The Oz Principle Blog

In answer to questions at the Stanford Graduate School of Business about leadership, managing people, and achieving results, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said: “Everybody likes to say leaders have to insist on accountability, and that’s right, but there’s a yin and a yang to that, too. You want to insist on accountability, but you also want to insist that people stretch themselves and push themselves. If the game is I got done what I said I could do, and you’re really rigorous about that, you will encourage people to set their goals low. And so how do you manage the yin and the yang of stretching people and yet at the same time holding them accountable. That’s sort of a key leadership dimension.”

Ballmer is right. Holding people accountable for results plus getting them to take accountability for achieving even greater results in the future is indeed a major leadership challenge and one that we have addressed in our consulting and training practice over the last two decades. Developing such a yin-yang balance between the two—holding people accountable while helping them take accountability—is greatly enhanced when the third dimension we call “building an accountable culture” is introduced. In short, there are three dimensions to achieving a balanced and comprehensive approach to creating greater accountability: Self, Culture and Others.

-Self:  Taking Personal Accountability. Lays a foundation of personal accountability, helping people embrace their own accountability for achieving organizational results by continually asking the question, “What else can I do?” to overcome obstacles and achieve the result.

-Culture: Building An Accountable Culture. Builds on the personal accountability foundation to create a Culture of Accountability, helping individuals, teams, and entire organizations think and act differently by identifying and internalizing the needed Cultural Beliefs to achieve greater results now and in the future.

-Others: Holding Others Accountable. Focuses on implementing accountability throughout the organization, helping people effectively hold others accountable for results so everyone in the organization can deliver on expectations and follow-through on what is required to be successful.

These three dimensions, or Tracks as we call them, bring a crucial yin-yang balance to accountability, allowing organizations to achieve key results, such as increasing revenues and profitability, reducing costs, and successfully implementing major organizational initiatives. Time and again, the world’s best organizations have shown that greater accountability produces results, lifts morale, and develops individual and organizational capability. Achieving such a yin-yang balance in accountability, as Steve Ballmer confirms, is the quest of every organizational leader because nothing creates more energy and power in an organization than complete, stem-to-stern accountability.

To learn more about the Three Tracks to Greater Accountability (Self, Culture, Others), go to www.ozprinciple.com.

“Getting real” means “getting to the truth,” no matter how difficult. When companies demonstrate real commitment to getting to the truth throughout their organizations, they speed up business processes, cut through red tape, and deliver better results. By contrast, whenever people and organizations resist dealing with the truth, they bring positive accountability to a grinding halt, which eventually leads to undesired results. But getting to the truth is not always easy, especially when doing so requires extra effort, makes someone else look bad, or involves personal risk. In the end, however, “getting real” will do much more to move a project for­ward, produce results, and build accountability than any attempt to create a happy illusion, no matter how well inten­tioned. Creating work environments where people settle for nothing less than the truth, enables individuals and teams to recognize the reality of their situations and take accountability for delivering results, now and in the future.

One of our clients, a major Fortune 100 organi­zation, “ADH,” illustrates the value of getting to the truth. ADH manufactured a medication designed to treat a medical condition that affected a relatively small number of patients. The drug had been on the market for several years, but new business circumstances persuaded ADH to stop manufactur­ing the product. A few weeks later, when a father whose young daughter depended on the drug attempted to refill her prescription, he discovered the drug was on back-order. Little did he know that ADH was in the process of selling out its supply of the drug before ceasing production altogether. Unable to obtain the drug, the increasingly distraught father wrote a letter to ADH’s president explaining his distress. The president, in turn, asked “Bill,” a senior ADH executive, to follow up.

As Bill responded to the situation, he discovered that no one—including doctors, pharmacies, consumers, and employees—knew that the drug would soon be discontinued. Going further, he found an available generic drug that could effectively replace ADH’s product. He quickly communicated the information to a grateful father, who immediately went to the pharmacy at a university medical center. However, when he got there, the pharmacist and a resident dietician told him that the inactive ingredients in the generic drug differed from ADH’s formula. “The generic drug would not provide an acceptable substitution.”

More communication with the frantic father only deepened Bill’s resolve to get to the truth. He immediately contacted the manufacturer of the generic drug and, after several discussions, determined that the generic alterna­tive was a perfectly suitable substitute. Bill called the father again to explain the science behind the generic drug and its suitability for his daughter’s condition. After that, he called the uni­versity pharmacy to explain it to them as well. Then he put his organization to work preparing a letter for distribution to doctors and pharmacists throughout the nation, detailing the suitability of the generic drug as a replacement.

Bill’s deep commitment to getting to the truth not only helped people solve a short-term problem, but also strengthened ADH’s culture. Bill’s story, and others like it, have been told and retold thousands of times throughout ADH. A less accountable person in a less accountable culture might have simply told the father, “We’re discontinuing the product. You’ll need to work with your doctor to find a suitable solution.” Instead, he got real.

Recently, while reviewing month-end reports, a healthcare executive we will call “Drew,” discovered a major mistake that had cost the organization several thousand dollars. To make matters worse, he realized that “Jerry,” the manager responsible for the mistake, had made the same error a month earlier. Drew’s frustration grew as he remembered going out of his way to spend extra time counseling Jerry to make sure the mistake wouldn’t happen again. The first time Jerry made the mistake, it was out of ignorance; this time it was caused by nothing but carelessness. Overall, Jerry was good at his job, but the repeated mistake disturbed Drew. Without further ado, he invited Jerry into his office and closed the door behind them.

Before Drew spoke a word, Jerry confidently took charge. “This is about Amy, isn’t it? I spent a lot of extra time training her, but she made the same error again. I’m sorry, I know her carelessness has once again cost us a few hundred dollars. Do you think we should let her go?”

Drew remained silent, astonished by the similarity of the circumstances—two different mistakes, two different people, two levels of impact.

Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, Jerry continued, “On the other hand, so much of her work is commendable and praiseworthy. I could continue to work with her to make sure she doesn’t make this mistake again. What do you think?”

“It’s your decision,” Drew said, observing Jerry closely. “You need to do what you think is right and best for the organization.”

Jerry nodded. A few seconds passed before he spoke again. “I guess I’ll keep her in the position for now. I can work harder to teach her and see how it goes. Thank you.”

As Jerry got up and turned to leave, Drew said, “Hang on a minute, I have something to show you.” He then handed Jerry the month-end report and pointed to the error. “Do you remember making this mistake last month?”

Jerry’s face turned beet red as he slowly and quietly acknowledged the error. “I can’t believe I made the same mistake again. I just wasn’t paying attention—”

“Carelessness?” Drew asked, interrupting.

Jerry nodded, looking humbled and embarrassed.

“I can work harder to teach you and see how it goes,” Drew said with a slight smile.

“Thank you. It won’t happen again,” Jerry said as he headed for the door. Before leaving the office, he turned and asked, “What if I had decided to terminate Amy?”

Drew became serious again. “I’m glad you judged her situation as you did. There’s so much of what you do in your job that is commendable and praiseworthy.”

Mistakes are a common part of individual and organizational life—and everyone deserves chances to learn from their mistakes—but repeated mistakes and unfulfilled expectations, caused by inattention or carelessness, cannot be tolerated for long. When people in your organization fail to meet expectations because of a deficiency or inadequacy, you have to work to solve the problem in a way that prevents it from occurring again.  These accountability conversations are the first step to changing the course of unmet expectations. As in the story above with Drew, the accountability conversation with Jerry was thoughtful and instructive—all done with the eye towards building an organization.

Every accountability conversation will create an impression of the kind of accountability you are creating in your organization.  Is it the recriminating kind, the kind of the accountability that happens to you when things go wrong?  Or is it the kind that is designed to build and strengthen individual and organizational capability, the kind that people want more of?

To be most effective, accountability should not be something that happens to you, but something you choose to make happen.  As we see it, accountability is a choice—a decision to rise above one’s circumstances and exhibit the ownership and investment necessary to overcome obstacles and achieve the results you want to get.  That kind of accountability is produced by positive conversations that build capability and motivate performance.

You may want to use the complimentary Accountability Assessments at www.ozprinciple.com to help you assess how you are doing.  You can even use the assessments to gather feedback on how accountability is being implemented on your team or organization.

Having the right kind of accountability conversations will reinforce the kind of accountability that produces results for your team or organization.