Accountability
Harry S. Truman, the US President, famously had a sign on his desk in the Oval Office which read: ‘The buck stops here’. It was a clear statement that he was accountable for all the actions which his government took whilst he was in office.
The question is whether such accountability still holds true today for not just politicians but also business leaders and managers.
The reason why this question is important is that it goes right to the heart of how a company is organised and how it is run: in other words, its governance.
As companies change their working patterns whether it is working from home or moving to flatter structures, the allocation of accountability becomes more important, more pronounced.
Much has been written about how ‘empowering’ employees and delegating more authority to trusted individuals is important. This also means that accountability must be delegated and spread more widely. This is all good management practice but what happens when things go wrong?
People who are not accountable are quick to complain but slow to act: excuses are the norm.
How many times have you heard statements like: ‘It is not my job” or ‘I was told to do it’ or ‘My actions will not make any difference’ and in these modern times “the computer says no”. These are common in organisations which are hierarchical and where accountability and authority is diluted or confused.
Perhaps the other feature of such organisations is that accountability is pushed back and upwards all the way to the CEO. As a result, he or she becomes a stressed and careworn individual.
Do not become a senior executive who allows this to happen. Make sure your managers understand what they are accountable for: otherwise, your job will become problematic.
In an organisation without clarity, almost everyone will lay claim to be associated with success. Most business people will be familiar with how a big deal landed or a new contract signed suddenly has many individual claimants to having won it. In one recent example, a junior finance manager was heard to say they ‘ran the IPO’ of a successful LSE flotation, wrongly assuming the audience had no knowledge of where the real work was done.
Claimants never come forward when the deal was lost, or the buyer walked away from signing. When things go wrong, people look for someone to blame; someone who needs to be made responsible for what happened. At the same time, many people in the organisation will try to make sure they are not the ones who are blamed.
Sounds familiar? That is because the media is full of stories of politicians and business leaders who appear to be blameworthy for reported errors, misdeeds, or even crimes, but will try very hard to not be blamed personally for what happened. A quick review of the Metropolitan Police in London, or Yorkshire Cricket Club, or the former CEO of Barclays Bank, or even the Parliamentary Standards process has revealed problems with accountability.
So how, as a senior executive or manager, do you create and drive accountability?
First, make executives responsible for their actions. If they wilfully commit a wrongful or illegal action, then they deserve a penalty. If they repeat a mistake, there should be repercussions. Unchecked accountability is a massive demotivating force for the wider organisation; the sales exec who consistently fails to make the numbers, the manager whose projects are always late.
Second, make the accountability visible to others, although perhaps not to everyone. It provides clarity to the functioning of the organisation. Areas of responsibility (and collective responsibility for that matter) are well defined as a result and people know where they stand in terms of doing the right thing.
Third, delegate as much as is reasonable. Organisations without effective accountability in its management structure will tend to default to the person at the top of the organisation, the CEO, who will be the only person accountable by default for everything that happens in the company. This is not a sustainable position for any senior executive. Allocate accountability in your organisation: do not let it just be you. Be careful of people delegating upwards to you too. If your team asks you to make a decision, make sure they’re not just simply avoiding taking ownership for it themselves – support them but make them own it.
Fourth, beware of using process-driven reasons, like compliance, as a way of swerving accountability. People can often recognise when something is wrong, but fail to point it out and instead hide behind “the process”. You should be robust enough to reject this kind of excuse. At a senior level, it’s your job, and theirs, to recognise truth and the spirit of the things, rather than following the letter of a process or rule to excuse poor output and decisions.
Finally, remember accountability needs to be both collective and individual. Instead of simply relying on joint incentive structures, stamp out “individual accountability” reasons for avoiding collective accountability and expect your team to support each other.
Harry S. Truman was also famous for the line: ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen’. The smart manager does not allow the kitchen to get too hot in the first place by making the right people accountable.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accountability-what-means-managers-now-thomas-peel/