars; post M&A integration; marketing projects when launching new products and services; capital projects such as power plants or new facilities; or office moves. In an accountable organization, projects generate higher return on investment. There are fewer mistakes, less rework, less onerous oversight, faster implementation, greater ownership, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, and capital to deploy to other projects. Have I convinced you yet?
How does accountability foster innovation? With greater accountability, leaders and peers hold each other to account. Everyone knows they will be expected to meet their commitments and take responsibility for resolving issues. As a result, one can lessen time-consuming, costly, and demanding oversight. As you become more nimble, innovation increases. You may see more rapid research and development, streamlined planning cycles, and faster recovery from mistakes.
What does a high level of accountability look like? Here are some of the most observable characteristics:
• Open and respectful conflict.
• Employees at all levels openly take responsibility for mistakes and make recommendations for change.
• Customer problem escalation is lower than your industry peers.
• The majority of projects are completed in accordance with the original schedule and budget with the desired level of quality.
• Few or declining health and safety incidents.
• Employees at all levels take holidays.
• Involuntary turnover of no less than three percent annually.
• Voluntary turnover of five to ten percent annually.
When Accountability Is Lacking
There are a variety of reasons you may be experiencing a lack of accountability. It may be that most of the right behaviors exist and you simply need to make some fine-tuning.
Once you identify the contributors, you are one step closer to closing the gaps. Here are some common factors that can undermine a culture of accountability.
• Executives have many competing priorities.
• Managers expect people to meet their obligations and to follow through on commitments without prompting or probing questions. As a result, they may not follow up, even when their instincts and judgment are indicating otherwise. Over time, this can create an impression that leaders are not serious about their requirements and/or that resisting the company direction, not changing in response to feedback or resisting change will be rewarded.
• Managers believe that their direct reports have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. Managers also often believe they know what their employees expect of them as leaders. This is not always the case. A lack of clarity can result in duplicated effort, wasted time, and missed opportunities. Investing time to confirm expectations will reap benefits.
• Accountability conversations can be uncomfortable, so people avoid them.
• Ironically, this discomfort often stems from leaders wondering, “Was I really clear in my expectations? Now I am going to tell him or her that they are not meeting my expectations. Is that fair?” Yes. It is fair and respectful—to the individual and, just as importantly, to their colleagues.
• Leaders do not know what they should do differently to create more accountability.
• They are uncertain about what actions would demonstrate their own accountability and how to hold others to greater account without feeling like they are micromanaging.
• There is a misconception that holding people accountable takes more time.
• It does not; it frees everyone to perform at a higher level.
Other contributors to a lack of accountability:
• When there are no visible repercussions for unmet commitments or marginal performance, a culture of lassitude results.
• A false belief that it is easier to accept the status quo than to address the anticipated resistance.
• Managers do not see the strong correlation between accountability and financial performance.
• Rationalization that remaining with the devil we know (e.g., supplier, business partner, or employee) is preferable and requires less effort than replacing them. That is only true for about ten minutes.
Results, sustainment, and consequences are required to create an accountable company (Figure 1.1). If you have results and sustainment but lack consequences, you encounter a downward spiral. If you focus on results with consequences but do not sustain the practices, you will engender employee disengagement and customer dissatisfaction. If you have sustainment and consequences without a focus on results, you will have busy work. Having any two of the building blocks without the third creates opportunity costs for the company.
Figure 1.1 The Building Blocks of Accountability
Results
Being “busy” has become a badge of honor in Western society. Frenetic actions, long to-do lists, achievement-oriented updates on social media have become the norm. Within organizations, a similar approach can contribute to a misplaced focus. Accountable and high-performing leaders pay attention to results over activities.
Sustainment
When companies follow through on commitments and operate in a consistent manner, it creates integrity with customers and employees. When you operate in a sustained manner, you avoid the trap of situational behavior. Situational leadership can occur in good and bad times, although it occurs most times when there are problems in the company. As an example, when a competitor is gaining market share, creating risk to profitability, reputation and customer retention, executives are likely to take a more proactive stance with the sales team and perhaps the marketing and product groups. Typically the leaders will follow up more often, will review performance metrics more frequently, and they may recognize actions taken by employees to address the problem.
When life returns to normal again, when sales return and the company regains market share, most executives and middle management will turn their attention elsewhere. That is appropriate as the immediate issue has been resolved. However, accountable behavior should continue. This includes clearly setting objectives, measuring and documenting performance results, following through on commitments, and addressing gaps in performance. This is sustained management of accountability.
Consequences
Within a culture of accountability, when results do not meet expectations, there are consequences. Remember, success is achieved through measuring results, not activities. If the technology projects within a company are often behind schedule and over budget, an accountable president will ask the chief information officer (CIO) to document what actions she is taking to address the issues and what results will be achieved by what date. If the results do not show improvement over time and if the president has assisted the CIO by removing any obstacles, eventually the CIO will have to change roles or leave the organization. Accountable leaders do not allow substandard performance to be tolerated even if it is a long-service employee, well-liked individual, or someone who has deep technical knowledge. If the performance is not a behavior issue (e.g., disrespect or harassment), the employee may be able to remain with the company in a role to which they are better suited. This rarely works well in the long run however, so I do not recommend it.
Establishing Accountability in Your Culture
1. Define success. Leaders and employees cannot strive for the desired results if the end state is not clearly defined. This is not about interim goals. It is the company or division’s vision and mission or the team’s raison d’être.
2. Create and communicate the greater purpose. Seventy percent of U.S. workers are disengaged. Work without a greater purpose is dissatisfying. Aspiring to something that matters motivates most of us. How does what an individual is doing contribute in a bigger way? Identify how performing their daily activities, with excellence, contributes to something bigger. Explain why and how what they do matters (e.g., how their performance contributes to share price; to healthy clients; to their coworkers and contractors all returning safely home to their families; to others achieving their retirement dreams).
3. Set clear goals: specific and measurable. Review progress against results on a regular basis, ideally once per month (once per quarter for more senior staff).
4. Recognize and celebrate people who take responsibility for mistakes. Own up to your own errors. Share what you learned and what you will do differently next time. Expect the same from others.
5. Take action on poor performance. Discuss missed performance expectations. Document repeated performance gaps. Tie compensation to performance.
6. Do not tolerate behavior that is not aligned to corporate values. Discuss the behavior as soon as possible after it occurs. Call it out, respectfully, in a group setting, if appropriate. Here is an example. “Dan, I understand you are frustrated. However, this is not the way we speak to each other at this company.”
Fostering accountability requires self-awareness and personal accountability, leadership of others, and effectively running your business or area of responsibility. Chapters 2–4 provide self-assessments and guide you through your own career choices and personal effectiveness. Chapters 5–9 provide tools and resources to elevate your leadership of others.