The Innovator’s Other Dilemma: Getting Accountability Right

This article was originally published by Training Magazine. See link below for full article. 

Many of us are familiar with the seminal work by Clayton Christensen on why even the best companies ultimately can fail. He describes this as the innovator’s dilemma, where a company’s successes and strengths actually can cause them to miss market opportunities and prevent them from catching the “disruptive technology” wave early enough to ensure long-term success. His book, The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, was described by The Economist as one of the six most important books about business ever written.

However, there is another dilemma facing organizations today, one that is equally fundamental to both long-term and short-term success. It’s the ability to get accountability right. In the effort to optimize performance and to improve execution, organizations are pushing for greater accountability, but are getting the reverse. In fact, it seems the harder they are working to get it, the worse it is becoming.

Almost every major study on organizational health today points to an epidemic of non-engagement and ineffective means being used to correct the problem. In fact, a recent Zogby International nationwide poll (the largest representative study of its kind in the United States) documented the extent to which corporate management uses accountability the wrong way.

Read full article at Training Magazine  – “The Innovator’s Other Dilemma: Getting Accountability Right”