ACCOUNTABILITY 101: Installment #1 The Accountability End Game: A Culture of Owners, Not Renters

Alex is a nice young man. He does good (but not great) work as a case manager. In other areas, his performance is pretty uneven. He is regularly tardy; calls in “sick” frequently and at the last minute; and has a habit of taking extended lunches and breaks. Others have noticed this pattern. Some, including his boss, Jerry, look the other way, because he’s such a nice guy.

Most of us know someone like this.  They “phone it in,” and drive the rest of us crazy because everyone else is left picking up the pieces to make sure his work gets done.  We would all rather work with someone like this:

Karen is an administrative assistant. As she and I walked together through her department, she stopped frequently to give directions to several lost clients. She picked up trash, straightened up chairs, and greeted her colleagues across the organization by name. I just knew she was a joy to work with, making sure her work was done well and, at the same time, helping others so that everyone around her was successful.

What’s the difference?  Karen is engaged, cares about her work, her teammates, everything about what she does. Alex, not so much.

 Karen is “leading from her seat,” an expression from the inaugural volume of my Everyday Leadership Series. Take the Lead, which means she has taken on the responsibility to be the very best administrative assistant she can be.  She is admired, listened to, and her coworkers accept her help. She gets the long-term vision of what it might be like if we all showed up as our best selves each day. And she also intrinsically operates from something even more fundamental. She understands what it means to be an owner!

Several years ago, I was facilitating an educational program when someone asked me a question about how you get someone to be fully accountable for their work. Instead of answering her outright, I asked her this provocative question: What’s the difference between someone who owns their home and rents it?

This analogy is not intended as a “put down” to owners, renters or landlords. I have owned my own home, rented my home, and I have been a landlord, and I sincerely believe that an owner has a different attitude or mindset about their home than someone who is renting. (Do you agree with me?) 

Here are some of the sentiments that I think owners often have:

“I’m proud of my property! The way that I maintain and enhance this home is a reflection on me”

“Everything that I do creates more value in the property.”

“If something needs attention, it’s on me to get that done.”

“I’m in this for the long haul.”

And these are some of the ways that renters may think:

“I’ll do what I’m obligated to do in my renter’s agreement (contract), but not a whole lot more.”

“I’m not going to live here forever, so I’m not going to improve things too much. After all, what would I get out of it?”

“If something goes wrong, I’m not responsible. It’s the owners’ problem to handle. I have his number programmed into my phone.”

It’s not hard to see where I’m going with this.  Working in the “same-old same-old” pattern of boss/employee creates a culture of renters. A person taking responsibility not only for their own position but for the overall well-being of entire organization is an owner.

Let’s revisit the two people with whom I started this post.  Karen, the conscientious administrative assistant “owns” her work.  Alex, the case manager, is a renter and unfortunately a fairly poor one at that. Alex is just doing his j-o-b so he can get his paycheck. He’s unhappy, and it shows. Karen gets that leading from your seat, coaching others around you and achieving full throttle engagement is the power and freedom that comes from

being an ‘owner’ of the organization.

What she does every day at work is more than a “j-o-b”: it fulfills her, she has purpose, and she elevates those around her as well.

This analogy should be pretty obvious. It’s the foundational idea of workplace accountability. At its core, a fully accountable culture is full of owners rather than renters!

To be continued…. Look for our next post, The Self-Employed Mindset!

If you're interested in developing a culture of owners within YOUR organization, my latest book, Own It!, is a great place to start.   Own It!  and it's predecessor, Take The Lead are both available for purchase on the Vantage International website.   

Click here to order a copy of Own It! today

Are you an OWNER or a RENTER?

That’s the provocative question that each of us must answer as, together, we roll up our sleeves and take on one of the toughest yet potentially most influential issues in our workplace today – Accountability.

Before I answer the question, let’s use the analogy of home ownership to tee up the conversation with a slightly altered version of that question. Does someone who owns their home think about it talk about it and behave toward it differently than those who are renting the property? My answer is YES!

Here are some of the sentiments that owners might have:

  µ  “I’m proud of my property. After all, it’s a reflection of me.”

  µ  “I’m in this for the long haul.”

  µ  “If something needs fixing, It’s on me to get that done.”

And here are some of the ways that most renters think;

  µ  “I’m not going to live here for too long so I’m not going to improve things too much.         After all, wat would I get out of it?”

  µ  “If something goes wrong, I’m not responsible. It’s the owner’s problem to solve.”

It’s not too hard to see where I’m going with this, is it? Team members who ‘phone it in’ each day, hold onto ‘same old same old thoughts and actions, make excuses and blame others are renters. A team member showing up as the best version of themselves each day, ready to be better and different, offering suggestions for improvement and understanding how their seemingly modest contribution adds to the success of the whole organization; well, that person is an owner!

Think about it…ownership isn’t a passive experience; it’s an active, intentional one! Owners participate instead of spectate. Each of us can ‘take ownership’ no matter what our position in the organization. And not only on our ‘good days’ – but moment by moment each day, regardless of the circumstances, the people involved, our mood or the weather.

At its core, an accountability-rich culture is full of owners rather than renters!

Accountability-rich organizations are defined by the willingness & ability of almost everyone to …

own their thoughts & emotions

own their reactions

own their behaviors

own their words

own their attitude & mindset

own their professional growth

own their mistakes/problems/solutions

In other words, they own the moment!

So, back to our original question: Are you an owner or a renter? I’ve chosen to be an owner. How about you?

Kick-start your journey to accountability - grab a copy of Leta's latest book, Own It, and it's accompanying Accountability Credo poster on Leta's website!  

CLICK HERE TO OWN IT!

A Conspiracy of Goodness at Work

The first time that I came across this power phrase—a conspiracy of goodness—was in a story about a small French mountain village, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. During World War II, the entire town took the great risk to quietly shelter five-thousand Jews during the Nazi occupation of France. They were ordinary people, often poverty stricken themselves, doing the right thing day in and day out, not for days but for years! Not one person broke the commitment. And not one Jewish person was lost. It is said that these were a very solid, independent and simple people who ‘acted without agonizing instead of agonized without acting.’
’
Now, admittedly, the work of everyday leadership may not rise to this same magnitude or consequence; but that doesn’t mean that it is any less worthy. We too must be courageous and tenacious. And we must be committed to taking action and doing the right thing, not only when it’s easy or a ‘good hair’ day for us, but rather, day in and day out for the longer term.

What would a conspiracy of goodness look like and feel like at work? For me, it’s all about coming together and co-creating a virtuous cycle instead of the vicious cycle with which we’re more familiar. Here are some everyday ideas to kick start your thinking:

• All of us would choose to show up as capable adults at work and do the right thing throughout the day. Even when others make a different choice. That’s my express definition for accountability.
• We would all choose to be constructive rather than destructive in our relationships.
• We would all make and keep our commitment to be a good influence on our team culture and its performance.
• We would all take the risk of standing up to bullying and intolerance.
• We would all welcome new team members and help them to more easily fit in and belong.
• We would all do these kinds of things unconditionally; without expecting something in return. We would do this because we realize that doing the right thing is its own reward.
• We would all regularly discuss ‘doing the right thing’ and decide together what exactly that is in different situations.
• We would all work together to co-create a sense of goodness within our team.

And the list could go on…..

Can we actually unite, make plans and then with unswerving resolve, work collaboratively to bring about a really good result? Think about it, we probably do it in small bursts today and don’t give ourselves nearly enough credit. What if we played big and thought about it on a larger scale??


Leadership Dare

* If you find the idea of a conspiracy of goodness as intriguing as I did, then learn something more about its origins!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Chambon-sur-Lignon

* Identify what you can do to rally your team mates together and co-create a conspiracy of goodness on your team.

A LEADERSHIP LESSON FROM MARS

I saw the movie, The Martian, shortly after its 2015 release. At the time, I thought that it was a good but not great movie. Matt Damon stars as astronaut Mark Watney on a mission to Mars. (I feel obliged to call a Spoiler Alert here. I’m about to reveal important details of the plot). He’s stranded on Mars alone when his team mates leave for the return trip to earth. He’s rescued and returns heroically to earth. And he continues his career on earth as an instructor in the Astronaut Candidate Program.

I saw the movie again recently and I still don’t think it’s going to win any awards. But… what did catch my attention was both the quantity and quality of memorable leadership moments that are tucked into this two hour film. There are the obvious ones about perseverance, resilience and MacGyver-esque innovation. All worthy topics.

But my favorite leadership lesson came at the very end of the movie, when Mark Watney gave the new class of astronaut candidates a dose of reality based leadership as he described the most important take-away from his experience on Mars. Here’s what he said: “This is space; it does not cooperate. At some point, everything’s going to go south on you – everything! And you’re going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now, you can either accept that or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You solve one problem; one challenge; then you solve the next one. If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.” Simple. Powerful. Brilliant.

I think this leadership lesson applies directly to you and me as we face daily challenges in our work. Ditch the drama. Stop catastrophizing. Lighten up. Be a serial solution seeker. Repeat the next day.

The Power of One Liners

Comedians deliver them artfully and get big laughs. Singles use them to start a conversation and maybe a relationship. Advertisers use them to get you to buy stuff. And politicians rely on them to win your vote.

When it comes to coaching and teaching, one liners can also promote growth and learning; help us to sustain awareness and new habits and, perhaps most importantly, provide a simple way to pass along ideas and share knowledge (maybe even wisdom) with our colleagues. One of Vantage International’s clients fondly coined the phrase ‘Leta-isms’ to describe her favorite one liners from my own conversations and educational programs!!  

“We love to have you work with us.  We call your one liners "Leta-isms" in Library Land.”     Kathy

One liners are effective because they are:

• Easy to remember and repeat
• Memorable in some way – a unique way of thinking about something; humorous or entertaining; or just plain clever
• Worth remembering – they make a point 

  

Be aware that not all of my one liners are my original material. I’ve collected powerful phrases that have helped me to grow and achieve success over a decade on two; and I generously sprinkle them throughout my coaching conversations, public and private because they do the same for others.

Here is a list of the Vantage International team’s favorite ‘Leta-isms’:

• Own the moment!
• Be the best version of yourself each day!
• Big doors swing on small hinges.
• Know yourself to grow yourself.
• Lead from your seat.
• Be memorable in a good way each day.
• Don’t let anyone or anything dull your sparkle.
• Be better and different. 
• Reach for the stars and settle for the moon.
• Good is the enemy of great. (From Jim Collins)
• Practice leadership & followership every day.
• What you permit, you promote.
• Manage things…Coach people.

Now it’s your turn! What’s that one thought, one quote, one word or phrase that made a huge difference for your leadership trajectory? What’s your favorite one liner?

Re-member Your Team

EXPRESS COACHING MOMENT

‘Re-member’ Your Team

For those of us who lead teams, one of our most urgent and important priorities is to attract, cultivate and keep world class talent. Having a team filled with exceptional performers doesn’t just give you bragging rights; it’s one of the few remaining ways to distinguish yourself and your work from the competition. It’s one of your best competitive edges! And it doesn’t just happen on its own either.

That means that we must intentionally set aside time from our often insanely busy schedules to aim ourselves at this work. And when we’re really tight on time, which is almost always, we tend to focus far more on the first two elements of the talent equation – recruiting the best (attract) and growing and building our bench strength (cultivate). It’s hard for me to argue with this approach; we can’t live without them.

But let’s not forget that third element – retention. Keeping top performers once they’ve joined us. What are we doing to ‘re-member’ our longer tenured stars & superstars?  To once again, emphasize how proud and appreciative we are to have on our team? To sing their praises? To give them our undivided attention? To re-ignite their passion and enthusiasm? To refresh their energy?

It’s time to stop taking our strongest & longest performers for granted. One best practice to consider is conducting ‘stay’ interviews. Of course, we make time for interviewing recruits. And we find time for exit interviews, often asking what we could have done differently to keep the person. Stay interviews give us an opportunity to answer that powerful question before it’s too late to make a difference.

Leadership Dare – Pick two tenured top performers and schedule an hour with each. Tell them what you’re up to and ask them to think about ways that you can help them to be happier and more fulfilled. Thank them for their leadership and tell them what their contribution means to you and the team.

Don’t think you have the time? Think of this as an investment….a trade-off. There just might be one less exit interview in your future!!

New Year’s Day Reflection

The first of January is another day dawning, the sun rising as the sun always rises, the earth moving in its rhythms, with or without our calendars, to name a certain day as the day of new beginning, separating the old from the new.

So it is.  Everything is the same, bound into its history as we ourselves are bound. Yet also we stand at a threshold, a new year is something truly new and fresh, still unformed, leaving a stunning power in our hands!

What shall we do with the great gift of time this year?  Let us begin by remembering that whatever justice, whatever peace and wholeness might bloom in our world this year, we are the hearts and minds, the hands and feet, the embodiment of all the best visions of our people.

The new year can be new ground for the seeds of our dreams.

Let us take the step forward together, onto new ground,

planting our dreams well, faithfully, and in joy.