Every success rests on mutual accountability. There are no exceptions of which I am aware.

Yet few organizations see and position accountability as a clear goal. It’s probably because it’s easy to talk about accountability but it’s difficult to execute, particularly in challenging situations.

A friend of mine runs a mid-sized company and is struggling with a $1 million+ overage in this year’s administrative budget. So he sent me an analysis and action plan on the problem.

To keep the story short, I’ll say the slides were filled with numbers, charts and particulars – specific people and projects to be reduced and scenarios of each. After a long description of the process which has already consumed a month’s time, I asked:

“What’s the desired outcome?”

He said, “Get back to budget by year end, or at least closer to it.”

I said, “Then why not just ask your team to adjust their budgets and give them an incentive to do so?”

He argued that there are many, many issues that surround the problem that I don’t fully understand.

“There always are,” I said, “but until you set a goal that everyone buys into, and the reward for reaching the goal, both collectively and individually, you will be the only person held accountable for the results. Your team gets to keep the ball in your court, and you own both the problem, solution, and the outcome.”

Over time I’ve found the most difficult things to do are the simplest. Such is the case with setting goals for ourselves and our associates, then staying accountable to each other. I now know that any high-functioning team requires that all team members be held equally responsible, not just the boss.

For years, until I got tired of hitting my head against that wall, I would assign problems to my associates and then help them solve them. And it was a very frustrating and time-consuming illusion I felt I was coaching. I wasn’t. I was enabling. Are you?

Peace,
Tim