Get Real

Get real, tell the truth, and face reality no matter how difficult it is to do. When companies demonstrate real commitment to getting to the truth throughout their organizations, they speed up business processes, cut through red tape, and deliver better results. By contrast, when organizations resist dealing with the truth, they bring positive accountability to a grinding halt, which eventually leads to undesired results. Of course, getting real is not easy, especially when doing so makes someone else look bad, involves personal risk, or requires extra effort. In the end, however, getting real will do more to move a project for­ward, produce results, and build accountability than perpetuating an illusion, no matter how well inten­tioned. Creating work environments where people settle for nothing less than the truth enables individuals and teams to recognize the reality of their situations and take accountability for delivering results now and in the future.

A well-known pharmaceutical company discontinued production of a small-usage specialty drug. Within weeks, a father whose daughter depended on the drug attempted to refill her prescription but discovered it was on back-order. Little did he know that production had been discontinued. Unable to obtain the drug, the increasingly distraught father wrote a letter to the president of the pharmaceutical company explaining his distress. The president, in turn, asked “Bill,” a senior executive, to follow up.

As Bill responded to the situation, he discovered that no one—including doctors, pharmacies, consumers, and employees—knew that the drug had been discontinued. So he found an available generic drug that could effectively replace his company’s product and communicated the information to a grateful father, who immediately went to the pharmacy. However, when he got there, the local pharmacist told him that the inactive ingredients in the generic drug differed from the discontinued drug. He told the father, “The generic drug will not serve as an acceptable substitution.”

After more communication with the now frantic father, Bill resolved to get to the truth. He contacted the manufacturer of the generic drug and, after several discussions, determined that the generic alterna­tive was in fact a perfectly suitable substitute. Bill called the father again to explain the science behind the generic drug and its suitability for his daughter’s condition. Then he called the local pharmacist to explain it to him as well. Finally, Bill put his organization to work preparing a letter for distribution to doctors and pharmacists throughout the nation detailing the suitability of the generic drug as a replacement for their discontinued drug. A less accountable person in a less accountable culture might have simply told the father, “We have discontinued the product. You’ll need to work with your doctor to find a suitable alternative.” Instead, Bill got real.

To learn how to create a Culture Of Accountability where people get real on a daily basis, we invite you to join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review actual client case studies.

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