Page 272 - Fearless Leadership

Holding Each Other Accountable 259

Start by asking the right questions. For example, the CEO and senior
group were frustrated with production delays. The CEO asked, “What are
we going to do about this?” A team member jumped in and said, “Let’s
ask a different question: How are we—the senior team—accountable for
contributing to these delays?” Accountability and ownership of the prob-
lem is the precursor for discovering effective solutions.
When others see leaders publicly asking the question “How are we
accountable for this problem?” or “How did our behavior contribute to this
breakdown?” the work environment starts to shift. When leaders examine
their own behavior instead of pointing the finger at others, they set a pos-
itive example for the organization. People model the behavior of leaders
and start asking the question “How am I personally accountable for this
problem or breakdown?” Imagine the velocity with which people make
things happen when you have an entire team or organization asking “How
am I personally accountable and what can I do to resolve this issue?”
One of the most effective ways to encourage others to speak up and put
issues on the table is to start the conversation with something you can gen-
uinely own up to and take accountability for. A senior vice president did
this with his group when he said, “I owe you an apology. I haven’t been
accountable for the problems we keep encountering with delivering to the
customer on time. Instead I’ve been refereeing conflict between two depart-
ments hoping they would resolve this issue. Well, that strategy hasn’t
worked so it’s time for me to change my behavior and I’m asking you to do
the same. I want us to have an open and honest conversation today—not a
free-for-all discussion where we attack one another—so we resolve this issue
once and for all.” When the senior vice president “walked the talk” and put
his behavior in the spotlight, he raised the behavioral standards for others.

HOW COMMITTED PARTNERS HOLD EACH
OTHER ACCOUNTABLE

In a high performance organization, leaders expect and anticipate break-
downs. They do not indulge in the illusion that holding each other
accountable creates a utopian environment. They know that automatic
behaviors will continually resurface. They recognize that they will make
mistakes, violate their agreements with committed partners, and under-
mine relationships and results. But they prepare for the inevitable break-