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I wasn’t actually planning on writing about accountability, but after my recent Focus article, a friend and client jokingly e-mailed me saying, “And now you want me to focus…wow. What’s next? Responsibility?” Well sir (and you know who you are), this one is for you.
Regardless of where you are in the corporate hierarchy, responsibility is a fundamental principle associated with success. Administrative and support staff must be held accountable for the quality and timeliness of their work. Vendors must be held accountable not only for the volume of production, but also for how they represent the company’s brand while achieving that volume. Management must be accountable to their subordinates as well as to executive leadership. Executives must be held accountable for their quality of leadership and decision-making.
Accountability is the most economical, practical and productive form of risk management and quality assurance that can be implemented in a company. It’s really nothing more than a common sense understanding that decisions made within a framework are going to have a higher chance of success than those made in a vacuum.
It is those individuals or organizations that do not believe they are accountable to anyone for anything at any time that are nothing more than a disaster waiting to happen. All human beings, regardless of who they are, can be capable of big mistakes when operating in a vacuum or under a veil of secrecy. While there are certainly people who are just plain predatory, bad people to the bone, clearly not everyone who makes a mistake is evil with the intent to harm others. Rather, many people when faced with a difficult situation were simply not operating responsibly and therefore made a decision they likely would not have made if they were operating openly under the scrutiny and review of others.
Just in case… Let’s compare Martha Stewart to Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling. Both were convicted of insider trading and both were operating outside of a framework of responsibility, but were their motivations the same? Is Martha Stewart really an evil criminal or is she just a person operating outside a framework of what she probably believed at the time of reckoning to be a seemingly unimportant decision?
Martha Stewart’s example is not intended to trivialize wrongdoing as insignificant. At the end of the day, regardless of her understanding or motivation (or the federal “witch hunt” that took place), she committed a crime, but I think if she had been operating in broad daylight and sought out an attorney in your decision making that the outcome may have been different.
If you remember any of the bad and/or unfortunate decisions you have made in your life, it is very likely that you did not seek the advice of others (or ignored such advice) before making the wrong decision.
Establishing a company-wide framework for accountability is as simple as implementing the following three elements:
1. Have a clearly articulated corporate values statement – not only state the values you want the entity to use as a basis for operation, but also use the values to frame your vision, mission, strategy, tactics and processes. . Hire and manage based on corporate values. If you hire someone who doesn’t share the corporate values or doesn’t hold existing employees accountable for upholding the corporate values, you’ll get what you deserve…
2. Have a written delegation of authority: A written guide to corporate decision-making will help people make good decisions. Describe in great detail which employees are authorized to make which decisions. Establish budget guidelines and approval of all decisions. Ensuring that good checks and balances are in place will help hold employees accountable.
3. Implement a good leadership development program – Using training, coaching, mentoring, peer review, talent management, and other development best practices will help ensure that your leaders continue to grow and that accountability guidelines corporate are constantly reinforced.
The bottom line is that individuals, teams, business units, divisions, and corporations will be better off when a culture of responsibility is adopted.