Tweet

Choice & Accountability: The Bedrock of Superior Performance

Written by: Ian Cook

Article Overview: Employees who resist taking personal accountability for their work and career success cost organizations a lot. This article speaks to staff members, offering three ways to operate in a fully accountable manner in their own job.

Choice & Accountability: The Bedrock of Superior Performance

So, you want to be a success? And you want those who work for you to succeed? Then you might as well know the (bad ?) news. Successful, effective people are courageous people!

Aristotle said courage is the primary human virtue. And the ultimate courage is to accept what philosopher Peter Koestenbaum calls life’s “dirty little secret”–that we are all free to choose. We are all free to decide what we desire, how we act, how we feel and who we are.

Many poor-to-moderate performers I see in organizations simply refuse to accept accountability for their job and career. Ask them what they want–besides more money–in their job or how satisfied they are with their current performance and they come up with fuzzy answers or none at all. This does not surprise me. If they were clear, they would have to admit to the choices they are making in their job.

Employees who refuse accountability cost our organizations a bundle. Precious time and energy shifts from productive work to holding on to the old ways, blaming other people or circumstances, doing unquestioningly whatever the boss wants, and avoiding confrontations or any risk.

(“Hey, why should I do anything extra? It won’t matter to them, anyway.”)

Furthermore, when you believe you have no control–that is, no choice–over your fate at work, you feel angry and resentful. Someone else, or perhaps fate itself, is calling the shots for you. This resentment gets expressed, usually through negative comments, barely satisfactory work and/ or withholding important information, ideas, effort and enthusiasm.

How can you take on personal accountability at work?

Here are three suggestions.

1. Identify all your “customers” and what they expect from you.
   
   Your key customer is your boss. Don’t wait. Ask for his or her performance expectations for you. Approach other internal and external customers the same way. Check in periodically on how you are doing in their eyes.



2. Decide on the performance level you want to achieve.
   
   Unless impossible, it should exceed others’ expectations. Verbally commit to deliver this performance to your “customers”. Stay focused on priorities that move you to these goals.



3. Where appropriate, own up to undelivered performance.
   
   Don’t blame others. Solicit and be open to feedback from others. Thank them for their advice and learn from it. Focus on what you will do differently the next time.

Individual accountability offers an extremely powerful leverage point for increasing human productivity, Embrace it. Challenge your people to as well. Think and act as if you are in business for yourself, with an open-ended contract with a single client (your employer). Watch your performance, confidence and impact soar as you live out the words of poet William Ernest Henley: “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul.”

Related Articles
  A culture of accountability is the key to business and organisational success
  Accountability Partnerships Series Conclusion
  The Stars Among Us-How to Find Them!
  The Decent Thing to Do Is the Smart Thing to Do
  Writing Job Descriptions That Get The Results You Want

Article Tags: accountability, choice, goals, personal accountability, producitivity
Referred by: http://upwardaction.com



Related Forum Posts
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
ARTICLE: Performance coaching in the workplace - To create lasting performance change it is necessary to first understand the positive and negative influence that a person’s personal behaviors has on their execution and what impact these have on their ability to achieve success. Only when we fully understand a person’s behavioral patterns and create positive self-managing coaching strategies can we assist a person to create lasting performance change. The vast majority of employers believe coaching can deliver significant benefits to both individuals and organizations. The majority of employers plan to increase the use of coaching over the next few years, according to a new survey by the Institute of Personnel and Development. Nearly nine out of ten interviewed companies expect their managers and supervisors to deliver performance coaching as part of their day-to-day work. In another large industry-wide study it was found that most managers reported that they were confident in their ability to coach. However, the study also showed that the managers’ actual skills levels as coaches were typically poor. As a consequence they were not nearly as effective in their coaching as they believe themselves to be. Often times, they believed that coaching consisted of just providing 1-to-1 instructional feedback to their staff members on what to do in a given situation to perform better. Many recent studies have shown that technical skills only represent at best 20% of the contribution into our performance. The remaining 80% comes from our ability to choose or make a decision, assertiveness, commitment to grow, ability to concentrate, honesty, optimism, persistence, ability to perform well under stress and so on. These traits are commonly called our soft skills or attitude. Few managers understand just how deeply rooted their own behavior patterns are, let alone how to positively change them in other people. Performance coaching is frequently confused with other types of coaching, such as Executive coaching and Life coaching. Performance coaching is a form of Directive coaching. Executive coaching and Life coaching are both forms of Non-directive coaching. Directive coaching is usually more suitable for a manager who sometimes acts as a coach. Performance coaching in the workplace has developed immensely from what it was only 4 years ago. To choose the right coach will make a huge difference. You also better make sure to know what you want. If your coach knows what (s)he is doing – you will get on your way to get it! [i:38tu5pgr]- Peter J Karlsson[/i:38tu5pgr]
Re: Lack of controls can hurt. - [quote:phog5vje]Arecent judgment of the Ontario Superior Court found that a lack of internal controls made a company an easy target for a fraud perpetrated by one of its most trusted employees. As a result, the court found that the company was 50 percent responsible for its own losses, and reduced its award accordingly. [/quote:phog5vje] Yes, this article is a must read for any small business that has even one employee. As I think I've stated elsewhere, it's important not to trust [i:phog5vje]anyone[/i:phog5vje]. I think the court's actions - in penalizing this company because it was "50% responsible for its own losses" is surprising, though. The principle of personal responsibility is fast disappearing from the lives of individuals, I hadn't realized that companies would be held responsible for their own carelessness...or misplaced trust in th is case... I wonder if it holds true for all businesses, or just those that don't have multi-millionaires sitting on each other's boards... [Okay, that's a bit cynical, but the amount of times wealthy CEOs have ruined their companies and then gone on to other opportunities, with a fat bonus from the company they destroyed in their pockets... is frightening [i:phog5vje]and [/i:phog5vje]annoying.]
These maybe the coldest franchises out there: - Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops. WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure % 1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56% 2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94% 3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18% 4 COPY CLUB 36.36% 5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71% 6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71% 7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59% 8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78% 9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48% 10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33% 11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33% 12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33% 13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33% 14 BLIMPIE 31.39% 15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77% Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Pay Per Post update - Still haven't heard whether or not I've even been accepted into the program. However, this could be because things were in flux. Just got an email which informed me that PayPerPost was changing its name to Izea. Here's the details: [quote:8i5z1c8x]Going forward our company will be known as IZEA, with PayPerPost as its flagship product and other properties including Blogger's Choice Awards, RockStartup, Zookoda and BlogInSpace under the IZEA corporate umbrella. These changes are the natural result of our phenomenal growth as a company and the continued success our user community is having with our social marketing tools and strategies. This new corporate framework will enable us to further execute on our established mission statement: To empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence. We will be adding additional services over the coming year and I feel strongly that the IZEA brand will allow us to present all our solutions in a more complete and understandable way to our clients, users, investors and the press. I know many of you have come to love the PayPerPost name. We love it, too. The company started a new era for bloggers and advertisers and will continue on as the brand name for the world's largest consumer generated advertising network. I look forward to seeing you all at PostieCon on November 10 in Las Vegas, when IZEA takes the next step forward with the release of our next generation platform, codenamed Argus. Argus will deliver an unparalleled collection of social marketing tools and features you will have to see to believe. The product has its own brand name that we are eager to share with everyone. The name and logo are awesome, so stay tuned![/quote:8i5z1c8x] I've kind of lost interest in even doing this, frankly...but maybe I'll revisit it in a couple of days and try to establish contact...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

You Have A Website What Now

What Aweber Can Do For Your Online Business

Small Business Internet Marketing

Suggestions

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.