Removing Barriers

Taking accountability for removing any and all barriers that impede performance, creativity, communication, problem solving, and the achievement of key results is crucial to success in today’s business environment. Unfortunately, most people in organizations regularly encounter barriers that are difficult to overcome or eliminate. Why? Most people and organizations fail to take full accountability for removing such barriers.

Apple, Inc is one company that visibly demonstrates taking accountability for removing barriers— hence the company’s amazing, unprecedented $625 Billion in market value. Billions of apps have been downloaded from Apple’s revolutionary App Store by iPhone, iPad and iPod users worldwide. How do they keep it going? Apple removes barriers for developers, users, and their own employees everyday. Arguably, the App Store experience, like the Apple Store experience, is unlike anything else offered by competitors.

Like every other highly successful company in history, Apple illustrates how an organization can take accountability for not only achieving incredible results but also changing the world. iPhone, iPad and iPod customers are in more than 80 countries worldwide and can choose from an incredible range of apps in many different categories, including entertainment, business, medical, news, sports, health, reference and travel. With tools like iOS SDK, Apple allows millions of independent app developers to start developing applications for iPad, iPhone, and iPod immediately. To continually remove barriers, the company’s Dev Center provides a wealth of resources including videos, sample code, technical documentation, Apple Developer Forums, and more. Of course, there are hundreds of inspiring App Developer stories easily accessible online. Removing barriers for customers, independent developers, employees, and all other stakeholders is crucial to sustaining high levels of performance and success at Apple.

Never let your stakeholders experience frustration, anger, or disengagement over organizational barriers—whenever they do, it is a clear sign that some of your organization’s rules, policies, procedures, processes or systems have become hindrances, rather than facilitators, to achieving the organization’s desired results. To learn more about how to take greater accountability for removing barriers in your organization, join our Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review the accounts of actual people and organizations.

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