| In my years working at IBM, which is arguably | | | | A vice president of a health care organization |
| one of the strongest recruiters for top talent, we | | | | commented that although teamwork appears to |
| still had performance issues among the team | | | | be improving within the group, there is still a lack |
| members. I noticed that there was a sort of | | | | of accountability at an individual level. Performance |
| code phrase for describing it: if the worker was | | | | problems are allowed to linger, and people are still |
| an individual contributor or front-line manager, | | | | loath to address potentially difficult conversations |
| people would say, "Well, he's really nice, but." | | | | head-on. What is the impact of this? Frustration |
| (Insert hemming and hawing here.) And if the | | | | among managers; resentment among peers; and |
| worker was an executive, people would say, | | | | work getting done in the wrong functions. |
| "Well, she's really smart, but." (Insert long pause | | | | Here are three ways you can ensure you are |
| here.) These statements were used to politely | | | | creating a culture of accountability. |
| imply that these employees or executives were | | | | Ensure performance standards are communicated |
| not performing in their roles. Most organizations | | | | and measured. |
| have some kind of language that describes | | | | Reward results, not simply effort. |
| performance issues -- that's because many | | | | Address performance issues - which sometimes |
| performance issues have been around for a long | | | | includes dismissing an employee. |
| time and have not been adequately addressed. | | | | When a lack of accountability exists in the |
| The issue here is accountability. In other words, | | | | organization, the group most affected is the |
| does the organization have a standard of | | | | high-performers. This group operates under the |
| accountability among its employees, and an | | | | assumption that high performance will be |
| expectation that its leadership team is going to | | | | rewarded and that the corollary exists -- low |
| demand it? In talking with a plant manager who | | | | performance will be punished (or at least not |
| managed to maintain her profit objectives in | | | | tolerated). Think about your organization: what is |
| 2009, despite a nearly 25% reduction in revenues, | | | | your company's euphemism for "poor |
| she asserts that part of the leadership team's | | | | performers" across individual contributors, |
| success is due to their accountability, in particular, | | | | managers, and executives? Who are they? What |
| accountability to one another. | | | | are you doing to hold them accountable? |