A multi-part series about leadership and organizational goal setting. Part. 2

When we look at accountability in organizations, ask ourselves if the organization that claims to have a “leaders at every level” model have everyone at the top or bottom half of the accountability ladder. Organizations that promote leadership at every level must establish expectations for each member related to accountability regardless of title. In part one of this series, I talked about the “A-frame ladder concept” related to goal setting, communication, efficiency, and process improvement. In this article, we will explore accountability at every level of an organization as a cultural expectation.

The book, “The Oz Principle” by Connors, Smith, and Hickman, shows how people, use a sense of victimization to make excuses for inaction and poor performance. The book goes on to suggest an “accountability ladder” as a model that takes people on an upward journey of self-awareness and organizational expectations. It reads much like the “Wizard of Oz” story that takes people away from ignorance to knowledge, fear to courage, paralysis to powerfulness, and victimization to accountability.

In the accountability ladder model, picture the image of a straight rung ladder with eight rungs. The top half of the ladder is labeled as “accountable behaviors” and the lower half is labeled as “victim behaviors” with each rung on the entire ladder labeled individually into one of the two categories. The higher you are on the ladder, the more accountable you are. The top four rungs are labeled individually, #8 “Make it happen”, #7 “Find Solutions”, #6 “Embrace it!”, #5 “Acknowledge Reality.” In the lower half of the ladder in the “Victim Behaviors” group, the rungs are also labeled individually, #4 “Wait and Hope”, #3 “I Can’t”, #2 “Personal Excuses”, and #1 “Blame Others.” The floor and base of where the ladder stands are labeled, “Unaware or unconscious.” At the lowest point, people are simply “Unaware” or “Unconscious.” They don’t even know there’s a situation that needs attention.

As you move from the ground up the next rung on the ladder is the “Blame Others” level. Here’s where we see a lot of finger-pointing. When something goes wrong or fails to go right, people at this level are quick to censure their colleagues. In the lower half of the ladder, you may hear comments from staff addressing problems that sound like, “that’s beyond my pay grade” or “we have always done it that way” or “why should I say anything about it, that’s not my responsibility.”

Our organizational or personal cultures tend to silence those who could speak up when they see a potential problem even if those identified problems are detrimental to the reputation of the organization. One could even go as far as saying that speaking up could be constituted as being rude by some in a workplace with generational gaps or historically divided hierarchy roles. When we hear conversations in which our peers make comments like, “I saw that problem a mile away but I didn’t say anything because that’s not my job and not my problem.” We have to take a look at those conversations from a higher altitude and recognize the red flags and the damage those words and lack of action have. These conversations in organizations that are otherwise doing well in training “leadership at every level” could be failing in the practice of those principles by not having accountability standards.

Setting clear expectations for everyone at every level should include an accountability ladder that standardizes respected communication for everyone. Think of it as a “see something, say something” motto that empowers problem-solving and a call to action at every level. Accountability creates efficiency, productivity, and builds respect and trust both internally and externally. The organizational hierarchy should acknowledge the right for everyone at any level to recognize, report, and take action, which allows everyone to “step up” on the ladder. There should be a clear expectation and understanding by all that “heads up communication” and “problem-solving” are rewarded behaviors and failure to act have negative consequences. The clearest way to establish what the expectation and actions are is to have them ask themselves where to act on the accountability ladder.

The top rungs are, “acknowledged reality”, “embrace it”, “find solutions”, and “make it happen.” Trust and accountability go hand in hand and empower problem-solving. By setting clear expectations, and by using the accountability ladder as a model, we can evaluate leadership and clearly see those that are on the top half of the ladder. I would go as far as saying that this model could be incorporated into employee evaluations under the “takes responsibility” and “leadership” sections.

I would go even further in stating that organizations should consider the establishment of a policy. Organizations should set clear language indicating that any person in the organization who sees, hears, identifies, or anticipates a problem that impacts the safety, trust, or anything that negatively impacts the goals or the reputation of the organization’s employees, customers, or anything that violates industry standards, laws, or organizational values, shall take proactive action to communicate and address the discovery. They must have an avenue to voice the identified problem and present potential solutions along with a willingness to play an active role in problem-solving. Those established avenues need to be respected and acted upon across the hierarchy from the ground up and vice versa as heads up communication that makes accountability everyone’s responsibility.

When everyone is empowered to have situational awareness, open communication, and mutual respect for their peers and mission goals, they give each other a heads up and they take a proactive team problem-solving approach. That is when the conversations change to, “My co-worker didn’t see that problem but I gave him a heads up along with some solutions and we made it happen.” Those are conversations that reflect a “leadership at every level” culture in practice.

Credit: “The Oz Principal” Connors, Smith, & Hickman; Photo by Douglas Barros from Pexels