The Accountability Formula
“When is John going to get me that report?”
“What is going on in marketing? When are they going to finish that project?”
“I can’t believe Mary is so late in making those phone calls.”
“Okay…who dropped the ball this time?”
“Hey…that’s not MY job.”
Does this sound familiar? If so, your team and company may be faced with a very big challenge with accountability, which results in finger pointing, frustration and broken trust. Personal responsibility and accountability can put an end to the blame game, saving your company thousands if not millions of dollars by increasing productivity, customer service and job satisfaction. This article offers leaders five basic approaches to increasing accountability, which are simple, yet they require actually building a culture of accountability or even going so far to adopting accountability as one of the core values of your company.
Communicate the big picture- Accountability stands a better chance of succeeding if everyone in your company embraces a larger responsibility for the success of the entire organization. Spend time talking individually with team members about how his or her project affects the vision and mission of the company. With this communication, people can make wiser decisions from the context of the “big picture” rather than from the perspective of what may seem to be a detailed and boring task.
State clear expectations- If one person on the team does not meet your expectations, the entire team can fail. It is important from the very beginning of any new project to state the expectations clearly and repeat them over and over again until your team really “gets it.” These expectations need to be crystal clear, including dates, who is responsible for what, the details of the task and how you want the finished product delivered. If your expectations are fuzzy or confusing in any way, your team can break down, and the fine and very important details can fall through the cracks.
Accountability work groups- One of the best ways to achieve accountability is to develop shared accountability among team members. Accountability within the team can be accomplished by what Morris R. Shechtman calls “accountability groups,” groups which give team members the permission to speak and listen in a way which is frank and open. This accountability group can then serve as a small unit of people working together to confide in with struggles, weaknesses and insecurities and they relate to the goals and growth the team intends to achieve.
Move to action- In order for accountability to work, people have to know that failure of completion will come with certain consequences, including written warnings, loss of a bonus or extra hours served on a week-end to complete the project on the table. Without consequences, your employees won’t take you seriously. They will think that
Reward and recognition program- Employees need to know in a tangible way their efforts are indeed driving the company forward, and it is important for them to share in the fruits of their hard work. The offer of increased pay and benefits (vacations, time off and other perks) can keep accountability and morale high and can motivate employees to continue to strive for high levels of performance.
About the Author
Bea Fields is an Executive Coach and the President of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training. She is a Consultant, Trainer, Public Speaker and author of the Five Star Leader e-course. Along with Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coach, she is the co-leader of the Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification program. She is the Visionary for the Teleclass Leaders Learning Program and the Personal Environments Learning Program for CoachVille, LLC.
The Accountability Factor
“When is John going to get me that report?”
“What is going on in marketing? When are they going to finish that project?”
“I can’t believe Mary is so late in making those phone calls.”
“Okay…who dropped the ball this time?”
“Hey…that’s not MY job.”
Does this sound familiar? If so, your team and company may be faced with a very big challenge with accountability, which results in finger pointing, frustration and broken trust. Personal responsibility and accountability can put an end to the blame game, saving your company thousands if not millions of dollars by increasing productivity, customer service and job satisfaction. This article offers leaders five basic approaches to increasing accountability, which are simple, yet they require actually building a culture of accountability or even going so far to adopting accountability as one of the core values of your company.
Communicate the big picture- Accountability stands a better chance of succeeding if everyone in your company embraces a larger responsibility for the success of the entire organization. Spend time talking individually with team members about how his or her project affects the vision and mission of the company. With this communication, people can make wiser decisions from the context of the “big picture” rather than from the perspective of what may seem to be a detailed and boring task.
State clear expectations- If one person on the team does not meet your expectations, the entire team can fail. It is important from the very beginning of any new project to state the expectations clearly and repeat them over and over again until your team really “gets it.” These expectations need to be crystal clear, including dates, who is responsible for what, the details of the task and how you want the finished product delivered. If your expectations are fuzzy or confusing in any way, your team can break down, and the fine and very important details can fall through the cracks.
Accountability work groups- One of the best ways to achieve accountability is to develop shared accountability among team members. Accountability within the team can be accomplished by what Morris R. Shechtman calls “accountability groups,” groups which give team members the permission to speak and listen in a way which is frank and open. This accountability group can then serve as a small unit of people working together to confide in with struggles, weaknesses and insecurities and they relate to the goals and growth the team intends to achieve.
Move to action- In order for accountability to work, people have to know that failure of completion will come with certain consequences, including written warnings, loss of a bonus or extra hours served on a week-end to complete the project on the table. Without consequences, your employees won’t take you seriously. They will think that
Reward and recognition program- Employees need to know in a tangible way their efforts are indeed driving the company forward, and it is important for them to share in the fruits of their hard work. The offer of increased pay and benefits (vacations, time off and other perks) can keep accountability and morale high and can motivate employees to continue to strive for high levels of performance.
About the Author
Bea Fields is an Executive Coach and the President of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training. She is a Consultant, Trainer, Public Speaker and author of the Five Star Leader e-course. Along with Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coach, she is the co-leader of the Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification program. She is the Visionary for the Teleclass Leaders Learning Program and the Personal Environments Learning Program for CoachVille, LLC.
Check out this story….“Baby bonus” turns into PR headache | Reuters.com
I just have to laugh at some of the mistakes that are made like this.
It’s one thing to make the money, it’s another thing to ask for the money back. Personally, my thought process is this: If I make the mistake, then I eat the cost.
I would limit future non-Italian families from getting the “bonus” but I would not make those that claimed it pay it back. Not good business in my opinion, and running a country is just like running a business…worse actually. You are voted into office!
Just some food for thought!
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 14 CommentsIt’s no secret…I think big. I have more ideas than I have time to implement. And often, it’s easy
to get caught up in them.
There are many things in my business that I have thought up and run with only to find out that I
didn’t put enough thought into them and that they weren’t planned properly. They didn’t go over
well because I was too excited to focus on their proper implementation.
I’ve also been subjected to the hype of new product launches and have fallen for the hype. It’s
okay. I know its good marketing when I get suckered into the marketing ploy; when I get to the end
of the sales letter and I’ve already got my credit card out and ready to pay.
However, in the past two months, there have been three product launches that I have really looked
forward to and when it came time to pay, they weren’t planned very well. I’m a pretty easy going
person but here are a few things that happened and how I felt and reacted.
The first was a new membership site by someone whose advice I highly admire. I think he’s a
brilliant man and I have learned a great deal from him. In fact, I pay for his newsletter every
month. So when he announced his new site, I was there within minutes, credit card in hand ready to
get in.
I gave him my information (basically my credit card information and my name) and then I was taken
to a login page. They never asked me to create a user name and password and I had no way to get
in. I wanted it. They sold me. I wanted the information and I wanted it right then and there.
It took me two days to finally get the information. I was so frustrated by then that I canceled my
membership and asked for my money back.
A few weeks later I learned of a new product that was coming to the market. I was hooked by the
sales letter, the hype, the follow up emails, the sneak peeks; oh I was all over it. I was on the
site, counting down to 10am with my credit card in hand. At 10am, nothing happened. There was no
where for me to pay. I finally got in at 10:30am and what was promised to me (the bonuses,
primarily) weren’t there. A slew of emails came from the owner with incorrect links to get bonuses
and to log in and I was frustrated. I cancelled my account shortly there after.
And then this last time just a few weeks ago. I was offered a “pre-launch membership fee” and that
the site would go live in just 3 days, March 15th. It’s been pushed back 4 times now, there have
been many other emails pushing other people’s products and there is nothing in the membership area.
Today, I get an email stating that she is pushing it back to the 31st. She wasn’t ready, and to
be quite honest, I’m not impressed with it at all. I’ve cancelled that membership as well.
My point is this. Hype is wonderful. Get people excited about what you have to offer, but make
sure that you deliver. If you’re going to launch a product or service, make sure that the site is
ready to go and all the major kinks worked out. Check your payment processor, your gateway and
that all your links on the inside are correct. It’s okay to have a glitch or two; it wouldn’t be a
true launch if there wasn’t something, but make sure all the major issues are resolved.
Until next time…
Heather
An update on Mondays post.
I was telling my friend Jackie about my experiences Friday night with the waiter. This spawned another conversation where she asks me if Ive ever had any experiences with the Deli lady at Kroger.
As soon as she mentioned the Deli Lady I knew exactly who she was talking about.
But Jackie proceeded to tell me about how she went to the Deli Saturday morning and it wasnt crowded and she wanted a half a pound of white American cheese.
Jackie tells me Im a good deli counter customer. I know exactly what I want and I dont stand there and order a quarter pound of everything under the sun. I had to laugh at that one.
Deli Lady looks at her and says, Ill have to open a new pack.
Now tell mewhy is that response needed? Who cares if you have to open a new pack? The customer wants a half a pound of White American cheese. She doesnt need to know anything about the process of getting that cheese.
Jackie said she thought that she needed to respond, but wasnt sure how. So she simply said, okay.
So we got to talking about how people who dont like people should work where they dont need to deal with people. We decided that Deli Lady should work in rotisserie chicken because then she wouldnt have to deal with people.
We really like Deli Man. Hes friendly and talks to you while hes slicing your meats and cheeses and really makes the trip to the deli counter enjoyable.
Jackie was also telling me about a man that she works with. When they go into Kroger they hit the Deli first. If Deli Lady is working (regardless of how many people are actually at the Deli counter) the husband can stand at the counter while the wife goes and does all the other shopping. Can you believe this?
Personally, going to the grocery store is not my favorite thing in the world to do. But its not so bad when Ive got nice people to deal with.
I think Im going to drop a little note to the manager over there and tell him how much I like Deli Man. I wont mention Deli Lady by name, but Ill let him know there are some others that dont make my deli experience so enjoyable.
Im off my customer service soap box now
Until next time
Heather
Permalink 12 Comments