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LEADERSHIP
‘The higher you get on an organisational chart,
the more responsibility you have but often the
less accountability you have’
The accountability puzzle how one violation, one slip, can set you back months, even
In summary, the ‘accountability puzzle’, as employed by Evans years, of openness.”
and his team, and laid out in his book, basically constitutes: He again illustrates this with a personal example. A former
competitive martial artist, Evans remembers one day walking
CLEAREXPECTATIONS–everyrequestshouldincludeacrystalclear through the lobby of his office and spotting a friend on the cover
result of your expectation, one that the other party can visualise; of a favourite magazine,FullContactFighter. “I picked it up and
SPECIFICITY–toavoidmiscommunication,includeaspecificdate, started reading it. My assistant saw me, and she knew I was sup-
time and time zone in your request – the latter because of our posed to be working on a strategic planning update for a client.
more globalised work lives; SheaskedshouldInotbeworkingonthestrategicplannow.The
OWNERSHIP – one person must take ownership for the task – first words that came to mind, frankly, were not ‘thank you’, but
whiletheteammayowntheoveralloutcome,theactionthatgets they were the first words that came out of my mouth.
you to that outcome should have only one person in charge, and “Thatisbecauseshewaskeepingouragreement–thatwechal-
there must be clarity as to who that person is; lenge each other to keep our commitments. And she was keeping
SHARE – true accountability begins when someone else knows her promise to me and that makes our performance better, so I
about it, and you must invite and welcome people to hold you encourage her to do that.”
accountable, whether you report to them or they report to you. He admits that while some leaders are very self-aware and com-
fortablewiththis,othersneedtobeencouragedthroughthebottom
“Using those four pieces of the accountability puzzle, you’re linebenefitsofencouragingsuchareal-timeinformationconduit.
asking people for clear expectations that have a visual associa- “I’llsaytosomeleaders,atthemomentyouarethelastpersonto
tion,” says Evans who offers a simple example. knowwhat’sgoingoninrealtimeandbythetimeyougettoknow,
“SayIowedyoumoney,andIsaidI’mgoingtopayyoubackon we’realreadyincrisisbecausepeopleareafraidtotalktoyou.”
Friday. That’s a good intention and when you’re looking into my And how do leaders deal with a failure by a colleague to meet
eyesImightreallymeanit,sotheintentionisthere,it’spure.But such agreed commitments?
it’s not an accountable statement. “You have to begin by looking at the person who doesn’t follow
“If you wanted to help me craft it into one, you might encour- through and ask is this a constant or a variable?” says Evans. “Is
agemeandyoumightsay,‘Look,Henry,Iappreciateyou’regoing this something that happens frequently or infrequently? And I
to pay me back that money, thank you, but out of curiosity are would handle it differently based on the answer. If it is the for-
you going to personally walk into my office and hand me a mer, the conversation would not be about that one incident, it
cheque? Are you going to send someone else, are you going to would be about our working relationship and the fact that I’m
wire transfer it?’ I might say, ‘I’m going to go to a cash machine starting to lose trust and I’d probably ask them what they think
and I’m going to get €200 and I’m going to go to your office’. is likely to happen if I continue to lose trust?
Then you say, ‘Great, and when are you coming?’ I’ll say, ‘I’ll see “If I’m the one not following through, there is usually a way to
you in Dublin at 1pm Irish time.’ renegotiate the promise before the deadline.” The ‘before’ here is
“Once that conversation happens we both have visual associa- the operative word, according to Evans. Don’t wait until the
tions. When I just said Friday at 1pm, you saw it in your MS deadline is upon you. “That is a strong behaviour in terms of
Outlook, or your Lotus notes, or your diary – whatever you use. building trust.”
You had a mental picture and with that visual association your The apparent simplicity of the accountability model belies the
attention and retention doubled.” remarkable changes that it can institute in an organisation,
It all makes a lot of sense. However, as one gets lower down according to Evans.
an organisation’s hierarchy, how willing might a subordinate Perhaps, when it comes to management strategy, we some-
be to call their senior to account and encourage them with times forget to look at the simplest of truths.
such questions? “Yes, that is a frequent objection or concern AnnO’Dea
when we’re instituting the method,” concedes Evans.
“There’s a lot of emotional intelligence woven into our
accountability method, which is about inviting subordinates to HenryEvansisacoachontheUCDSmurfitSchoolHigh
hold you accountable for your commitments and rewarding ImpactLeadershipprogramme,whichtakesplacein
them when they do. So this is really about creating the safety November2009.Formoreinformation,see
for people to do so. We talk a lot to leaders about this; about www.smurfitschool.ie/executiveeducation
20 UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS
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