“The point is to change the behavior,” I said. “The skill is easy to teach, it’s the behavior that’s difficult to change.” Erwin and I had been talking about how you go about teaching a manager the skill of accountability.
“So, how do you do it?” Erwin insisted.
“There are four steps to the process.
- Making the connection.
- Creating a model.
- Practicing the model.
- Coaching the model.
“Let’s start with making the connection. Before a manager considers any change in behavior, they have to make two connections. First, they have to understand why the behavior is valuable. And not just valuable in general, but valuable to them in their situation. For example, managers know they should hold their team members accountable, but they never sit down and think about the benefits when they do that. They never think about the impact to themselves or the impact on the team member.”
Erwin was nodding and listening.
“But worse, managers never sit down and think about what happens when they don’t hold their team accountable. This connection may be even more important. Managers don’t think about the impact to the team member when there are no consequences for their underperformance.
“So, we talk a lot about this, making it vivid and personal. That’s the first step.” -TF
Next Monday is the kickoff for our Working Management classroom series in Fort Lauderdale. Please follow this link to find out more.
Tour de France Update
Monday was a rest day. Tuesday brings the first of three mountain stages in the Alps. It will be a day of challenges. While Floyd Landis (USA-PHO) is in the best position among the top riders, his team may not be strong enough to protect him. Tuesday, look for a serious challenge from Mickael Rasmussen (DEN-RAB), last year’s King of the Mountain champion, in support of his teammate Denis Menchov (RUS-RAB).
Overall Standings after Stage 14
1-PEREIRO SIO, Oscar -ESP-CEI -64hrs 05min 4sec
2-LANDIS, Floyd -USA-PHO –+1min 29sec
3-DESSEL, Cyril -FRA-A2R –+1min 37sec
4-MENCHOV, Denis -RUS-RAB –+2min 30sec
5-EVANS, Cadel -AUS-DVL –+2min 46sec
6-SASTRE, Carlos -ESP-CSC –+3min 21sec
7-KLÖDEN, Andréas -GER-TMO –+3min 58sec
8-ROGERS, Michael -AUS-TMO –+4min 51sec
9-MERCADO, Juan Miguel -ESP-AGR –+5min 2sec
10-MOREAU, Christophe -FRA-A2R –+5min 13sec
11-POPOVYCH, Yaroslav -UKR-DSC –+5min 44sec
12-FOTHEN, Marcus -GER-GST –+5min 46sec
13-ZUBELDIA, Haimar -ESP-EUS –+5min 55sec
14-SINKEWITZ, Patrik -GER-TMO –+7min 7sec
15-LEIPHEIMER, Levi -USA-GST –+7min 8sec
16-BOOGERD, Michael -NED-RAB –+7min 23sec
17-TOTSCHNIG, Georg -AUT-GST –+8min 16sec
18-KARPETS, Vladimir -RUS-CEI –+8min 36sec
19-AZEVEDO, José -POR-DSC –+9min 11sec
20-SCHLECK, Frank -LUX-CSC –+10min 6sec