July 8, 1998

Accountability, or the power of positive ownership

By CLIVE SHEARER
Management and Marketing

Some people are apathetic. Others use their energy to fix blame anywhere but on themselves. Few are willing to be accountable.

The second group blames their neighbors, the police, the phone company, the government, their teachers, their upbringing, and even a higher power for their misfortune. This attitude seeps into the workplace, where people blame their bosses, their co-workers, their clients, the competition and the market.

If no one accepts responsibility to implement and follow-up, all the planning, marketing, and management in the world counts for naught. We live in an era where change is not something down the road. We live in the midst of daily change.

And the need for accountability in such an environment is great.

Did you ever wonder how new companies, entering an already crowded marketplace, are able to make a name for themselves? It's because their start up owners tackle the issues at hand wholeheartedly and are fully involved and fully accountable. For many of them the energy diminishes over the years as they reach a plateau. The "that's not my job" mentality supersedes the "I'll do whatever it takes" mentality and the initial dynamism declines and decays.

Positive ownership

The way to build profitability -- and maintain vitality -- is to foster the concept of ownership. I'm not talking about distributing partnerships or even stock in the company. I'm talking about a sense of taking ownership of what's on your desk, being responsible for your actions and being accountable for your results.

This attitude must start at the front desk and reaches all the way into the CEO's office. If you spend your workday immersed in a hierarchal culture, you can be sucked into a routine, coming up for air only at the end of the day when you go home at night. Your work-day actions become uninspired, your innovative vision blurs, and you work on automatic.

Once you break away from this culture, you see what needs to be done more clearly and communicate decisively, feeling less pressure because you are taking responsibility for your actions. This reduces stress and fosters pride in the workplace.

Here are some practice scripts for changing the apathetic with the accountable. Change:

"It is not my job," to "I'll take care of it."

"I don't know what goes on around here," to "I'll find out."

"I have no idea," to "I'm going to get that information for you."

"I don't handle that," to "Let me find someone to help you."

"I'm sorry that the job will be late because we are really busy," to "We are really busy, but I'm going to make sure that your job will be done on time."

"That's impossible," to "Let me look into that and call you back."

The mindset of accountability must start at the top. Employees want to see their supervisors and mangers taking responsibility and then they will learn that they must be accountable too. If they see their superiors taking time off when things are busy, or evading extra effort, they will slack off too. Yet people must WANT to be more productive because if they are forced to put in more time and effort, they will do it, but do it without performing at their peak. Even if they put in the extra hours, productivity will be low. If they hear their bosses always blaming others, they will build up defenses to deflect accountability and find ways to blame others themselves.

No one likes to work in a dead end job. Accountability opens the door to responsibility and pride in one's work.

Previous columns:

• Coaching tips for managers, 05-13-1998
• Client relations: Begin at the beginning, 03-11-1998
• When you run out of gas, 02-11-1998
• Working for the public sector, 01-14-1998
• 1998: Time to consolidate, 12-10-1997
• It's the little things that count, 11-12-1997
• Dealing with the difficult person, 08-13-1997
• Searching for the time to add value, 07-09-1997