Why Accountability is a Must For Teamwork and How To Create It

 

“Courtney really gets on my nerves,” Mario said to his coworker Amira. The two were sitting in the commissary, trays of food in front of them, ready to eat lunch.

“She has to be ‘miss perfect’ and flaunt finishing her projects,” Mario continued. “Yet getting her work done before everyone else doesn’t satisfy her—she continually asks other people if they’ve finished their projects yet. It’s like she wants to toss us under the bus every chance she gets.”

“She’s obviously maneuvering for a promotion. Hopefully, she’ll get it soon and we can work in peace,” Amira replied. The two began to eat their lunch, Mario wearing an expression of agitation, and Amira simply looking disinterested.

“Ravi on the other hand does absolutely nothing,” said Mario with a sigh.

“I can’t believe Tanya hasn’t said anything to him, even after he missed the RFP deadline. What kind of manager is she? I wish she’d crack down on him,” responded Amira now wearing Mario’s look of agitation on her face.

“Have you finished updating the client files?” Mario asked Amira.

“Not yet,” she replied. “Have you finished the research you were working on?”

“Not yet,” Mario said, bored at the thought of the research. “It will get done eventually.”

“Yeah, we finish when we finish,” Amira said as she stood up with her tray, headed to the trash bin, and prepared herself to get back to work.

Back in the office, Tanya, the team manager, is frustrated. Only one person on her team, Courtney, actually meets deadlines. And now the department head is coming down on her, accusing her of not managing her team properly. How can she get her team to get their work done?

Let’s start by identifying the major problem that is affecting the productivity of this team: lack of accountability.

This Team Has a Problem: Lack of Accountability

The business dictionary defines accountability as “the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and disclose the results in a transparent manner.” It’s simple: to be accountable to a team, a person needs to be clear about what they plan to do, execute on that thing, and let the team know when it’s done.

But when it comes to teams, accountability must go both ways. For a team to function well, an individual is not only obligated to be accountable, they need to hold their coworkers accountable too. That means consistently asking for updates on clearly defined goals, and openly sharing their own updates. Yet holding others accountable is difficult because it can cause interpersonal discomfort. Patrick Lencioni writes, “Once we achieve clarity and buy-in, it is then that we have to hold each other accountable for what we sign up to do, for high standards of performance and behavior. And as simple as that sounds, most executives hate to do it, especially when it comes to a peer’s behavior.”

In the team above, Courtney is the only one holding herself and others accountable. And she is definitely facing interpersonal discomfort.

The Facts About Accountability in Business

Although being accountable is vital to teamwork, organizations across industries struggle with accountability. Take a look at these statistics:

·         93% of employees don’t really understand what their organization is trying to accomplish in order to align with their own work.

·         85% of leaders aren’t defining what their people should be working on — and an equal number of employees crave clarity.

·         84% of the workforce describes itself as “trying but failing” or “avoiding” accountability, even when employees know what to fix.

·         80% of people see accountability as punishing

These are not small numbers! It looks like many organizations could use a lesson in accountability. Let’s take a look at what teams that hold each other as accountable look like, versus teams that do not.

Accountable Teams and Unaccountable Teams: What do they look like?

Teams That Are Not Accountable

·         Create resentment among team members who have different standards of performance

·         Encourage mediocrity

·         Miss deadlines

·         Put disproportionate pressure on leaders to discipline

Teams That Are Accountable

·         Make sure poor performers feel pressure to improve

·         Identify problems quickly by questioning one another

·         Establish respect among team members who are held to same high standards

·         Avoid excessive bureaucracy around management and corrective actions

For a real-world example of the problems that come from unaccountable teams, let’s visit the coffeehouse giant, Starbucks.

What Starbucks Can Teach Us About Accountability

During the economic slowdown of 2008, Starbucks took a hit—600 stores closed and profit fell 28%. Leadership during that time blamed the economy and increased price of dairy for the slump. That was until Howard D. Shultz came back as CEO after leaving eight years prior. He held leadership accountable rather than blaming things that can’t be controlled, like the economy and dairy prices. He said, “Starbucks’s heavy spending to accommodate its expansion has created a bureaucracy that masked its problems.”

His solution? To create a strategy that developed brand trust. The initiative, called “My Starbucks Idea,” created a way for customers to share ideas directly with the company and with each other. After 1.3 million users on social media shared 93 million ideas, the program was a success and Starbucks pulled out of its slump. Had Shultz not held the company accountable, it’s unlikely the leadership team would have solved the problem.

So what can you do if you find yourself on a team that is not accountable and Howard Shultz isn’t around? Try these three tips:

Tips For Creating Accountability

1. Set Team Goals and Team Rewards

·         People are less likely to watch someone fail if the entire team is at stake

·         The enemy of accountability is ambiguity

2. Ask Questions, Stress Inquiry

·         Agree on goals and then conduct inquiry-oriented dialogue. Questions help people deconstruct the details and try alternatives without being defensive

3. Break goals into specific elements

·         Analyze the details that accumulate to produce either success or failure

·         This makes it easier to identify specific steps for improvement

·         It gives people pride in the elements that went well

·         Helping the team see strengths and weaknesses holds others accountable to improvement

Going back to Mario, Amira, Ravi, Tanya, and Courtney’s team, we can see clear signs of a lack of accountability. Mario and Amira resent Courtney for having a different standard of performance. They even encourage each other’s mediocrity with statements like, “we finish when we finish.” The two blame their manager, Tanya, for Ravi’s missed deadline, expecting her to discipline rather than holding their team accountable. And from what Tanya says, the team misses deadlines all the time.

What if they were more accountable? Mario, Amira, and Ravi would feel pressure from the team to improve. They’d identify what stood in their way by asking questions and resolving problems quickly. They’d even strip some of the bureaucracy away, by not relying on management’s use discipline to get things done. All of this would help establish respect among the team, which would now be holding each other to higher standards. And what do higher standards mean? Better performance.

Have you ever worked on a team that lacked accountability? What was it like? I’d love to hear about it.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

How To Influence Others Without Authority

 

Have you ever tried asking for support from someone who is not interested in helping you? Or maybe you have an idea that you’re sure will take your team to the next level, but you can’t get anyone on board? These are common frustrations in the workplace… maybe even at home!

When you don’t have authority over others, it can be difficult to get them to help you or take your ideas seriously. But you’re not out of the weeds even if you do have authority! According to Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford, authors of “Influence Without Authority,” having authority can actually present problems. Why? Because it doesn’t always mean people will follow and support you. Instead, authority can create fear, and can potentially motivate people for the wrong reasons.

The common denominator here is the impact that authority has on influence. Learning to influence without authority is vital for both those who don’t have any, and those that do. So how do you do it? That’s is where the Cohen-Bradford Influence Model comes in.

The Influence Model: Six Steps

The Influence Model, also known as the Cohen-Bradford Influence Model, was created by Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford. It consists of six steps. Let’s take a look at each step, and then go through an example in detail.

Here are the 6 steps to the Cohen-Bradford Influence Model:

1.       Assume That Everyone Can Help You

Keep in mind that every single person around you has something unique to bring to the table and could be a great ally. Give everybody a fair chance to prove their value including the most challenging person in the room. Always take the first step to trust the people around you.

2.       Prioritize Objectives

You have to stay focused and remember the very reason why you want to influence these people. What is the benefit of having these people on your side? What is your ultimate goal?

Stay on track and do not confuse your work goal with your personal feelings or motives. Strong emotions such as wanting to “be right” can easily take over and distract you away from what is important, so remain focused on your work goal.

3.       Understand the Other Person’s Situation

Understanding where the other person is coming from is the key in identifying what drives them. Listening to what they have to say will not only make you understand where they are coming from but most importantly, where they would like to go from there.

4.       Identify What Matters, to You and to Them

If you take your time hearing the other person, you will understand exactly what is truly important to them; knowing what he or she values most is likely to be the determining factor in this model.

5.       Analyze the Relationship

Ask yourself: What kind of relationship do you share with this person at this time? Are you comfortable enough to ask what you need from him or her?

If you’re still at the early stage of your relationship, you may need to start by establishing trust and then start building up your relationship from there before you make the “exchange”, which is the final step.

Develop your communication skills by paying attention and using active listening techniques during conversations. Use your emotional intelligence and consider what each person is feeling.

6.       Make the “Exchange”

It’s time to put the model to work. Establish what you have to offer that is valuable to your ally and then make “the exchange”.

Remember to keep building your relationship with mutual respect for each other. Stay engaged by continuously trusting, understanding, and empathizing with the other person. Make sure to show how thankful you are and always look for more ways on how you can help them.

Check out this video for even more insight into the Influence Model

 

Now let’s take a look at an example.

Here is an example…

An Example of Influencing Without Authority 

Jay has been assigned as lead for a cross functional team to develop a new organizational strategic plan. Each team member works in a different area of the company and comes to the team with their own expertise. They’ve been selected to collaborate and come up with a new strategic plan in a short amount of time.

Since this special task is outside of everyone’s primary duties, Jay finds it hard to schedule a time that would fit everyone. Mike, in particular, is currently working extra hours and therefore delaying the team’s progress. So, Jay applies the Influence Model:

1.       Assume That Everyone Can Help You

Jay recognizes that everybody has something valuable to offer; the first task for Jay is to hear what everyone has to say. Mike is not able to attend the meetings due to his heavy workload because he’s short-staffed.

2.       Prioritize Objectives

Jay’s objective is to create the best possible strategic plan while utilizing input from all of his teammates. Mike has the expertise Jay needs to make sure that their new strategic plan meets all requirements. 

 

3.       Understand the Other Person’s Situation

Jay can empathize with Mike. He knows that Mike’s been working extra hours because they are short staffed and that Mike values whatever little time that is left for him to catch up with his family.

Jay knows the mental and physical stress of how Mike’s work schedule is impacting him. As a result, even though Mike understands that importance of this special project that he was assigned to be a part of, he is not happy giving up more of his personal time to work.

4.       Identify What Matters; to You and to Them

Jay knows that Mike is passionate about his field of work, is a great asset to the company, and has much to contribute to the strategic direction of the company. Jay has heard Mike is in the process of hiring a new person to share the workload with him, which would allow him to go back to his normal schedule and free up time to support the strategic plan development project. If only he could find time to go through the applications that he has on hand, to expedite the hiring process.

5.       Analyze the Relationship

Jay and Mike don’t see each other often since they work in different buildings but they know each other enough to know they are both from the west coast and share a love for college sports.

6.       Make the “Exchange”

Jay decides that it’s time to make his exchange. Jay will offer Mike his assistance in interviewing candidates to help expedite the hiring process. In return, Jay will ask for half a day of Mike’s time to catch up on what he’s missed so far in the strategic plan development, then participate regularly in the team meetings.

Mike was surprised to hear Jay’s offer, but he accepts without any hesitations. Jay showed his appreciation by showing up early and took his time by going through each and every applicant seriously. Mike in return showed up early the next day to help Jay; the two came up with Mike’s strategic plan input faster than they both expected. Jay then showed his gratitude by buying Mike a craft beer from the west coast.

The next time you want to influence others, give these six steps a try. You may find that influencing isn’t as hard as you think! I have a bonus tip for you as well: Be sure to use your EQ. Here’s what I mean.

What challenges have you run into when attempting to influence others? I’d love to troubleshoot with you.

 

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Creating Workplace Culture That Actually Works

 

Workplace culture often seems like some sort of abstract concept. We think, ‘Oh to build a great culture at work, we have to create something that mimics Apple’ or some other hot, tech company. In reality, building a dynamic work culture is much simpler, based on how the organization’s values, attitude and behavior manifest daily in person to person exchanges.

A recent article in Ragan cited twelve workplace characteristics that will have employees packing their bags and updating their LinkedIn profile as they look for a new job. When you go through the list, you’ll likely be walking down memory lane, recalling situations in previous jobs, or perhaps even your current, where the atmosphere was stifling.

To avoid this type of attrition, let’s focus on three lessons learned:

1. Leadership is key. Let’s face it, we mimic our surroundings. If we’re new on the job, and not in a leadership positions, we often observe and copy the behaviors of others around us. Leadership is key in setting the standard,  and clarifying expectations throughout the organization.
2. What’s the real issue? Many employees bring you the symptom of a problem that they want you to solve. Your job as a manager is to dig deeper and find the real issue, by asking questions such as, “What’s underneath all this?” or “What’s the most important issue we need to look at now?”. Once the employee sees the real issues, help them tie it back to its impact on the team and organization. This will then start to create real change.
3. Structure enhances productivity and networking will aid efforts. Your colleagues are bright and good at what they do. However, what do they do? If you don’t know, it’s time to find out. Help every employee create a LinkedIn profile and encourage them to connect through the company page. Why is this important? When you’re trying to figure out who handles media inquiries, it’ll only take two minutes instead of an hour!

Simple habits build success. Take a look around your work; where do you see yourself succeeding? Start with what’s working and expand from there. What can you work on next?

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

How to Onboard Employees Virtually

The COVID-19 quarantine has changed a lot and changed the way we used to do business. Onboarding new employee is just one perfect example. We can no longer welcome a new employee in person at the office due to COVID-19 pandemic. The organizations have to rethink how to create an employee experience virtually. Check out the 3-step process to virtually onboard employees.

Three Tips to Manage a Toxic Work Environment

Organizations are full of individual and group relationships. Even if you work on a small team in a mid-size organization, it’s possible to have over 25 different working relationships when you consider a relationship with each person on your team, peers, colleagues on other teams, clients and vendors.

According to the 2014 Globe force survey, 78 percent of people who work between 30 to 50 hours per week actually spend more time with their coworkers than with their families. Having friends at work increases organizational commitment, improves employee engagement and increases overall employee satisfaction levels. However, unhealthy work relationships decrease each one of these factors. 

Impact of unhealthy work relationships

A Harvard Business Review article states that there are three traits top leaders use to maintain healthy and powerful relationships: a clear purpose, an understanding of the kind of relationship needed and a commitment to pursue that relationship even in the hard times. In addition, healthy relationships include trust, integrity and respect.

While we all want healthy work relationships, unhealthy work relationships can develop. Unhealthy work relationships lead to workplace stress, higher disengagement and lack of loyalty. About $500 billion is lost by the US economy because of workplace stress. According to a study by Queens School of Business and Gallup, disengaged workers have 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents, and 60% more errors and defects. Lack of loyalty leads to the increase in voluntary turnover by about 50%.

One thing that creates unhealthy work relations is organizational power dynamics, which refer to how different levels of employees deal with each other and where one of these employees / groups is more dominant than the other employee/group. This use of dominance does not involve use of force; instead it uses workplace influence, which could be created by gender, organizational hierarchy, ethnicity, social bias and other factors.

The development of careers, particularly at senior levels, depends on acquiring power. How does this happen? Individuals gain power in absolute terms at someone else’s expense. As most organizations have a pyramid structure, there is a scarcity of positions as one moves up the organizational hierarchy. This is what determines how the power dynamics play out.

How can leaders spot unhealthy power dynamics before the workplace relationships become toxic?

Three Tips for Managing Workplace Power Dynamics

1. Create clear, professional boundaries

Regardless of the organizational size, ensure there are established, professional boundaries in the workplace. For example, if a boss calls a direct report on the weekend, is the direct report expected to return the call on the weekend or on Monday? Is alcohol allowed on the workplace premises and if so, what are the norms when someone says something inappropriate or wants to drive while under the influence of alcohol? Finally, what is allowed or not allowed while traveling? Establishing workplace norms prevents an imbalanced power dynamic from occurring.

2. Monitor language

Words matter because words become thoughts and thoughts become behavior. So be mindful of the accepted organizational verbiage. Expressions such as ‘Man up!’ or ‘Don’t be so emotional and sensitive’ are generally said by one gender about another gender and therefore sexist. ‘You don’t understand how the game works’ shows an imbalanced power dynamic, as one person implies that s/he is smarter or more experienced than the other. Someone regularly saying, ‘That’s not what happened’ can create a feeling of gas lighting, making the other person question reality and become subservient in the power dynamics. So listen for language that may inadvertently create an unhealthy power dynamic.

3. Notice office volatility

Employees are human, and regardless of how talented they are, every person has flaws. Some of those shortcomings may create a volatile work environment, which creates havoc on work relationships and causes stress for everyone. The key to managing this volatile environment is to manage individual responses. Take time to learn what triggers people’s emotions and avoid conversations that can contribute to the overall volatility. Employees need to stay calm rather than engage in office drama.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Why Leadership Training Fails

It happens all the time. Senior leaders seek leadership training to strengthen the leadership team. Yet they don’t know exactly what will make their individual leaders better in their roles.
Some will base their leadership training on the flavor of the month, such as emotional intelligence. They have heard in leadership circles how powerful emotional intelligence is for leaders, so think training in that capacity will improve their individual leader’s abilities. And while that might be true, it might also be true that a particular leader is actually not lacking in emotional intelligence, and there are other skills that would maximize the results of their training. This is how leadership training fails.
For effective leadership training, we must know what the leader needs. This need should also be aligned with the organizational vision and mission, which requires foundational work. And in order to do that work, competencies must first be established.

The Foundational Work Needed for Leadership Training to Succeed

Sometimes referred to as ‘KSA’, competencies are the things people need to know (knowledge), do (skills) and have (abilities) to be successful in a specific role. Competencies can be grouped into technical, foundational and leadership areas. They are defined by specific behaviors that describe what that competency would look like if someone were using it effectively. These behaviors are often laid out across a proficiency scale so the employee can clearly assess her current behaviors and understand what behaviors are needed for the next level.
Some examples of competencies are problem-solving, conflict management, technical skills and speaking up. While some competencies will be applied to every employee, others are role dependent. The CEO of a large organization likely won’t need to have specific technical competencies, and a coder on the tech team likely wouldn’t need to be competent in sales communication.
Once competencies are defined, the next thing to do is identify five clearly defined proficiency levels. For example, for problem-solving skills, level one might be, ‘asks questions and looks for information to identify and differentiate the symptoms and causes of every day, defined problems’. Level five might be, ‘anticipates problem areas and associated risk levels with objectivity; uses formal methodologies to forecast trends and define innovative strategies in response to the implications of options; and gains approval from senior leadership to solutions of multi-faceted problems".

After competencies and proficiency levels are clearly defined, the next steps are:

1. Determine the expected proficiencies by job position.
2. Assess the employee’s competencies using a standardized process, on a regular basis. Competing an assessment will help the leader know which competencies to focus on for future leadership training.
3. Facilitate career conversations with employees to match organizational needs, career aspirations, and current employee proficiency to a leadership development program.
4. Track progress using accountability measures in the leadership development training.

Read in depth about each step here.

Using this process will prevent your leadership training from failing. You seek training because you are invested in your employee development. If you’re willing to make that investment, it’s worth doing all the foundational work necessary to get effective training that elevates your leaders.

Entrepreneur Small Business Idea - Develop a Top Management Consulting Firm Alexandria VA

This article will display you the way you may begin your own management consultancy in Alexandria Company as an entrepreneur. Top management consulting firm Alexandria VA is a growing area, wherein you are available to an enterprise with outdoor experience as a manager, survey the commercial enterprise and offer pointers as to how the enterprise needs to alternate its management shape. Study on to find out how you can start your own top management consultancy in Alexandria.

When you have previous management experience, or you're a very avid pupil of management, this will be the right business in order to begin. There are many corporations accessible with fairly "green" managers which have come up through the ranks, however, has no formal schooling.

A corporation is on the mercy of its control. If the managers are vulnerable, lack of motivating or empowering employees, or they don't apprehend the vision of the agency, that business enterprise may be in serious trouble.

As a strategic management consulting firms, you'll carry out opinions, observations of employees, observe ordinary systems of management, and finally give suggestions in multiple regions that require the alternate.