What Else Can I Do To Achieve Results?

In an accountable culture, people consistently assume personal accountability for their circumstances and regularly over­come obstacles by asking one question: “What else can I do to achieve the desired results?” This simple question is one of the best solutions to problems of unmet expectations and unachieved results because it puts those who ask it in the right mindset for resolving issues—helping them become much more resourceful and diligent in searching for new ways to move forward and achieve the desired results.

Consider, for a moment, how two strong competitors recently addressed a pesky issue: the number of overcharged customers—defined as charging the customer more at the register than the price in an advertisement, on the shelf, or on the item itself. For one competitor, the number of overcharged customers had increased dramatically in recent years. By contrast, the other competitor had only one tenth as many overcharged customers during the same time period. However, both companies continued to be strong performers. So, what was the difference between these two companies?

Apparently, accountability for pricing accuracy had not been established for one of them. Or, stated another way, one competitor had assumed a greater level of accountability for pricing accuracy than the other, which wasn’t a major issue, until customers started switching from one competitor to the other because of it. In response, the competitor that was overcharging customers ten times as often as its rival, took immediate and decisive action by asking, “What else can we do to reduce the number of overcharged customers?” Within a matter of weeks, the disparity between the two competitors—in terms of number of overcharged customers—had all but disappeared.

A Culture of Accountability is always created when people—on a team, in a department, in a division, or in an entire company—consistently ask “What else can I do to achieve the desired results?” And when they do, the result is always the same—key issues get resolved, performance improves, motivation soars, and ownership for achieving results grows ever stronger.