360° Accountability
On average, only one out of ten start-up companies remains vigorous and viable after five years of operation. Why? Because they fail to create the kind of accountability that gets everyone in their small organization asking what else they can do to achieve the result. We call this 360° Accountability, and it means everyone in the organization, at every level, is not only making sure their job gets done, but they are also on the lookout to make sure the ball is not getting dropped somewhere else in the organization. This does not mean that everyone starts doing everyone else’s job—that would be a disaster. Instead, it simply means that their “radar” is up, awareness is keen and a willingness to pitch in when needed is shared.
Over the last 20 years, we have worked with some very successful start-ups. Without fail, they have shared this quality of the culture where people take ownership for ensuring the success of the enterprise, whether it meant to stay late and help out the shipping department get things boxed and ready for shipment in the morning or garnering the courage to tell someone what they needed to hear, even though it felt risky.
More specifically, implementing 360° Accountability in your job means looking at the full range of people you hold accountable (including boards, bosses, peers, team members, subordinates, vendors, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders) as well as the full slate of results you and your organization must deliver to achieve success and making sure that you are consciously managing that accountability with a make it happen approach.
Unleashing the true potential of any organization, especially an unproven start-up enterprise, requires creating a work environment with unyielding commitment to full, “make it happen” accountability—an environment where people think and act, on a daily basis, in a manner necessary to handle all the nitty-gritty details, find answers to problems, implement successful solutions, overcome obstacles, prevail over any trouble or threat that might come along, and deliver results. In such a work environment everyone continually asks, “What else can I do to achieve results and turn our vision into reality?” Start-up companies with this sort of work environment obviously stand a much better chance of making it past their fifth year anniversaries—but the founders, along with everyone else involved in the enterprise, must assume 360° Accountability to make it happen. Those that are successful and find their organization’s growing well beyond the start-up days often think back to the early days when the “entrepreneurial” spirit ran deep and everyone felt accountable for the organization’s success. We are convinced that capturing that sense and breadth of accountability in your own job and organization will yield impressive results.
