by Dan Silver
Jason and Howard run a successful
advertising firm. As founding partners, they each lead a division of the
company. One delivers products, the other provides services. In theory,
these divisions do not compete with one another. Yet despite rapid
growth and a growing client list, a steady stream of internal battles
and conflicts point to a big problem neither founder can quite put their
finger on.
The symptoms: Neither division cooperates with the other. Multi-level
silos have emerged and are competing for scarce resources. Tales of
back-room maneuverings have become legendary. Redundancies have
multiplied, with each group using proprietary databases that do not
communicate with each other, thus driving up unsustainable costs.
Turnover is common on both sides and morale is low.
For Jason and Howard, this awareness comes at a difficult time, as the
market is shifting and harmonious collaboration between divisions is
crucial to the success of the firm going forward.
After conducting a Team Effectiveness Inventory® among the senior
managers, they discovered that fingers were pointing in every direction.
A sampling of comments included:
“Clearly, senior management has set a very negative tone.”
“We point the way, but middle management drives the train.”
“The staff members are constantly complaining about trivial issues which is drawing our attention away from the big issues.”
Nowhere did Jason or Howard detect personal or group accountability for the internal issues that plagued the firm.
The Co-Creation of
Culture
This is not at all uncommon. No matter what the rank, employees often
see themselves as the passive recipients of culture, heroically laboring
under the oppressive unwritten rules and customs established long before
their time…A culture created by… other people. Such an environment often
elevates office politics, silo building, and petty personal rivalries
over the primary purpose of employment, which is to deliver maximum
results. When viewed through a different lens however, an alternative
picture can emerge: Each of us co-creates culture every day. We’re
all accountable.
“Accountability” is a charged word. When was the last time you hit a
project out of the park and were held accountable for it? For
most, accountability is synonymous with consequence, the
unpleasant outcome of something having gone wrong. This is a shame,
because stepping up to accountability increases trust,
confidence, morale, effectiveness, results, and pride.
A terrific definition
of Accountability by Connors Smith & Hickman is as follows: “A personal
choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership
necessary to achieve desired results.” Accountability in this context is
about realizing one’s power through choice, ownership, and action.
Helplessness and fear need not apply.
Stepping Up & Stepping Back
A simple way of looking at the accountability choices we make can fall
under two categories: Stepping Up and Stepping Back.
Stepping Up has three core components that requires each person to:
Perceive
-
Request, offer, and invite empowering feedback and assistance
-
Engage in candid conversations with skill and respect
-
Honestly identify your role in the situation
Commit
Create alignment between individual work and company goals
Adapt behaviors based on feedback
Consistently ask, “How can I do better?”
Act
-
Brainstorm around obstacles with others
-
Build action plan
-
Execute for results
Examples of Stepping Back behaviors, include:
-
Denial
-
Refusing to acknowledge the existence of major problems
-
Not my job
-
Protecting yourself by limiting accountability as narrowly as possible
-
Scapegoating
-
Pointing fingers to avoid responsibility
-
Bewilderment
-
Professing a lack of clarity as to what was expected
Stepping Up Leads to
Success
For Jason and Howard, leading the company through this period of turmoil
meant requesting candid feedback about how their management styles and
decisions contributed to the situation. This first step took courage,
humility, and patience as the feedback received pointed to numerous
blind spots that prompted many Stepping Back thoughts and
conversations between the two partners.
Once the initial shock and defensiveness faded, however, a revised
self-perception emerged. The founders decided upon concrete steps they
would take to improve communication, alignment, and cooperation between
themselves. These commitments were then published throughout the company
and acted upon within the stated time frame. Jason and Howard were
Stepping Up.
Surprised and inspired by top management’s forthright response to
difficult feedback, both divisions initiated a series of joint meetings
at multiple levels to hash out their differences. The core issue was not
difficult to identify: Both sides believed that the success of one
department typically meant a set-back to the other. To the victor went
the spoils, more resources and initiatives. This led to intense
competition for budget, talent, and “visibility” with senior management.
Both sides kept score as if the real competition, their competitors in
the marketplace, were secondary. As the company enjoyed rapid growth,
long running disputes, resentments, and back-room politics remained
camouflaged by the overall success of the firm. Eventually, however, the
dysfunctional cracks emerged as market demands required both divisions
to pool their resources and talents. Simmering resentments boiled over
and clients paid the price through poor service and mixed messages from
different corners of the company.
The key behavioral change, reluctantly agreed to by all, amounted to a
simple commitment: Take risks with each other. Both sides agreed to take
risks in order to build trust that win/win solutions would be the
default mind-set no matter which side was involved in a project. Over
the course of several months and guided by the growing awareness that
company culture was theirs to create, entrenched pessimism gave way to a
spirit of collective focus and accountability. Turnover declined and
best-practice sharing both reduced redundancies and unleashed profitable
joint initiatives that neither founder could have predicted. Although
setbacks were frequent and some employees decided to leave, within 16
months the firm announced significant market gains and a second Team
Effectiveness Survey revealed dramatically improved morale.
By embracing both personal and collective accountability, these
employees and management teams took culture into their own hands and
created the environment they wanted to work in. As collective
accountability increased so did trust, teamwork, and profits.
Accountability became a rallying cry, not a consequence to be feared.
In our own work lives we have the opportunity each day to co-create the
culture we work in. Whether we Step Up or Step Back, the
daily choice is ours to make. To occasionally Step Back is both
normal and human. Choosing to Step Up signifies the awareness
that we are not merely victims of circumstance, that there’s always a
personal choice to be made. And our choices may very well inspire others
to do the same, for better or worse. That’s how culture gets created.
Dan Silver is the Director of Leadership Development at Team Builders Plus, in Cherry Hill, NJ. Dan has extensive experience guiding organizations through senior developmental initiatives including: building greater accountability into corporate culture, leading change, effective communication through behavioral style awareness, and interview coaching. To learn more about the programs offered by Team Builders Plus email Dan Silver or call 856.596.4196 ext. 207.
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