Category Archives: Accountability

What is Possible?

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“I just finished the org chart for my team,” Kayden announced, holding up a piece of paper with circles and arrows.

“I see that,” I replied. “Why do you think an org chart is important? It’s only a small team, 18 production people and two supervisors, then there is you.”

“You said it was important, remember?” Kayden was quick to respond.

I nodded. “Yes, I did. But, do you remember why?”

“So people will know who to report to,” he followed my nod.

“So, you think you were made manager so people could report to you?” I asked.

“Well, it does sound a little arrogant.”

“What is organizational structure?” I pressed. “I mean, we draw boxes on a page and connect them with lines. What does it all mean?”

“The lines connect people that work together,” Kayden floated.

“So, what? They work together. What do the lines mean? Look at your chart. Most of the lines are vertical and are connected to a supervisor or connected to you? What do the lines mean?”

“It’s the way we define the working relationships between people,” Kayden finally stammered.

“Now, we are getting somewhere. An org chart defines the working relationships between people. And, we have to forge the kind of relationships that move the company forward, with respect to these two things – Accountability and Authority. In every working relationship, who is accountable for what? And, in every working relationship, who has the authority to make decisions? The right working relationships determine what can be done, what is possible. The not-right working relationships lead us into counter-productive activity and thwart what is possible. That’s why an org chart helps us understand those working relationships.”

Getting Better

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“Tell me, Lorraine,” I continued. “Do you expect this team member to get better, in terms of skill, over time?”

“Yes, I do,” she snapped. “Absolutely. As the team gets more experience, each of them should get better, become more competent.”

“And, is that in their role description?” I asked.

“Well, no,” she replied. “Our job descriptions tell them what they are supposed to do, not that they should get better at doing it.”

“So, in the role description, you don’t have a Key Area called Professional Development that talks about learning skills, becoming more competent and demonstrating increasing proficiency?”

Activity vs Accomplishment

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I almost walked past her office, but I saw Lorraine with a pensive look through the doorway. “Well?” I said.

“How did you know to stop by?” she replied.

“Dumb luck,” I nodded. “What’s up?”

“I just finished a 1-1 with one of my team members, and I’m frustrated,” Lorraine began. “He has been on the bubble for the past three months, and he knows it. He’s been paying particular attention to all the tasks, and I will admit, he shows up every day, on time, doing exactly what we told him to do, but he is accomplishing almost nothing.”

“And, I assume he had a job descripton,” I chuckled, knowing the answer to my next question. “It was a series of tasks and activities, but little discussion on expectations, objectives or outputs?”

Lorraine looked at me with a furrowed brow. “Yes, maybe that’s the point. In our 1-1, he described how he was doing everything we told him to do, but we never described the output, more specifically, what we expect.”

“Not unusual,” I said. “Most jobs are described as activities, not accomplishments. So, irrespective of the output, most people think that doing a good job is doing the activities. Few roles are described in terms of accomplishment. And, I further assume that, during your 1-1, there was no discussion of accomplishment. And, that’s why you are frustrated.”

Evidence of Potential

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Jody’s face was red. Not an embarrasing red, but one of anger. “I just sat through my quarterly review and my manager gave me some feedback that I find difficult to take,” she said.

“Tell me more,” I replied.

“The last two people I hired are underperforming. And, they’ve both been here for six weeks, so we are finished with orientation, finished with initial training, they know what time to show up for work and where the coffee machine is. But, they aren’t cutting it.”

“And, you are in the hot seat, I suppose?”

“Yes, and I don’t know how to defend my hiring decision. Both candidates came highly recommended, had a ton of experience and showed a lot of promise in the interview,” she explained.

“The recommendations came from whom?” I wanted to know.

“One was a former boss who wrote a glowing letter, but at the same time, was the one who made the decision to terminate. The other was a technical consultant, and, yes, was a friend of the candidate we hired. I had high hopes for both of them.”

“And what do you know now that you didn’t know six weeks ago?” I asked.

“Experience doesn’t mean much. Just because someone performed brilliantly in one place, doesn’t mean they will do so somewhere else. It’s a different company, with a different team, different customers and a different service mix. And, just because I can see potential doesn’t mean the potential is real, it just means I had my fingers crossed.”

“I know most managers want prospective candidates with potential, to grow and develop, to take increasing accountability. And, most managers have their fingers crossed. You know my bias, that I will never hire anyone without evidence of skill, disposition or character. So, if you want to hire someone with potential, what does evidence of potential look like? Two clues, interview for error rate and deadlines.”

Who Owns the Problem?

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“Why the long face?” I asked.

Meredith looked up. “I’m a bit overwhelmed,” she replied. “Ever since my promotion to manager, I can feel the pressure tightening around my head.”

“How so?” I prompted.

“My team runs into situations they can’t solve. One of two things happen. They either freeze and do nothing about the problem, or they line up outside my door where the problem lands on my desk.”

“Isn’t that why we pay you the big bucks?” I nudged.

“It’s not funny. It’s stressful. And, I feel like my manager is watching me to see if I can pick up the slack.”

“Details?” I wanted to know.

“Most of the problems are self-inflicted,” Meredith explained. “The team gets behind because someone was late to work. Or the work cell shuts down because we run out of a raw material with a one-week lead time. Or the schedule gets delayed because a necessary machine goes off-line for preventive maintenance. If it’s not one thing, it’s something else.”

“And, this causes you stress?” I pressed.

“Of course. I am supposed to fix it, but most of these things should never happen in the first place.”

“As you look at each situation,” I nodded, “can you identify a person, other than you, who should more appropriately own the problem?”

“But, I’m the manager,” Meredith pushed back.

“Did you ever consider that everyone on your team owns the problem, and they are simply engaging in behavior to shirk that responsibility? And, I am looking for more than individual competence, I am looking for organizational competence. It is not enough to have individually competent players, they must work together as a team. Whose problem is it when a team member is late for work? The problem may be created by one person, but the whole team bears the brunt of the problem. You accept responsibility for the fix, when it’s a team problem.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” Meredith pleaded.

“You sound like your team members lined up outside your office,” I smiled. “You want my advice, my guidance and direction, but, this is not my problem to solve, this is yours. So tell me, what could you do differently so the solution is distributed to those most affected, who more appropriately should own the problem?”

Whose Plan is It?

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“I just finished working on my team’s Professional Development Plan,” Elena announced.

“Impressive,” I replied. “You identified the basic skills, advanced skills, initial training, advanced training, along with timelines. All necessary components in a plan.”

“Yes, I got tired of new recruits coming to work, doing only what is required not to get fired,” she lamented. “Maybe this will get them off their collective asses.”

“I see,” I nodded. “I don’t have a problem with defining the skill levels, the corresponding training available. But, I am curious about the plan. Whose plan is it?”

Elena stopped to think. “You’re right. It’s my plan, not their plan.”

“I mean, you can have expectations, performance standards and timelines, but those are yours. And, if they don’t meet your expectations, they may have to part ways. But the professional development part is on the team member. As the manager, you can communicate your expectations and timelines, but the plan, and the execution of the plan has to be theirs.”

Illusion of Control

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“You say that the best on your team, given a wrinkle, a bump or a calamity simply make it go away,” I nodded. “But, you said, you only had a precious few. What makes the difference?”

“When I first started out as a manager, I thought I was in control,” Madison started. “I thought I was the one who brilliantly solved all the hard problems. I thought I was the one who made all the hard decisions.”

“And?”

“My first realization is that control is simply an illusion. I was never in control,” she replied. “Oh, I could plan, I could train my team in our best practices. I could speed up our output, increase our quality standards, but I was never in control.”

“What was the lesson and how did it arrive in your lap?” I asked.

“Easy,” Madison replied. “The harder I tried to control, the worse things got. Even things like pace. I would try to control the pace, increase the rate of output, but the more I leaned in, the slower things got. I would see someone on the team do something stupid, so I would take away their authority to do it. So, instead of leaping on a problem, the team would hang out waiting for me to solve it. It was definitely passive-aggressive on their part, but I am the one who created the monster.”

“So, what was the tipping point?” I wanted to know.

“One day, everything stopped,” she said. “We ran out of a raw material and production ground to a halt. I was out visiting a customer, so I didn’t find out until the next morning.”

“No one thought to call you?”

“They were scared to call me. I was such a control freak. Bottom line, we had more material received on our shipping dock, but the paperwork hadn’t been processed, so no one dared open the crate.”

“And so you yelled at them?” I laughed.

“That’s when I realized I had to delegate. And, I don’t mean delegate in the classic sense of getting stuff off my plate. I mean delegate decision making. I got the team together and asked what would have solved the problem and kept the line going? Two people raised their hands with suggestions. I gave those two people expressed authority to open an unprocessed crate.”

“But, wouldn’t you lose control of inventory on hand?” I pressed.

“For an afternoon,” Madison was clear. “Our Bill of Materials system would have backed into the number based on finished assemblies, we could reconcile with the paperwork that would eventually be processed and we would not have lost an entire afternoon of production. More importantly, I now had two people on my team who could make the decision without me. Forever.”

Wrinkles, Bumps and Calamities

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“Tell me, Madison,” I prompted. “When you think about your team, what are the characteristics you find most valuable in a team member?”

“That’s a tough one,” she replied. “I have a pretty good team. I could look at it by who produces the most output, but I manage the incoming work and spread it out evenly, so no one person gets overloaded. I could look at it by who produces the highest quality work, but we have a defined set of performance standards that every project has to meet. And, these are not mediocre threshold standards, but identify the quality that sets our company apart from our competition.”

“I understand, pace and quality are good measures of output, but still, you have team members you lean on more than others. Step through your team, one by one, what are the characteristics you look for?” I pressed.

“When things run smoothly, there is little difference,” Madison pondered out loud. “But, you know things never run smoothly. There are always wrinkles, bumps in the road and the occasional calamity. My best, and there are only a couple on my team, are those who take the wrinkle in stride, hurdle the bumps with a little adjustment and gather themselves to meet the occasional calamity. It’s when things go wrong that the best people shine.”

“Example?”

“When things go wrong, meaning something unexpected happens, most people tense up. Their logic narrows. They force solutions that don’t work, rely on old fixes that didn’t really fix. My best team members feel the same tension of uncertainty, but open alternate solutions. In fact, my best team members think about alternate solutions before the wrinkle occurs. It’s as if they are in flow in ambiguity. They remain calm. Their focus narrows, but their logic opens up to see underlying causes to the bump in the road. When they fix something, it addresses the specific situation AND provides a lesson in anticipation. In short, they make wrinkles, bumps and calamities go away. Those things still happen, but I rarely hear about them until we debrief the project.”

Shortstop or a Line Backer?

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“I got this from HR,” Nancy explained. “It’s a role description, talks about what kind of person we need. It addresses things like good communicator, detail orientation, team player, integrity, goal oriented. I am going to pair these up with some interview questions, and then we should be good to go.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “But let me ask, in what way do we describe the work? If you were recruiting for a baseball team, would you recruit for a wide receiver or a linebacker?”

“I’m not much of a sports fan,” she replied. “But, I think you have your metaphors mixed up. Baseball teams don’t have linebackers, that’s football.”

“So the mission of the organization will determine what roles we need?” I pressed.

“Of course,” Nancy was quick to clarify. “The output of my team is welded assemblies. So, I don’t need someone who is an expert in electronics.”

“Where does your role description talk about that?” I wanted to know. “It makes a difference. An organization designed as an airplane will never travel under water. And, an organization designed as a submarine will never fly.”

Fog a Mirror

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“It’s really hard to find good people these days,” Miranda lamented. “I don’t need a nuclear scientist, I just need someone to show up and follow some simple directions.”

“Over and over?” I asked.

“Well, yes, it’s a pretty repetitive job,” she replied. “I think that’s why I have a lot of turnover on my team.”

“So, anyone could walk off the street and almost immediately perform the tasks to your satisfaction?” I wanted to know.

Miranda nodded. “Yes. If we had a budget for some robots, well, we don’t have a budget for robots.”

“That’s right, no budget for robots, you’re stuck working with people. And, those people turn over. But, it seems like a simple enough job. Success does not look complicated. So, why do you have the turnover?”

“Look,” Miranda’s face tightened. “In about 30 minutes, I can get someone up to speed. You’re correct, the work is not hard. I think they leave because there is no forward path in the company, no real skills for them to develop, no innovation in the process. It’s just the work.”

“Do you think you may not expect enough from your team’s performance? If someone can just walk in off the street and immediately do the job, what is the point in that? In what way could we describe the role, to expand its decisions and problem solving, to challenge each team member to their highest level of capability? I submit, it is for you, as the manager, to ask these questions.”