Accountability in Four Easy Steps
Source: Partner Insights
The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Marty Stanley, president of Dynamic Dialog, Inc.
Accountability hasn’t been considered the “next big idea” because it’s not “flashy.” There are no “bragging rights” about implementing an accountability process. After all, accountability means people would need to change, rather than a system or process that needs to change. And who wants to be accountable if it means having to personally change?
On the other hand we’ve seen what happens when there’s no accountability for leading people or processes: The dot-com bust, Enron, Katrina, FEMA…Scandals everywhere: Politics, religion, sports…Bernie Madoff, bailouts and industries collapsing…Product recalls, contaminated foods, greed, waste and excess.
Here are four easy steps to holding people accountable:
- Use job descriptions as the basis for hiring or promoting people into a position.
- Share the job description with incumbents so they know their accountabilities and let them know this will be used for training, coaching, and performance feedback.
- Have objective ways to measure and monitor performance and communicate those methods to the people performing the jobs. Follow through by providing feedback about performance.
- Provide training and coaching opportunities to enhance performance.
Business Communications
Business Communications By Myron Curry President of BusinessTrainingMedia.com The importance of free-flowing forthright communications, both downward from management to employees and upward from employees to management, can hardly be overemphasized. Whether it’s to support morale and productivity among the workforce or to assure that management takes advantage of employee input, good communications are essential. Where…
Business Rebuilding Trust
Business Rebuilding Trust By Shari Caudron At companies where trust has been broken because of, say, high-profile executive wrongdoing, HR has to step up to the plate and help the leaders regain their credibility. Emmett Seaborn, a principal with Towers Perrin in Stamford, Connecticut, says this is done through an extensive communication effort that involves…
Business Employee Surveys
Business Employee Surveys By Patrick Gilbert, David Slavney, and David Tong Employee motivation is vital to business success. Increasingly, it distinguishes companies that thrive from those that fail to survive. A highly motivated workforce delivers superior products and services, and this in turn leads to greater customer satisfaction and improved sales performance. Given the implications…
Are These Traits Killing Your Leadership Ability?
Are These Traits Killing Your Leadership Ability? To be a good leader requires many attributes. Most good leaders possess the necessary skills to lead their teams and contribute to their companies’ success. However, no one is perfect. And even good leaders aren’t always “on.” Everyone has a bad day, or a bad moment, when they…