WHERE IS THE YOU (“U”) IN ACCOUNTABILITY IN TODAY’S WORLD?
WHERE IS THE YOU (“U”) IN ACCOUNTABILITY IN TODAY’S WORLD?
By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
Do you know where the you (“U”) is in accountability in your company or organization? Does your organization struggle with accountability as an issue in the workplace today? Is there a culture at your company that holds everyone accountable? What is accountability? A straightforward definition could be: being responsible for one’s activities, conduct and performance of responsibilities. Based upon my life experiences and my business coaching and consulting work, I can tell you that accountability, and the lack thereof, is one of the major issues in business (and life) today.
Simply stated, accountability in some form is ABSENT every day at most companies and organizations. And if accountability does show up it is totally ignored or punished. In other words, ownership and management will “bury their heads in the sand” and pretend not to know there is something wrong or they will reward dysfunctional behavior of others by pushing work and responsibilities onto a quality person who accepts accountability.
The prevalence of this problem is confirmed in each of the focus groups I have conducted over the years. Participants from every organization and company I have worked with have all listed Accountability as a major issue, frustration, challenge, etc. So why is accountability ignored or not held seriously enough and what are the consequences of not holding people accountable? Here are a few thoughts.
1. There is a real void of clear, direct and understandable communication. This results in people doing what they want to do, not what they need to do and breeds a climate of not caring about the customers or their coworkers.
2. Dysfunctional behavior is accepted or ignored and worse yet, coworkers, management and owners reward it. Remember, behavior that is rewarded will be repeated.
3. There is no definition of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.
4. Ownership and management do not promote and confirm that accountability is a guiding principle in their business.
5. There is a fear about possible confrontations and not being trained to handle the conflict that may arise.
6. Good quality people will leave your organization because of frustration that the company leadership ignores the issue and is not proactive in seeking and implementing a solution to change the environment.
7. Employees will believe that if the owners and managers of the company do not show that accountability is important, then the employees will know that they can get away with unacceptable behaviors.
8. Each person in the company must take responsibility for the “U” in accountability. And if that happens, we will know where the “U” is.
My call to action to all the readers of this article is simple. Become a proactive force in your organization to encourage and grow a culture of accountability. Take a leadership role in encouraging the development of a list of ideas and consequences to hold everyone accountable. Commit to devote the time and effort to do something about the problem of No Accountability and start by being accountable to you (“U”).
If you want some guidance on how to create or retune a culture of accountability in your company or organization, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his website at www.renaissanceman4u.com or sending an email to jgecoach@aol.com today.
WHERE IS THE YOU U IN ACCOUNTABILITY IN TODAYS WORLD - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
WHERE IS THE YOU (“U”) IN ACCOUNTABILITY IN TODAY’S WORLD?
By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
Do you know where the you (“U”) is in accountability in your company or organization? Does your organization struggle with accountability as an issue in the workplace today? Is there a culture at your company that holds everyone accountable? What is accountability? A straightforward definition could be: being responsible for one’s activities, conduct and performance of responsibilities. Based upon my life experiences and my business coaching and consulting work, I can tell you that accountability, and the lack thereof, is one of the major issues in business (and life) today.
Simply stated, accountability in some form is ABSENT every day at most companies and organizations. And if accountability does show up it is totally ignored or punished. In other words, ownership and management will “bury their heads in the sand” and pretend not to know there is something wrong or they will reward dysfunctional behavior of others by pushing work and responsibilities onto a quality person who accepts accountability.
The prevalence of this problem is confirmed in each of the focus groups I have conducted over the years. Participants from every organization and company I have worked with have all listed Accountability as a major issue, frustration, challenge, etc. So why is accountability ignored or not held seriously enough and what are the consequences of not holding people accountable? Here are a few thoughts.
1. There is a real void of clear, direct and understandable communication. This results in people doing what they want to do, not what they need to do and breeds a climate of not caring about the customers or their coworkers.
2. Dysfunctional behavior is accepted or ignored and worse yet, coworkers, management and owners reward it. Remember, behavior that is rewarded will be repeated.
3. There is no definition of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.
4. Ownership and management do not promote and confirm that accountability is a guiding principle in their business.
5. There is a fear about possible confrontations and not being trained to handle the conflict that may arise.
6. Good quality people will leave your organization because of frustration that the company leadership ignores the issue and is not proactive in seeking and implementing a solution to change the environment.
7. Employees will believe that if the owners and managers of the company do not show that accountability is important, then the employees will know that they can get away with unacceptable behaviors.
8. Each person in the company must take responsibility for the “U” in accountability. And if that happens, we will know where the “U” is.
My call to action to all the readers of this article is simple. Become a proactive force in your organization to encourage and grow a culture of accountability. Take a leadership role in encouraging the development of a list of ideas and consequences to hold everyone accountable. Commit to devote the time and effort to do something about the problem of No Accountability and start by being accountable to you (“U”).
If you want some guidance on how to create or retune a culture of accountability in your company or organization, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his website at www.renaissanceman4u.com or sending an email to jgecoach@aol.com today.
WHERE IS THE YOU U IN ACCOUNTABILITY IN TODAYS WORLD - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Glenn's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Instant Direct Mail Social Bookmarking Guide Choice of Forum Pulse Check Assessment Zero Based Budgeting |
|
 | ||
 |
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV | |
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||