Without accountability, a leader will fail
Success for any leader requires three factors: responsibility, authority and accountability. All are important, but accountability can be the trickiest to achieve.
As a leader or facilitator, keep these basic principles in mind:
Focus:
Your people need to know precisely what their goals are, how they can achieve them, and how they will measure success. To maintain focus, direct your people to:
- Describe the mission in detail and show how their activities support that mission.
- Define each person's job as explicitly as possible.
- Establish consistent performance standards.
- Measure and analyze their own performance.
- Hold regular planning sessions.
Influence:
Your people need authority and influence to get their mission done. Empower them to:
- Participate in the formation of the organization's overall mission.
- Analyze their own work practices and act on their findings in order to constantly improve.
- Decide which suppliers to work with.
- Provide feedback to each individual.
- Select new staff and remove people who aren't performing.
Consequences:
Your people have to confront both the positive and negative consequences of their actions. Instead of shielding individuals, take steps to:
- Let your people received direct, regular feedback from internal and external customers.
- Link compensation and bonuses to efforts and successes.
- Let your people share in the organization's financial success.
Jules Ciotta is president of Motivation Communications Associates. He can be reached at (770) 457-4100 or julesciotta@comcast.net.