Breakdowns in the Organizational Accountability Cycle

Is the Accountability Cycle broken in your organization? It is in most organizations. Not at all levels, and not with every individual, but in every organization that I have worked with there has been a significant breakdown in their accountability cycle overall. Don’t even get me started with the country in general and the resulting mess we have going on in our financial institutions. I’ll do my best to confine my tirade to corporate America and specifically to their ability to effectively execute their mission. What, you may ask, is the Accountability Cycle? The Accountability Cycle is a term we have coined for the process of: Setting Expectations; Accepting Responsibility for those expectations; Holding people accountable to fulfilling those expectations; and Facing the Consequences for success or failure. While this certainly is not rocket science, it is the one concept with which all organizations struggle.

The issue that I struggle with is which part of the cycle is the most broken. As a consultant charged with helping my clients improve their accountability cycle it is important to understand which part of the cycle is broken. So with each client I have to understand:

• Is the problem that management fails to set clear and specific expectations?
• Alternatively, is the problem that people refuse to accept responsibility for those expectations?
• On the other hand, is the problem that even with clear expectations, management fails to follow-up and hold people accountable for meeting expectations?
• Or, finally, is the problem that management fails to provide either positive or negative consequences for success or failure?

The more and more frequency, I am finding the answer to be yes to all of the above. We are failing to do any of those things. We are failing to those things at work, in the home, in our schools, in our government, in our personal lives and in society as a whole. Where is it breaking down for you?

Expectations vs. Goals

In the Performance Management field we tend to use the words Goals and Expectations somewhat interchangeably. We talk about setting Stretch Goals, SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Agreed to, Realistic, timely), Personal Goals, and on, and on. We tend to shy away from talking about setting expectations. This is due to the more negative perception around the word expectation than that of goals. No one likes to be told what to do. This is what happens when a manager sets an expectation. Therefore, we try to soften the blow by couching the expectation in terms of goals.

To me this is dishonest and we are really only deceiving ourselves. When you “tell” an employee what their goal is, do you really think that they believe that they had any input to their “goal”? It also makes us look weak and indecisive. This is not good for moral. By and large, people like strong, decisive leaders who have a vision. Leaders who set expectations and do so while sharing their vision get much more buy in and respect from their employees than do the ones who hide behind pseudo goals.

Think about these two expectation-setting scenarios:

Okay team, we have not been doing too well so I am going to set our goal for today at 25 sales calls each.

vs.

Okay team, our sales team is sitting idle because we have not generated enough leads for them to stay busy. If they’re not selling, we are not getting bonuses. So I am setting a minimum expectation of 25 calls each and I am challenging you to get 30 good quality calls made. Does anyone think that that is not achievable? …. Good. Don’t forget, if you need help getting past the gate keeper or closing on a meeting, get me involved to help. That’s what they pay me the big bucks for (smile).

My point here is that we need to separate goals from expectations and that both need to be set – What the requirements (expectations) are and what the stretch would be. This gives the employee not only a clear understanding of what has to happen but a goal to shoot for that is challenging yet attainable.

I am sure there are those with dissenting opinions on this and I would love to hear from you.

Expectations Article

I ran across a great article today entitled Setting Expectations by Peggy L. McNamara on the WomenTodayMagazine.com site.

In the article Peggy makes 3 key points:

1. State your expectations on a regular basis – not once or twice a year.
2. Follow-up and hold people accountable.
3. Realize that holding people accountable is not dictatorship and that not everyone will agree. So sharing a bit of your vision and why it is important may be required from time to time.

She goes on to discuss how to confront certain issues but I don’t want to ruin that for you. Go read it in full. it’s worth your time.

Peggy is the author of “My Tender Soul – A Story of Survival”. She publishes a monthly e-zine, “Perpetual Life Management” and is the President/Minnesota Chapter/Nat’l Speakers Assoc. and Co-Owner/Huntington Learning Center/White Bear Lake, MN 651-438-2656 – Direct 651-438-2694 – Fax 888-269-7771 http://www.peggymcnamara.com. Peggy works with organizations that want to increase overall effectiveness and Generation X Women who want to develop to their fullest potential.

And just so you guys know, I found it by Googling the term “setting expectations” not because I was reading Women Today Magazine, not that there’s anything wrong with that….