Principle One: Accountability is a choice.=
Let us begin with a real story that happened to Suzanne Volle. She works for a large women’s clothing
retailer that is organized into about 100 districts with stores located
throughout the
When Sue heard how she was seen, she was devastated. She had been with t= he company 12 years at that point and was looking to advance her career. With = this news, she had reached what we would call the critical point of accountabili= ty: she could either decide to get mad and go “Below the Line” into what we call the victim cycle or the blame game, or she could choose to get “Above the Line” and take accountability to change her circumst= ance by taking four simple steps, to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do It. The difference between being Above or Below the line= is the difference between getting results or getting stuck. It is not wrong to= go Below the Line, it’s just not very product= ive and can become very frustrating.
This is the choice everyone must face when it comes to their own personal accountability for getting results. Do I go Below the Line when I am faced = with tough, difficult obstacles or do I choose to get Above the Line and take accountability for my circumstances and get the results I want?
Principle Two: There are two-sides to accountability.<=
/strong>
Webster’s Dictionary defines accountability as “subject =
to
having to report, explain or justify; answerable, responsible.” In ot=
her
words, accountability is something imposed upon you, probably when things go
wrong. We think this definition misses another, even more important side of
accountability. That is the personal ownership that people should demonstra=
te
when they truly take personal accountability for something. When you take
personal accountability, you own it. You buy-in and invest. You tell yourse=
lf,
this is mine, I’ve got the ball. You ask yourself, “what else can I do to make progress, overcome obstacle=
s and
achieve the result?” You don’t waste time blaming others or wai=
ting
for someone else to solve your problems, you actively engage and deeply pur=
sue
solutions. This proactive, before-the-fact aspect of accountability is the
essential ingredient that makes accountability a bedrock principle to
optimizing personal and organizational performance.
Accountability, correctly understood and effectively applied, produces results. And with those results comes a level of personal satisfaction that= can be achieved in no other way. Sue, in the story above, made a choice that she would take accountability for being seen as a “renter” and that= she would now become an “owner.” Helping people make the choice to operate Above the Line and take accountability for their circumstances and overcome the obstacles they face is an essential skill that anyone who mana= ges and leads people must learn to master. When you create that level of person= al accountability first, your ability to execute both personally and organizationally becomes all that more effective. When you skip that step a= nd try to execute on a foundation that lacks this personal accountability, then you get problems, not solutions; mistakes not innovation; frustration, not motivation; and excuses instead of results.
Principle Three: =
Accountability Begins by Clearly Defining Result=
s.
This may seem like common sense, but our experience has shown it is not
common practice. In our research, surprisingly 9 out of 10 leadership teams
cannot give a consistently aligned answer between team members as to the top
three key results the team needs to achieve. They always have a general ide=
a,
but are often unable to provide the details. Accountability begins by clear=
ly
defining results. A clear definition of results, one that everyone througho=
ut
the entire organization can understand and repeat, are essential to getting
your accountability system to work.
In a leadership workshop, we asked the European management team of a lar= ge pharmaceutical company we worked with what the top result was that they nee= ded to achieve. They told us it was “BUC,” which stood for Business Unit Contribution. We asked the team, “what’= ;s the number?” Everyone went silent. No one wanted to say. We asked the= m to write down the number on a piece of paper and pass it to the CFO in the bac= k of the room. There was a $300 million dollar variance between the high number = and the low number; and that was the senior management team! You can’t ho= ld either yourself or others accountable for unclear results. Well, you can; b= ut it will destroy morale and stop your progress. And you can’t hold yourself accountable for unclear results. Accountability begins by clearly defining results and that always yields alignment, engagement and achieveme= nt.
Principle =
Four: What
you Create Accountability For Is What You Get.
Back to the story with Sue, she realized that w= hat she was getting, in terms of results, is what she was creating accountabili= ty for. So she chose to create accountability for succeeding with an annual pr= omotion, the women’s suit sale contest that runs for 4 weeks. She states, “You have to understand, we never won anything. My district has always been at the bottom. I’ve bought into ‘it’s the economy, it’s the weather, people don’t buy suits in our city, I can’t sell suits.’” Sue decided th= at the result they needed to get was to win the women’s suit contest. She we= nt to work at creating accountability around the weekly VIP event held in the stores during the sale. Here, they closed the stores for 2 hours and allowed the invitation-only customers for shop with special discounts. Sue not only= let everyone know what the desired result was, but she went on a campaign to achieve it. Her surprise visits to the stores during the VIP sales provided= the forum to create personal accountability in the stores. Her visits even reve= aled one store manager who said they were doing the sales, but weren’t.
Her clear accountability for the result her district needed to achieve helped the store managers get everyone involved. Store associates networked= and invited friends to the VIP sale. Store managers came up with innovative promotions and discounts for the customers. The result: Her district finish= ed No. 1 in the entire company in the women’s suit sale! She was recogni= zed at a leadership conference and asked to speak about the transformation that occurred. What you create accountability for is what you get!
We like to ask, who is the most important perso=
n to
get Above the Line? Of course, that’s you! For Sue, the payoff =
for
taking personal accountability was impressive and lasting. In 2006, Sue was
ranked 89 out of 94 districts in sales % over the previous year. In fiscal =
year
2010, she was ranked in the top 3! The reward: a trip to
What’s more, the power of her personal example impacted a fellow
district manager at work. She and this good friend used to “crab toge=
ther, ” having conversations that would allow them to
wallow Below the Line and get stuck in the blame game, feeling the victim. =
What
happened to her friend? In a subsequent Suit sale, her district finished No=
. 2
in the company!
That’s the power of personal accountability. That’s what
happens, every time, when people are faced with difficult circumstances or
tough obstacles and they make the choice to operate Above the Line. When we=
do
accountability to ourselves, it is empowering. When someone does accountabi=
lity
to us the wrong way, it feels threatening. Making the choice to operate Abo=
ve
the Line and be accountable has an enabling affect on everyone around you.
Nothing can take the place of your good example when it comes to operating
Above the Line.