Taking Accountability For Culture Change
Article | Accountability Insights
Greater accountability accelerates and facilitates culture change. Unfortunately, many organizations suffer from a crisis of accountability, which makes culture change much more difficult and prolonged. Making matters worse in such accountability-crisis situations, leaders often use outdated command and control approaches to demand greater accountability without ever engaging their people.
The only way to engage people in taking greater accountability is to give them a real choice: Do they want to work Above The Line or Below The Line going forward? Giving people this choice requires painting a picture of accountability—i.e., giving them a framework and context for making an informed choice. Here’s how we paint the picture: Above The Line are the Steps To Accountability, to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do It. Below that line is the all-too familiar blame game or victim cycle. People who consistently adhere to the Steps To Accountability almost always think and act in ways that are accountable. People who fail to take these steps get stuck in The Blame Game, feeling victimized by circumstances that seem outside their control.
Adding further detail to the picture of choice and accountability, people who are habitually Below The Line do not get desired results. They grow increasingly frustrated and paralyzed in their progress, and they almost never feel fulfilled in their work. Their organizations, their teams, and their own careers inevitably falter. On the other hand, people who live Above The Line accept the fact that they are, and must be, part of the solution. They focus on what they can do, rather than on what they cannot do to get results. They look for creative ways to deal with obstacles, viewing them as opportunities to make a difference rather than as excuses for failure. Above The Line, people move forward, get results, and feel satisfied in their work. In short, they prosper along with their teams and their organizations.
Be sure to point out that it’s not wrong to go Below The Line—it’s human nature. We all do it, more often than we realize. However, if we get stuck Below The Line, we become more focused on what we cannot do than on what we can do. We set our sights on the obstacles we face, rather than on the actions we can take to overcome those obstacles and achieve the results we want. When people in organizations move Above The Line, they can more quickly and easily change their culture—and thereby deliver sustainable results in an ever-changing business environment.
To learn more about how greater accountability can speed up and strengthen culture change in your organization, join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review the accounts of organizations that have actually done it.
Above The Line, Below The Line, Steps To Accountability, See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It, and Accountability Community are all registered trademarks of Partners In Leadership, Inc.
Greater accountability accelerates and facilitates culture change. Unfortunately, many organizations suffer from a crisis of accountability, which makes culture change much more difficult and prolonged. Making matters worse in such accountability-crisis situations, leaders often use outdated command and control approaches to demand greater accountability without ever engaging their people.
The only way to engage people in taking greater accountability is to give them a real choice: Do they want to work Above The Line or Below The Line going forward? Giving people this choice requires painting a picture of accountability—i.e., giving them a framework and context for making an informed choice. Here’s how we paint the picture: Above The Line are the Steps To Accountability, to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do It. Below that line is the all-too familiar blame game or victim cycle. People who consistently adhere to the Steps To Accountability almost always think and act in ways that are accountable. People who fail to take these steps get stuck in The Blame Game, feeling victimized by circumstances that seem outside their control.
Adding further detail to the picture of choice and accountability, people who are habitually Below The Line do not get desired results. They grow increasingly frustrated and paralyzed in their progress, and they almost never feel fulfilled in their work. Their organizations, their teams, and their own careers inevitably falter. On the other hand, people who live Above The Line accept the fact that they are, and must be, part of the solution. They focus on what they can do, rather than on what they cannot do to get results. They look for creative ways to deal with obstacles, viewing them as opportunities to make a difference rather than as excuses for failure. Above The Line, people move forward, get results, and feel satisfied in their work. In short, they prosper along with their teams and their organizations.
Be sure to point out that it’s not wrong to go Below The Line—it’s human nature. We all do it, more often than we realize. However, if we get stuck Below The Line, we become more focused on what we cannot do than on what we can do. We set our sights on the obstacles we face, rather than on the actions we can take to overcome those obstacles and achieve the results we want. When people in organizations move Above The Line, they can more quickly and easily change their culture—and thereby deliver sustainable results in an ever-changing business environment.
To learn more about how greater accountability can speed up and strengthen culture change in your organization, join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review the accounts of organizations that have actually done it.
Above The Line, Below The Line, Steps To Accountability, See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It, and Accountability Community are all registered trademarks of Partners In Leadership, Inc.