Most managers and politicians do not understand the difference between accountability and responsibility. Responsibility merely points out the person who is to be held responsible for failure or success. It is often set in place to be able to find blame rather than to be able to ensure that the system or process works as intended. Accountability on the other hand is all about what was or was not done to achieve goals or objectives. It focuses on the system or process.
Under a system of accountability, the person who is responsible for the goals and objectives give an account of his/her actions in the pursuit of those goals and objectives. Effective accountability requires a strong sense of purpose coupled with dialogue and negotiation between the person who will be accountable and his/her manager(s).
Defining Sense of Purpose
Purpose must be derived from the shared vision of the organization and from the obligations of the organization and its managers to the stakeholders of that organization.. The vision defines what is possible and what the leadership of the organization would like to accomplish. The obligations define the mission of the organization. The two must work together along with the value system of the organization. Without one or more of these three key elements, the system can not function properly nor can it achieve it’s potential.
Too often, organizations rely on a committee or even a consultant to write a vision for them that sound good and has all of the platitudes that someone in management thinks will impress their clients. I once worked with a president of a company who loved to make a big point of the company’s vision to clients. One of the lines in the vision statement was: “Realizing that our employees are our most important asset…” The trouble was that this company was a service company providing consultants to clients. It’s model required a high rate of chargeability for each of those consultants. If a consultant was not working on chargeable work for two weeks, they were laid off. Their employees were definitely NOT their most important asset, or they would have done more to ensure that they stayed with the organization.
A vision must come from senior management and be communicated to the entire organization. In addition for it to become a shared vision, employees must enroll in that vision rather than “Buy In” to it. “Buy-in” involves coercion and the employees will not be as committed to it as they would be if they enrolled in the vision. Enrollment is a choice based on the idea that there is something for the employee in the vision. Unless the employees are committed to carrying out the vision, it will fail to provide the desired results. Not only must the employees be committed to the vision, they must remain committed over time and this will only occur if they see tangible results from that commitment.
The second element of a sense of purpose is the mission statement. For accountability that mission statement must be based on the obligations that the company and its employees have to the stakeholders of that organization. The first obligation that an organization has is to survive and grow in order to continue to meet the various needs of those stakeholders. Next the organization has an obligation to perform certain types of work, this define what it does to ensure it’s survival. The third step is to define what its products are that it will apply the essential work to. The next obligation defines the market where the products will be made available to customers and finally the organization must define the territory where the product will be marketed. A mission statement based upon these obligations provides the direction and allows the employees to see the benefits to themselves of enrolling in the vision of the organization’s leaders,
The sense of purpose provides the overall direction for each employee. It also provide the framework upon which managers and supervisors at all levels can define the specific work that they will become accountable for.
Negotiating Accountability
Knowing what is required of you is not sufficient to ensure the attainment of goals and objective. These goals and objectives must be realistic and both the manager and his/her boss must have a clear cut idea of what can and can not be accomplished. The boss must state what he/she needs to have accomplished and the manager must determine what he/she can realistically perform. They have to come to an agreement on the activities that the manager will undertake in pursuit of those goals and objectives. It is this agreement that provides the foundation of the accountability system. At periodic intervals, the two can meet and the manager can give account for what was or was not done according to their agreement to accomplish the desired goals and objectives
Applying Accountability
An effective accountability program requires integration of all goals and objectives and that they stem from the vision and mission statement. They must cascade down from the obligations definitions into every department of the organization. The linkage must be clear and obvious to all.
In many organizations that use management by objectives, there is not a clear cut linkage. Many managers create objectives to ensure they get their bonus at the end of the year. These objectives may or may not reflect those of their boss, they play it safe and do what they think they can do regardless of whether or not their objectives are tied to corporate strategy. It is at this point that accountability begins to break down.
It is not uncommon for a manager to have 60% of his/her objectives accomplished by the time they write their objectives for the year, They “coast” with the remaining 40%. Upper management then takes these objectives and develops their plans and budgets for the year. They have it backwards, they must start with effective strategic plans based upon the Vision and Mission of the organization. These plans then are broken down into tactical plans related to what needs to be accomplished by the various departments and individuals which should drive the goals and objectives.
This approach lays the foundation upon which the dialogue and negations upon which effective accountability is based. Any deficiency in this system will result in an ineffective accountability system.
Tags: Accountability, Management
