Investor's Business Daily, October 4th, 2007
With change hitting firms fast, it's tough to grasp all the trends. The key to managing that change? Hold everyone in the outfit accountable.
It's not a matter of pointing fingers at each other, says Mark Samuel, president of Impaq, a Los Angeles-based consulting and training firm. Instead, people ask for support when they need it, rather than waiting for something to break down. They look for ways to boost performance beyond just doing their jobs.
The result: trust, support and a focus on excellence. People can rely on each other and don't have to do others' jobs to cover for mistakes.
Samuel, who wrote "Creating the Accountable Organization," says he worked with a tech firm that was finishing projects on time and on budget 20% of the time. After it focused on holding people accountable, that figure jumped to 75%.
"Their whole reputation changed," he said.
Accountability is crucial to keeping a grip on change, says Billie Blair, CEO of Los Angeles-based organizational consulting firm Leading & Learning Inc. "You need all the moving parts to be moving together," she said. "Accountability is the central feature of that. It's what brings everybody together."
Blair works with the tribal casinos in California. Their leaders have it ingrained in them that they always are accountable to the tribe. Corporations work for decades to build that kind of culture.
Once you have that, people believe in the common cause and don't waste time looking to affix blame.
To build an accountable culture, organizations need to:
Set clear goals. The firm should be headed in a clear direction, Samuel says, not just toward sales goals but also toward deciding how the firm will look. Communicate to people why those goals are vital to the group's cause, Blair says.
Ease fears. Change happens so much and so fast that employees worry about the future, Blair says.
"You need to inculcate them with a sense of where you want to take the organization, who will be involved and who is responsible," she said.
Go to employees first. Top executives tend to spout off goals at a big meeting, never to mention them again. It's better to show the employees how the decisions will play out in their world.
"Then they'll trust their leaders," Blair said. "If (the top executives) are accountable, then the employees become accountable."
Work with middle managers. They hold the keys, Samuel says. His first step in working with a firm is to get middle managers aligned with a team, rather than being isolated.
"They decide whether to share resources or not, and they set clear expectations," he said.
Form personal life links. The best way to get everyone to take individual ownership, Samuel says, is to tie accountability in one's personal life to his professional life. If he's accountable at work, he'll be accountable at home, and both areas will prosper.
"When people make that linkage, accountability becomes more of a value and less of a concept," Samuel said.
