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Becoming
Responsible Through Accountability and
Consequences
By Vicki Anderson
"We have no accountability around
here," a client recently told me. I
often hear stories that no one "puts
things away," or "takes any
responsibility for their work area," or
"they never turn in anything on
time," or "they are always
late."
What is accountability? It's being held
responsible for doing what you said you
would do. What a concept! It means people
clearly know what is expected and there are
consequences if you do it and consequences
if you don't.
Consequences—doesn't that mean you get
into trouble? Doesn't that mean taking a
hard line with people? Consequences are
natural follow-ups to results. Consequences
are commensurate with the result. If you do
something right, it means someone says thank
you or gives you some appreciation for doing
a good job. When was the last time you
thanked any of your direct reports for
consistently doing a good job on their
everyday responsibilities?
If you do the wrong thing, then someone
should talk with you about what happened so
you can correct your mistake the next time.
If you miss a deadline, it means you might
have to do extra work to satisfy your
customer. If you break a rule, you will be
counseled to correct behavior and the
consequence will be based on the level of
infraction.
Many managers today don't hold people
accountable for small tasks, yet they wonder
why big projects fail. People learn
accountability through reinforcement of
small tasks that build into big projects.
When deadlines are missed, mistakes are made
or rules are broken, conflict avoidance
kicks in and managers often hope they were
accidents that will not happen again.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true. I think
one occurrence can be an accident, but two
similar occurrences create a trend.
Accountability is being responsible for
doing what you said you would do, and most
everyone agrees that is the desirable state.
Why, then, is it so hard to achieve? I think
responsibility and accountability hinge on
two factors: good direction and appropriate
consequences. First of all, people need to
know what you want from them. Be as specific
as you can. If you need the information by
the end of the day, say so. Don't say,
"Get me the information as soon as
possible." "As soon as
possible" is not a deadline. Likewise,
"be nice to the customer" is not
very clear. What you mean by
"nice" may be different from
someone else's definition.
Set specific standards. Tell people what you
expect from their performance. Discuss
examples of correct behaviors.
It is important to set clear expectations of
the behavior you want from your direct
reports. Once both parties agree to the
goal, it is the responsibility of the
manager to help direct reports meet that
goal by coaching them and holding them
accountable for success. Each employee needs
a different amount of coaching in order to
be successful. Holding employees accountable
for reaching goals builds responsibility and
self-esteem in accomplishment.
Accountability does not mean taking a hard
line, it means getting what you expect. When
you take you car in for service, don't you
expect to pick it up at 5:00 p.m. if they
told you it would be ready at 5:00 p.m.? The
same should be true of accomplishing
assigned tasks in your office, factory, or
service center.
Accountability requires involvement on both
sides. It means setting goals together and
checking in at milestone points before
failure gets too far down the line. It means
discussing consequences and carrying them
out appropriately. People respect managers
who hold them accountable because they
always know where they stand with those
managers.
The second factor in achieving
responsibility is delivering consequences
appropriately. Once people know what is
expected, it is important to positively
reinforce correct performance and negatively
reinforce or redirect incorrect performance.
We are so busy today that we tend to focus
on the problems to be fixed and leave alone
the things that are working fine.
Unfortunately, many studies have shown that
"no news is not good news." People
need to know when they are doing the right
things so they can repeat those actions.
Likewise, if people are not doing the right
things for which you have given them
specific instructions, you must acknowledge
it right away. The longer you let it slide,
the more the other person thinks it is
acceptable. This is where "no news is
good news" comes back to bite you. By
the time you wait to say something, you may
be angry and the other person becomes
defensive. These conversations rarely
produce the desired result.
The key is to correct or redirect incorrect
performance as soon as it happens so no
emotion builds up on either side. Simply
restate the desired performance standard and
stick to the facts about what was incorrect.
It is much easier to talk about factual
information related to performance when it
is done in small chunks as it happens.
If incorrect performance happens again make
sure the person knows what to do. If
training is not an issue, then ask if there
is something in the process that is keeping
them from performing accurately. It is most
often the process, not the person.
However, if the person chooses to continue
incorrect performance, then the consequences
should be escalated according to your
disciplinary process. As people learn what
is expected of them, it is their choice to
perform correctly or incorrectly. Your
choice as a supervisor is whether to do
anything about it or not. I do not believe
you have to fire anyone. I believe if people
choose not to perform correctly according to
your standards, they choose not to work at
your organization. Once they make that
choice by their incorrect performance, help
them leave.
The more positive and negative information
that people receive, the more likely they
will learn to take responsibility for their
own actions. They know the parameters of
acceptable performance. People learn to act
out of responsibility, not from fear of
reprisal.
Remember that when a person is doing a new
task, the reinforcement should be more
frequent to establish clear behavior
patterns. As the person gains more
experience and acceptable behavior becomes
habit, reinforcement and consequences can be
spaced out farther, but not eliminated.
If you want people to be responsible, hold
them accountable by giving them clear
standards for performance. Then reinforce or
redirect their behavior incrementally with
appropriate consequences.
Vicki
Anderson Anderson
Resources
Phone/Fax:
918-252-1027
www.andersonresources.net
Vicki
Anderson works with leaders who want to
improve their competence and confidence in
their ability to help others achieve peak
performance.
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