Bill Harrison - Leaders Believe In Accountability

Leaders

Posted: Thursday, September 30, 2021
By: Gillespie Electric, Inc.
Categories: Construction News

Leaders Believe In Accountability

Because this is a very important topic, I will be covering it for the next one or two months. We should go as in-depth as possible on this subject because it is one that is very critical to the true leader. This is the keystone to leadership and one of the leader’s greatest challenges.

Do they still have teeter-totters at school yards anymore? If you don’t remember them look it up on the internet. On one end is accountability and on the other end is responsibility. They must work in tandem or neither one can exist. We shall tackle the subject of responsibility in this newsletter.

If we are going to hold folks responsible, we need to know responsible for what – exactly. The key is that the person being held responsible must know in crystal clear terms what they are being accountable for.

“I know Coach, we will just create job descriptions.” Wrong. A major myth in business is that if we create something on paper, we have solved the problem. Let’s be honest, how many things do you have in writing that aren’t actually being followed consistently by everyone. Isn’t that what is causing most of your issues?

Getting it on paper is just the first step.

Whenever we are creating anything on paper, anything, we need those affected by the paper to be involved in the development process. A single person could start a draft, but that is all that it is. From that point on we need the right involvement to develop what goes on paper.

Once we have a final draft then we need to field test what is on paper. For 30-60-90 days or more depending how critical the written guidelines are. We must have a date certain when those involved get together and review the results of the field test. Then we can finalize the document,

Training, training, training

Then we must train everyone involved on what the paper means. Do you feel that one meeting should handle that? Your correct, it wall take several meetings before everyone “gets it”. After that we will have to have a few one-on-one meetings with certain folks to get things clear.

This applies to anything you put on paper. It could be a position description, a checklist, a procedure, an employee handbook, etc., etc., etc. “But it is just a minor change in a procedure, Coach”. Please reread this newsletter.

When we think we can take short cuts on certain things they always bite us in the backside. Trust me on this. Got any comment, let me know.

The Phoenix Leadership Institute, LLC

6200 Settlers Trail Place

Gainesville, VA 20155

Tel: 703-909-8230

e-mail: wiharrison@comcast.net

Tagged:Teamwork, Workforce Development