When I was an individual contributor the things that kept me awake at night tended to be self-recrimination about things I could have done better.
- “How could I have missed that deadline?”
- “Why didn’t I see that possible outcome?”
- “How could I have missed that step?”
As a manager, the focus of the “if only” conversations in my head changed. They were no longer about what I could or should have done differently. They were about what I might have done differently so one of my team members would have done something differently.
- “What were they thinking when they did that?”
- “How could they not have understood the importance of that deadline?”
- “How could they not have known how much this delay would cost us?”
These are the questions that we as managers ask ourselves in those 4:00 am conversations with ourselves.
Whatever your specific questions, they fall into two general areas:
- Who was accountable for that outcome? i.e., why did something happen that should never have happened? or,
- Why wasn’t anyone accountable for making sure that was done? i.e., why didn’t something happen that should have happened.
Let’s boil this down one more step – the common word in both situations is accountability. In the first case the accountable person got it wrong. In the second case, it seems no-one was accountable but someone should have been.
OK… in full transparency … accountability is my thing. I started the journey five years ago when I semi-retired from a very successful consulting practice. Partly it was personal, i.e. less travel please. Partly it was to have time and energy to explore this concept of accountability. What I discovered after two years of reading everything I could find and conducting a research project with the Telfer School of Management was astounding. But that’s another story. <hyperlink>
Suffice it to say for this article: organizations that have managers who have higher levels of accountability also have higher levels of effectiveness. Accountability is important.
But here is the sad fact.
Managers tend not to think about accountability until after it is too late. When something bad happens, people start looking around for someone else to blame. The phrase I hear most often is “who was accountable for this?” People asking the question don’t have a clue what accountability even is. If they did, they wouldn’t have to ask the question.
Sadly, we only hear those questions after the fact. When it’s too late.
Here is how you can minimize those late night “if only” sessions.
Understanding accountability
You are reading this article, so that is a great start! I am sure you have a sense of what accountability is… but what does it mean, really in your organization and in your team?
Most fundamentally our research helped us to the breakthrough insight that there are actually two dimensions to accountability.
The first is Felt Accountability. How strongly do I feel accountable for doing good work? Managers in our benchmark score themselves very highly on this dimension. BM SCORE This is consistent with my experience in organizations. People want to do a good job, want to be successful, and want their organization to be successful.
The second is Clarity of Accountability. How clearly do I understand that for which I am accountable? Managers report that they general are not clear! BM SCORE
So the question is not whether or not your team members will feel accountable. The question is whether they will feel accountable for the right things.
And that is one of our keys roles as a manager – to do our managerial leadership job of clearly delegating work to our subordinates.
One of the most common mistakes I see in organizations is that managers hire good people into role, see their motivation and enthusiasm, and pretty much let them feel their way: “I have great people that know their work so I just get out of their way”.
Remember the ’when things go wrong’ questions?
- “What were they thinking when they did that?”
- “How could they not have understood the importance of that deadline?”
- “How could they not have known how much this delay would cost us?”
These are not errors in judgment of your team members.
They are managerial leadership errors of your not providing sufficient context and boundaries for your team members to make the right decisions. Remember they feel accountable for doing good work. They will make decisions and take initiatives to the best of their ability. If they are not clear about their accountability to make these choices, that is your problem, not theirs.
Check out the Five Requirements of Effective Managers articles or the recorded Webinar for some guidance on what you need to do to establish this clarity.
In the meantime, the next time you are tempted to cancel your team meeting or your weekly one-on-one think instead about how you can use that time to clarify your expectations and clearly delegate the accountability and authority required of success. For their success, your team’s success, your organizations success, and ultimately your success.
How are you doing in your organization?
Effective ManagersTM has developed a Manager Effectiveness Assessment tool for organizations.
Organizations can now measure the effectiveness level of their managers, and obtain insights into the underlying causes of the ineffectiveness. This creates an ability for organizations to stop investing in programs that treat symptoms, and make fundamental changes that can drive organizational performance.
Let’s discuss how the Manager Effectiveness Assessment can help you create and sustain a high performance organization.
