strategy
in associationwith
The ‘Accountability puzzle’
The‘Accountabilitypuzzle’employedbyHenryEvansandhis team, canbe summarisedthus:
• Clear expectations – every request should include a crystal clear result of your expectation, one that the other party can visualise
Henry Evans
to manufacture silicon parts or deliver financial targets or build automobiles, it’s to create emotional safety. “Your focus is going to be on people having a comfort-
able feeling when they walk into your office to give you bad news, on ensuring they feel safe and encouraged to talk to you about a mistake that they have made – or a mistake that you have made – or something that is wrong in the supply chain, or in the delivery to a cus- tomer. This is so that you are not positioned to be the last person to find out’. “This is really about creating the safety for people to
do so. We talk a lot to leaders about how one violation, one slip, can set you back months, even years, of open- ness. It is quite common for those leaders who use their title as the reason people should be performing to be the last people to know what’s actually happening in their own company,” he says. They also tend to have a higher attrition rate, says
Evans. “It is like the old adage, that people don’t leave companies, they leave leaders. Now, in the current recession people are likely to hold on to their jobs, but that becomes a problem when there’s the inevitable upturn. “At these times a lot of leaders legitimately and accu-
rately realise that they don’t need to change or improve that much. People aren’t going anywhere. However, that puts them in a seriously handicapped position once the market starts to upswing, if their competitors have more sophisticated and developed leaders.
• Specificity – to avoidmiscommunication, include a spe- cificdate, timeandtimezoneinyour request – thelatter because of ourmore globalisedwork lives
• Ownership – one person must take ownership for the task; while the teammay own the overall outcome, the actionthatgetsyoutothatoutcomeshouldhaveonlyone personincharge,andtheremustbeclarityastowhothat person is
• Share – true accountability begins when someone else knows about it, and youmust invite andwelcome people to hold you accountable, whether you report to themor they report to you.
“So, just as you would refine your processes and
your systems during a recession, you should be refin- ing your relationships, you should be refining your abilities and skills around them so that, when the upswing comes, you are better equipped to capitalise on the opportunities.” Salutary advice for the many leaders with their heads
down, busily trying to lead their organisations through the current environment.
Henry Evans is a visiting member of faculty on the UCD Smurfit School High Impact Leadership programme, which takes place in May. For more information see
www.smurfitschool.ie/executiveeducation.
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kpmg.ie
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