Tag Archives: accountability

Real Problem

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“It’s all about connection,” Pablo said. “If a team member is connected closely with their manager, most likely they will remain engaged. If the team member becomes disconnected from their manager, or connected to a toxic manager, the job search has already begun.”

“Only the manager?” I asked.

“The manager relationship is the key, with a supporting cast of the team,” Pablo explained. “Conceptually, a manager’s accountability is simple (not easy). Create connection, prevent disconnection.”

“That’s the popularity of team exercises,” I said.

“The problem with exercises is just that. Exercises are exercises. They start up muscle memory, but if you really want to build a team, give them a real problem to solve. Stand back. Allow the team to struggle. In that struggle, you will see some things occur. Leadership will emerge, automatically. Leadership takes the form of restating the problem, clarifying the obstacles and laying down the challenge. If the problem is complex, it will require expertise in specific areas, team members will consult, rely on each other to help carry the burden. In essence, problem solving builds connection.”

A Context of Trust

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“Fixing accountability is the first step to creating a context of trust,” Pablo shifted. “When accountability is not clearly defined, or placed at the wrong level, mistrust begins a slow nuanced dance, often imperceptible. But it’s there. People begin to feel insecure about their own jobs, not sure where this career may or may not be taking them, squabbles emerge about equitable pay, stress among working relationships and blaming behavior.”
“Sounds like a bit of insecurity?” I ask. “Isn’t that why we do psychometric testing, to weed those people out?”
“People behave as people behave, in the context of their surroundings,” Pablo chuckled. “We think the success of a managerial system depends of the psychology of its individuals, when its success depends more on its design. Change the context, behavior follows. Go into a church or synagogue and you will see people sitting quietly, barely speaking. Does that mean they are all introverts and poor communicators? Go to a soccer stadium where a goal has just been scored and you will see people screaming, jumping up and down. Does that mean they are all extroverts with a boisterous personality. It’s all about context.”
Pablo stopped before he finished. “Fixing accountability is the first step to creating a context of trust.”

Without Profit

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“You continue to use the term managerial system,” I started. “What do you mean?”

“In the beginning, in a startup, every company is haphazard, organizing the work around the people they have. At some point, there is still work left over and the founder realizes work can no longer be organized around the people, we have to organize the people around the work. Specialized roles emerge. And, then those roles have to work together.”

“And the system?” I asked.

“Roles cannot be haphazard, working together cannot be haphazard, too much friction against profitability. I have seen companies work extremely hard and never make a profit. Eventually, they have to make a profit or the company dies (a long slow death exasperating death). For a company to survive and be profitable, they have to create a managerial system, what we call structure.”

“Structure?” I prompted.

“Organizational structure is simply the way we think about, often on paper, the accountability and the authority in the working relationships between people,” Pablo stopped. “Two types. Vertical managerial relationships and horizontal cross-functional relationships.”

“And this structure is important for profitability?” I clarified.

“Yes, and this structure is important for the sustained creative output of the people who work in the company. Because without that, the company will also die, become a corrosive institution where no one wants to work.” Pablo paused again. “To stay green and growing, the managerial system has to be vibrant and well-thought-out.”

Keeping Agreements

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“I wish my people would keep the promises they made,” Daniella lamented.

“How well do you keep your promises?” I asked.

“What do you mean,” she wanted to know.

“I was having a beer with a good friend who owned the bar,” I began the story. “As we finished, he reached in his pocket and pulled out some cash to pay for the beers. I asked him why, since he owned the bar, did he have to pay for his own beers? He looked at me and said, ‘I do not want to teach my employees how to steal.'”

I repeated my question. “How well do you keep your promises? The distance in which you keep your agreements, goes a long way to determine how well your team keeps theirs.”

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.”

Infectious

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“You said, being a victim is a mental state?” Carson wanted to explore.

“Yes, it can even be more pervasive,” I replied. “There is a continuum – a mood, which is temporary, to a mental state, or a prolonged mood, to the way we see the world, a belief, which is longer term, persistent, base on a thought we think over and over. Moods are easy to change with ice cream. A mental state, not so much. And beliefs become ingrained, not permanent, but doggedly stubborn.”

“And infectious,” Carson flatly stated.

“How so?” I asked.

“I can have a teammate in a mood, less say, not so positive, bordering on negative. That mood influences other teammates, mostly at the water cooler. ‘You wouldn’t believe what happened to me on the way to work today. This guy cut me off in traffic, almost crashed my car’.”

“And, now you get a better story from someone else, and on it goes, until it creates a mental state for the whole team,” I smiled.

“What’s worse, the team now has to solve a real work problem from a triggered state. And, the real problem becomes the vehicle of bad luck, for which the team has no accountability.”

“It’s a cycle,” I nodded. “How do you interrupt the cycle? How do you, as a manager, shift the mental state of the team?”

Obesity

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“Yes, luck would be easier to blame things on,” I nodded. “Luck is something outside of our control. It is popular, because it allows us to be off the hook on accountability.”

Carson chimed in. “Good luck or bad luck is a common scapegoat. Luck doesn’t require us to understand what happens when things go well, more specifically, what we did in sequence when things go well, things we might repeat. It was just luck. Luck allows my team to shrug their shoulders when things go poorly. It was just luck. It allows the team to exist as a victim, without agency that might impact the outcome one way or another.”

“And, being a victim creates a cottage industry of people, consultants, special programs to manicure external circumstances to suit the victim mental state,” I said. “We used to describe the role of a parent, and you can think the role of a manager in a similar capacity, was to prepare the child for the path of life. We now see parents, consultants, special programs preparing the path of life for the child, who now has no accountability.”

“Like lung cancer is no longer the fault of the smoker. Or obesity is no longer the fault of the overeater, or more directly, the grocery shopper. It is a matter of corporate greed and the solution is a GLP-1 drug,” Carson mused.

“So, how do we improve the situation, prevent the death spiral of victimhood?” I asked. “How do we prepare the child for the path of life. How do we prepare our team members for the path of their employment?”

And, at the Bottom?

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“It still looks like a communication problem,” Nolan insisted. “They are in a meeting, they are talking. Yes, there is a checklist. That is what they are communicating about.”

“I will agree, there is communication, but that is not the problem. The problem is that there are no dumpsters on the job site to haul away the debris and your project gets delayed by a day.”

“But, they are talking about a checklist, it’s communication,” he continued to push back.

“Yes, they are talking about the items on the checklist, but I helped design that checklist,” I nodded. “What is at the bottom of the checklist?”

Nolan was trying to imagine the checklist and what checklist item was last on the list.

“Below the items on the list,” I directed.

It suddenly became clear. “You are right,” Nolan admitted. “At the bottom is a signature line for both the estimator and the project manager to sign. It’s not just a checklist, it’s a commitment list.”

“Not a communication problem,” I said. “It’s an accountability and authority issue.”

It’s a Box on a Checklist

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“What’s the name of the movie that said – What we have here is a failure to communicate?” Nolan asked.

“You are way too young to have seen Cool Hand Luke,” I replied. “So, what’s the problem?”

Nolan nodded, “We have a communication problem.”

“I don’t believe in communication problems,” I nodded back. “A breakdown in communication is only a symptom of the problem. So, again, what’s the problem?”

“The first part of every project is a demolition phase, to tear down what was already there. The crew shows up, tears things down, but there are no dumpsters to haul away the debris. The project manager says the estimator left the dumpsters off the bid package. The estimator says the project manager should have known because we have dumpsters on every project. Looks like a communication problem to me.”

“I don’t believe in communication problems and I don’t think you have one. What you have, is an accountability and authority issue. In the working relationship between your project manager and your estimator, they have a handoff meeting at the beginning of the project. That meeting is so predictable that you have a checklist to make sure that everything is covered. I would bet that somewhere on that checklist is the word dumpster.”

“You are right,” Nolan said. “But they didn’t talk about it, AND it wasn’t included in the bid package.”

“Look,” I stared at Nolan, “you have an estimator, a project manager and a checklist in a meeting. In that meeting, what is the accountability of the estimator and what is the accountability of the project manager?  It is up to you to define that.”

Not-So-Intelligent

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“That makes sense,” Luke said. “It was a little outside our normal behavior, giving nurses the authority to question a doctor about hand washing.”

“That’s the problem with normal,” I replied. “Normal is just repeated behavior regardless of the outcome. It’s the desired outcome we have to pay attention to, not what is normal.”

“I agree,” Luke nodded. “Likely, we would never make that decision without looking at mortality rates. It was only when we asked the nurses, that things became clear.”

“When you examine systems, you have to figure out how that system emerged. Was it designed to produce an outcome, or did it arrive out of repeated behaviors, ingrained as habits, without regard for the outcome?” I stopped. “A not-so-intelligent system makes even competent people (surgeons and nurses) look dumb. Eventually, competent people will overcome a not-so-intelligent system, if you give them permission, better yet, ask them.”