“Build a Culture of Accountability: Five Ways to Enhance the Level of Accountability in Your Organizations” (Market Watch, August 18, 2008).
The headline might grab your attention, but the first paragraph is old, tired, hostage-oriented rhetoric: “Holding people accountable for results is the foundation of an organization's performance; it's management 101. Yet it appears there is a gap between knowing (this) and doing (this).”
This may be management 101, but it is an articulation of the problem, not a way to increase accountability.
The idea that we can hold other people accountable is a myth of gigantic proportion, and it is a serious impediment to business success. To think we can hold anyone but ourselves accountable denies a fundamental reality of human existence. Those we think we are “holding accountable” are deciding for themselves what to make of our demands:
They choose the appearance of compliance – appearing to be accountable while skating as close to the edge of non-compliance as possible. Outright insubordination may be too risky, but protest is at the heart of their action.
The headline might grab your attention, but the first paragraph is old, tired, hostage-oriented rhetoric: “Holding people accountable for results is the foundation of an organization's performance; it's management 101. Yet it appears there is a gap between knowing (this) and doing (this).”
This may be management 101, but it is an articulation of the problem, not a way to increase accountability.
The idea that we can hold other people accountable is a myth of gigantic proportion, and it is a serious impediment to business success. To think we can hold anyone but ourselves accountable denies a fundamental reality of human existence. Those we think we are “holding accountable” are deciding for themselves what to make of our demands:
They choose the appearance of compliance – appearing to be accountable while skating as close to the edge of non-compliance as possible. Outright insubordination may be too risky, but protest is at the heart of their action.