Jerry's Blog

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?

On a flight Tuesday I was reading the chapter on formal presentations in Ford Harding’s book - Rain Making when I came across the section entitled “How you say it is as important as what you say.” The example that Ford uses is the three words “Oh, it’s you.” He shows how those three words can communicate many very different messages depending on the tone, volume, pitch and other verbal and non-verbal inflections used.

This reminded me of an episode that occurred with a client several years ago. I was working with one of our teams at a call center down in Central America. The department in question handled service calls for a US computer manufacturer. I was listening in on calls with a Quality Control Coach, a local, who was to give feedback to the rep after the calls. The first call went something like this:

Rep: (Thick Latin American accent) “Welcome to ______ … How can I help you today?”

Caller: “Oh great! a foreign call center” (heavy sarcasm in voice).

QC Coach: (writing notes) “Customer happy that the call center is not in US.”

Caller: “I just got this fantastic piece of crap from you last week and the hard drive is already toast.” (not sounding like a very happy customer at all)

QC Coach: (Writing notes) “Customer said the computer was ‘fantastic’, but having trouble with hard drive.

Rep: “Thank you for saying our computers are fantastic, but I am not sure what you mean by ‘toast’. Do you mean that the hard drive is not working?”

Caller: “Boy you’re quick! Yeahhh, that’s what I mean. T H E   H A R D  D R I V E  I S  N O T  W O R R K K K I N G!! (spoken very slowly and emphatically)”

QC Coach: “Customer being very helpful, speaking very clearly and slowly so we can help him better.”

…call went on for a while with both sides struggling to understand what the other was saying. In the end,  a service tech was dispatched to replace the hard drive…

Rep: “Thank you for being a customer and we are sorry you had this problem. Have we resolved your problem at this time?”

Caller: “Yeah, great #$% help you’ve been. I wish all companies used @#$% foreigners. Makes things so much &^*% fun.” (Sarcasm dripping from every syllable).

QC Coach: (Still taking notes) “Customer very satisfied with service. Wished that more US companies used us.”

The point of this story is two fold:

1. Ford is absolutely right in his point that how you say things are just as important as what you say. Especially when setting expectations with your employees. How you say things can convey sense of urgency or a lack there of, as well as many other things.
2. Understand who your audience is. People from a different cultural background may not understand your verbal inflections, such as sarcasm, and non-verbal expressions. So when you use tone and pitch to convey a certain meaning to your words, make sure that the audience will get it.

Just what the world needs - Another consultant who thinks he has something new to say.

I’m sure that nothing I have to say is new by any means. And I won’t pretend in these posts that I know any more than any other management consultant and the truth is that I probably know a lot less than many. But I also know that the messages that I plan to address need to be said again and again until people get it. Especially people who run our corporations, governments, non-profits, and all other organizations. Organizations exist to accomplish things. Corporations exist to make a profit for its shareholders. Governments exist to serve the needs and to carry out the desires of its constituents. This blog addresses the need for organizations to strive for excellence in the execution of its charter. We will delve into organzational issues such as: organizational culture, fear of change, accountability, performance management, and many other topics… Just as soon as I can figure out where to start!

Until then…lets just go out and execute with excellence.

Jerry