Alan Dobzinski
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Accountability Expert
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Step Away From It All and Watch What Happens
In my last article, "Have You Uncovered Your Theme for 2013?" I gave you six steps you can take to uncover your theme for the year ahead. You can take these steps as an individual and also as a company or team. Let me tell you about something very powerful that happened to me just a few weeks ago, while creating my own theme for 2013.
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Less Stress With KAP's - Key Accountability Points
Have you heard the expression that "life is a journey, not a destination"? Well, when it comes to setting goals for your organization life is a journey on the way to a destination. Destination goals (such as revenue and staffing targets and other specific outcomes) are important, but you're not going to reach them without specific stepping stones. Journey goals (such as improving your leadership skills and relationships) are those steps that will get you there.
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Are You an NG? What May Be Natural to You Is a Stumbling Block to Some of Your People
Many leaders experience an accountability gap between what they want/expect to happen and what their people actually deliver. One way to close this gap is to recognize whether you as a leader are an NG. NG stands for "natural guy/gal" and it's someone who gets things done without knowing exactly how they've done it. You're a natural, drawing on pure instinct and ability. You've never thought much about how you do things, because you've never had to. You rarely or never get stuck or feel confused about what to do next.
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Have You Uncovered Your Theme For 2013?
As we enter into the new year it's an excellent time to reflect on where you've been and where you're going. I recently went through this process with two different firms when I facilitated their offsite retreats. They had both asked me to help them create a theme for this year. For one of the companies, it was a matter of revisiting an older strategic plan they were already happy with, but had put on the back burner when the economic landscape changed. Their theme became "Resetting the Plan in 2013."
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Asking Gets Better Results
Do these statements sound familiar? "I tell my people what to do, they don't do it and I don't understand why." "If only my people would be accountable and do what I tell them." I've heard this in conversation after conversation, the problem is "telling" does not help create much of an accountable culture... "asking" does!
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Accountability: Lessons From a Baseball Coach
I don't remember his real name but I do remember that he had a big laugh and a huge passion for baseball and for kids. Maybe he was a house painter, or a plumber, or a bus driver. I don't know what he did when he wasn't with us. All I knew - and all I cared about - was that when someone asked for a volunteer to coach a group of eight year old boys, a big man with a big laugh stepped forward. We called him Mr. G. Mr. G. inspired me. He was the kind of person who would have made a great managing partner or CEO.
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What's the Difference Between Empowering and Enabling?
As a leader in your business, your job is to help each team member take personal responsibility for his or her behaviors, actions and results. Your responsibility is to guide and assist them in working toward their professional goals, and to help them eliminate the barriers to achieving those goals. You're there to empower them. You're not there to do it for them. The essence of my approach is empowerment. To empower is to give people power and authority, or remind them of their power and authority.
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5 Principles to Shift From Enabling to Empowering
In my last article, "What's the Difference betwee Empowering and Enabling?" we laid out the story of "Jeff" and the line at his door, everyday. And, everyday, Jeff was working until way into the evening while his people left at 5 or 5:30 and waved goodbye to Jeff. Imagine how that must feel?
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Kindness Works. Caring Pays Off. Love Becomes Profitable.
What's the opposite of command and control leadership? Caring. We're talking about simple human caring, and it's something all your people need if they're going to achieve the goals you want them to achieve. In a Fast Company article ("The CEO's New Clothes"), Linda Tischler maintains that Morgan Stanley's Philip Purcell, Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina, and Disney's Michael Eisner all lost their jobs because their management styles tripped them up. But not because of the ostensible reasons of "failed strategies, shareholder lawsuits, and missed earnings."
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Accountability Issues? Leave It, Change It or Accept It
I recently came across the phrase, "Leave it, change it or accept it," and I've been using it successfully with my clients ever since. Let me tell you, I really get people's attention when I bring this up. In any situation in life, any situation, you always have three choices: 1. You can leave it. Get out. Walk away. Let it go. 2. You can change it. The catch? You can only change what's in your control. 3. You can accept it. Unconditionally. As it is. It's a simple choice, but not necessarily easy to implement. Each choice will have its own set of consequences.
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Accountability Is As Easy As One-Two-Three
Why is it so difficult to hold people accountable for their results in today's workplace? Because it requires follow-through and tough talk. Confrontation can be challenging, and some leaders avoid it at all costs. And it could be costing you plenty - in lost revenue, high turnover and people problems. With most hard-to-have conversations, it's the anticipation that gets you. You may worry about it all night, maybe even lose some sleep. Your mouth may feel dry as the person approaches. You may need to clear your throat a few times.
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Blasting the Barriers to Accountability
Scheduling regular accountability meetings is an important tool for helping your people meet their business development goals and ensuring perpetual results for your firm. To make the most of these meetings, I suggest a step-by-step process called the C.L.E.A.R. Accountability Meeting Model, which is part of the Get More Clients NOW and ForeverTM program. Let's recap the first two elements of the model: C - Clarify goals for the accountability meeting - Key question: "What's on your mind?"
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