The Accountable Leader
Oct 13th, 2008 by admin
What does it mean to be accountable? That’s a question I frequently ask management teams, and invariably I get a number of different answers, even from managers on the same team. My second question is how do you know if someone is being accountable or not? The answers get even fuzzier.
If a manager can’t clearly explain the concept of accountability, then how would he or she hold anyone accountable? It’s no wonder that so many managers are fussing about the lack of accountability in their organizations. What they don’t seem understand is that the so called lack of accountability begins and ends with the managers themselves. This is not a Gen Y problem. It’s a management problem.
Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you ask me if I will do something, and I answer, “Yes, I will.” What just happened? You made a request, and I made a commitment. It’s not an action item; it’s a promise to do what I agreed to do. So if I do what I promised, then am I being accountable?
Not yet. To be accountable I must also provide an account of my decisions, actions and results - truthfully and with no excuses or lengthy explanations.
But that’s not what we’re fussing about, is it? No, when we complain about the lack of accountability it’s more than that…especially when the results are not delivered. Let’s say I failed to deliver the results I promised, but I tell you what my decisions were, the action taken, and the results produced. So I am being accountable…happy now?
Probably not, because there is something else that we’re looking for that tells us whether or not someone is fully accountable. I think we are judging how the goal was pursued as much or more than we are evaluating the results. It’s how the game is played as much as the final score that determines if we make the team.
There are three things I look for to judge the level of one’s accountability. The first is whether or not appropriate action was taken. Often, nothing is really happening or being done other than busy work. If there was appropriate action, but there is still a shortfall, then I look to see if a wide range of alternative action is being pursued.
Most often people stop short of considering all their viable alternatives. A phone call or an email is not the only way to contact someone, right? What are all the creative ways that we can employ to make an important connection? If challenged, we could think of hundreds of ways. But what if we are being creative and daring, but still not getting the results we want?
That’s when I look for the intensity of the effort. Are the amounts of time, energy, people, money and other resources (internal and external) being applied at the appropriate level? My experience is that they seldom are. If intensity could be measured on a scale from 1 to 10, few people really play full out at level 10.
But what if we are in action and considering a number of options and playing full out, but we are not getting the results we want? Well, I don’t know about you, but the last thing I am concerned about is whether or not someone is being accountable. If we’ve done all that, then maybe we just need to change the goal.
Taking action, creating options and applying an intense effort to the goal is what accountability is all about; and people who work that way are the kind of people I want on my team.
