Category Archives: Accountability

Who to Hold Accountable?

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“You are not a manager so people can report to you,” I announced. The class stood still. “You are a manager to bring value to the problem solving and decision making of your team.”

Slowly, a hand went up in the back of the room. “But how will they know who to report to?” A murmur of chuckles circulated.

“Look,” I started. “When you have a new employee, you think the most important question is, who are they going to report to? That is not the central question. The central question is, which manager will be accountable for their output?”

“Accountable?” came the question from the back of the room.

“I know it’s a foreign concept,” I smiled. “Yes, a manager is that person in the organization held accountable for the output of other people.”

“But if my team member screws up, it’s not my fault?” the back of the room voice defended.

I shook my head. “It’s not a matter of fault. I hold you, as the manager, accountable for the output of your team members. Most organizations get this wrong and that is where the trouble starts.”

How to Connect Values to Behaviors

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“It’s a good list,” said Miguel. The list had emerged from a values exercise the week before. After an extensive word pairing process, some heavy lobbying, push back, protest and negotiation, this was the list that made it.

“So, now you have a list,” I said. “What do you do with it?” Miguel’s eyes brightened, then his brow furrowed.

“I’m not sure. I guess we could print it out on fancy paper, frame it and put it on the wall next to the Mission Statement.”

I stared straight at Miguel. “Dude, you are going to have to do better than that.”

Miguel nodded in agreement.

“Get your team back together and take this to the next step. If you want to create a positive culture, you have to live by your values. Everything you do as a company should support these values. You have to identify the stories, the examples and the people. Then you have to amplify them. You have to amplify them in meetings, newsletters, memos and emails.

“Get your team together and figure it out. In what way can we communicate our values and the behaviors connected to those values to every person in the company. Frequently.”

How Do You Deal with Arrogance?

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“Why the long face?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Curtis replied. “I mean, I know why I have a long face, I just don’t know what to do about it?”

“Tell me more?”

“I have a guy in a project manager role, that I believe is over his head. Most things, he does okay, but there are times when he falls short, and I have to come to the rescue. That’s not so bad, but he is just so arrogant when things don’t go as they should.”

“What do you mean, arrogant?” I pressed.

“Well, let’s say the project is rolling along, we are about 80 percent finished, he seems to just drop the ball, like the project is finished. But the last part of project is where all the problems are. Lingering details that if they don’t get buttoned up, the project drags past the deadline. The client gets upset. We can’t send an invoice, because there are still outstanding items. We may have even pulled the crew off the job and then find out there are still incomplete issues hanging out there.”

“I thought you said the problem was arrogance?”

“That’s what I mean. The client calls me, usually hot under the collar. I confront the project manager and he starts blaming all kinds of people for things he should have under control. He acts like following up on those last few details are beneath him, that he can’t be bothered. Sometimes, he even says the client shouldn’t be so upset over something so minor, that the client should be glad that we did such a good job on the rest of the project. Then he complains that the work crew should have picked up those details and that if we would just hire better people, then I would be able to see just what a good project manager he is. When he is talking like this, he gets loud, insistent, just plain arrogant.”

“Tell me,” I nodded, “is this project manager effective on the projects you have assigned to him? Can he make the grade, based on his performance?”

“No,” Curtis explained. “On smaller projects he does okay, but these longer projects, he falls short.”

“If your project manager can’t make the grade, based on his performance, then how does he survive on your team?”

Curtis began to shake his head. “You are right, he survives, because I hate to confront him. Sometimes, I even cover for him with the client, just so I don’t have to talk to him. He becomes arrogant, so I won’t talk to him, that’s how he survives.”

“So, he engages in arrogant behavior because he is mis-matched in a role that is over his head. Instinctively, he knows. Instinctively, he tries to survive as best he can. Arrogance has probably worked for him in this circumstance, most of his life, so, as a coping behavior, he can survive. Who put him in this role?”

Curtis smiled. “I did.” Several seconds elapsed before he continued. “I guess I am the one that has to fix this.”

“I believe so. You are the manager. What is your plan? What do you think you will do? What will be your first step?”

How to Build Trust

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“What do you mean – No surprises?” Rachel quizzed. “My team member must know that this conversation is coming. Everyone is constantly correcting his mistakes, making him do re-work.”

“So, you want to keep him guessing? You see, surprise works both ways. As his manager, you are surprised when he under-performs, fails to meet a deadline or turns in work with mistakes. What happens to your trust, when you, as a manager, are Surprised?”

“The trust level goes down,” Rachel replied. “It’s at the point now, where there is almost no trust at all.”

“So, as the manager, you are surprised when your team member fails to meet a deadline, and your team member is going to be surprised when you have an accountability conversation with him?”

Rachel nodded, silently, her eyes darting back in her brain. Finally, she spoke. “And we don’t trust each other. So, how do I prevent surprises when I go into this accountability conversation?”

“Pretty simple, really. No surprises, no ambushes. When you schedule the conversation, tell him the subject of the conversation will be about his current performance on the Phoenix project and the improvements we need going forward.”

The blood was draining from Rachel’s face. The truth does that, sometimes.

Important First Behavior

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“I understand positive reinforcement in video games, how you level up to expert, but, how does that work around here?” Travis asked. “I run a loading dock.”

“Travis, the guys loading the trucks, have you noticed the different colored t-shirts they wear, the ones with the company logo on the front?” I asked.

“Yeah, I noticed. We started that about three weeks ago. The new guys get a white t-shirt to start. We had a meeting about it.”

“And when does the new guy get his first white t-shirt?”

“The first day,” Travis smiled.

“No, the first day he punches the time-clock reporting for work on-time,” I clarified. “What is the most important first behavior?”

“Showing up for work on time,” Travis said.

“And when does he get his second white t-shirt?”

Travis was catching on. “The second day he punches in for work on time.”

“And when does he get a yellow shirt?” I continued.

“Five days on time, consecutive days on time.”

“And when does he get a green shirt?”

“When he passes forklift training.” Travis stopped. “I think I get it.”
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Orientation for our next program Hiring Talent starts Monday, March 4, 2013. For more information and registration, follow this link – Hiring Talent – 2013.

Bigger Problems to Solve

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“It’s new,” said Jeremy. “My role is different. I never thought there was this much difference between being a supervisor and being a manager.”

“What is the biggest change?” I asked.

“I used to have a team of technicians. Now that I am a manager, I have a team of supervisors, each with their own team of technicians. I am no longer coaching technicians on solving problems about production, I am coaching supervisors on the best way to coordinate resources, schedule personnel, order raw material, schedule machines for up-time. I even have to create an annual budget.”

“What else is different?”

“It has to do with time,” Jeremy continued. “I used to think about my team getting the production work done today, or this week. Now, I have to think further into the future, use my imagination to picture what has to happen to get production work done this month, this year, even next year. There are bigger problems I have to solve.”

“And that is why you are no longer a supervisor. Now you are a manager.”
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Orientation is over. Next week, we start full bore on Hiring Talent, session one. Still time to sign up. For more information and registration, follow this link, Hiring Talent-2013.

Let Them Deal With It

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“I am ready to throw up my hands. I have come up with eight ways to Sunday for our route technicians to do a better job on their service calls. I am ready to do a Flutie drop kick and just let them deal with it.” Russell was commiserating, hoping I would be sympathetic.

“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” I said.

“What do you mean?” replied Russell, still looking for sympathy.

“I mean, I think you should call your technicians together and let them deal with it. Look, the problem isn’t that your ideas are bad; the problem is they are your ideas. If you want your technicians to do a better job on service calls, the ideas have to come from them.

“One of the biggest mistakes young managers make is thinking that you have to solve all the problems of the world. You don’t. Spread the burden. You will be surprised at how your technicians will step up to the plate.”

Our online program, Hiring Talent 2013, kicks off January 25. Pre-registration is now open.

Can He Do the Work?

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“The profile on this candidate is outstanding,” Rory explained. “It will take a special person to fill this role, and by golly, I think we have found the right person.”

“The profile is outstanding compared to what?” I asked.

Rory looked askance. “What do you mean?”

“It’s nice that he has a personality, but can this candidate do the work?” I pressed.

“Well, the profile says he is suited for this kind of work. Besides, everyone on the hiring team has interviewed him and they really like him,” Rory defended.

“It’s nice that he is a likeable person, but can this candidate do the work?”

“His resume attracted our attention. It says that he has experience in our field and he answered all of our technical questions. He really speaks our language.”

I let Rory squirm for a minute. He had already made his decision, and was waiting to see if I would support it. Without asking any hard questions. “Rory, this role is for a VP of Operations. It’s nice that he understands the technology, but can this candidate do the work of an Ops VP?”

“I don’t know where you are going with this?” Rory shook his head. “I was hoping you would get on board with this guy.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I get on board. Can he do the work? It’s a big role, integrating your sales, your sales forecast with production. You have six month lead time raw materials, tooling that changes, building to stock, assembling to order, staging, logistics. This guy will be coordinating teams of people in meetings, resolving communication paths, working on bottlenecks, manicuring system constraints. It’s nice that he understands the technical mechanics of your product, but can he do the work of an Ops VP?”

A Decision Based on Hope?

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Sylvia was perplexed. Difficulty trusting her judgment. “I have this gut feeling that Porter would make a good supervisor. But, he is our best technician. If I promote him and it doesn’t work out, I might lose my best technician.”

“Why do you feel Porter has the potential to be supervisor?” I asked.

“Intuition,” Sylvia replied. “The only thing I am concerned about is his people skills. As a technician, he is a good producer, and whenever anyone has a question, he is the lead guy. Whenever anyone has a problem, they talk to Porter. When anyone has a decision to make, Porter gets consulted. He has a knack for knowing what needs to get done next. I can see his planning skills, always looking ahead. He knows when materials are supposed to arrive, when we need to order, even for the longer lead time stuff.”

“Then what is your hesitation?”

“Sometimes, his people skills are a little rough,” she explained. “I don’t want to promote him and then find out he is a dictator.”

“Rather than assume, or guess, or hope that Porter has the potential to be a supervisor, how could you find out? How could you find out before you promote him? How could you confirm that he is not a dictator?”

“I guess I could talk to him,” Sylvia searched.

“And, so, he tells you he is not a dictator. Is that enough? Is that enough evidence to make a firm decision to promote him?” I pressed.

“Well, no.”

“Then how? How can we create tangible evidence that he has the potential to work effectively with other people?”

“I guess I could give him something to do where he has to work with other people in the capacity of a leader?” Sylvia tested.

“Not a permanent role assignment, but project work. Give Porter a project where he is the project leader for a specific task that requires him to use the resources of other people on a project team. If he fails, you have a broken project, big deal, you can manage that risk. If he is successful, you will have tangible evidence on which to base your decision. Not a hope, a wing and a prayer, but tangible evidence.”

Designing the Work

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Chase left our conversation abruptly. Across the plant floor, he had spotted a problem and rushed to make a correction. He was apologetic on his return. “Sorry, but this is why I called you today. I feel like a two armed octopus. There are eight things that need to happen, but I can only work on two problems at a time. Things get out of control about fifteen minutes into the day. And they never stop. At the end of the day, I look at my boss’ list of projects and the important things never seem to get worked on. There is always a crisis.”

“Not really,” I said. “To me, your system is working exactly the way it is designed to work.”

Chase was puzzled. “What do you mean? It’s not working at all.”

“No, it is working exactly the way it is designed to work. The design of your day’s work is to drink coffee for the first fifteen minutes, then run around the floor solving urgent problems. At the end of each day, you check the list to make sure you didn’t do anything important.”

I paused. “Not a bad design. How’s that working for you?” Chase didn’t like what he was hearing.

“If you want to change your day, you have to change your design for the day. I see about four major design changes you might want to consider, but let’s start with just one. Don’t let anyone work during the first fifteen minutes of the day. Instead have a huddle meeting around the boss’ list of important projects. That one design change will be a good start.”

How is your day designed?