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Here’s a suggestion for a New Year’s resolution:
Be clear. While this admonition may sound simple and straightforward,
it is often difficult to practice. If you have read any of
IMPAQ’s materials, sat through one of our training sessions
or received any of our consulting or coaching you have heard
some reference to the importance of clarity. Clarity is a
critical component of Accountability for a couple of reasons:
- It’s difficult to be accountable when you are not clear.
- It’s almost impossible to hold others accountable if
you are not clear.
It’s difficult to be accountable when you are
not clear.
The two loops of the Personal Accountability Model are not
just different operating styles. They also represent two different
ways of viewing and thinking about situations. Those individuals
in the “Victim Loop” tend to operate from a lack
of clarity about the situation, about their role, about the
outcomes, etc. People who are in the “Accountability
Loop” engage in an internal questioning process where
they are seeking to gain a clear understanding of the situation,
of their role in the issue and the solution, the desired outcome
and the actions they plan to take. There is a relationship
between Accountability and the field of Emotional Intelligence.
Both are founded in a level of self-awareness that determines
our capacity to see ourselves, others and situations objectively.
A long time friend of mine confided to me that she was very
upset with her sister. She was hurt and disappointed by something
her sister had done in betraying a confidence between them.
When I listened to my friend’s story, I had to agree.
What the sister did was wrong and damaging to their relationship.
I asked my friend what she intended to do. “I’m
going to stop being close with my sister. I will treat her
as a part of my family, but I don’t want to have any
relationship with her beyond that.”
I had a long history with this friend and I knew that this
was not what she really wanted. I asked her, “What is
your true desire for your relationship with your sister?”
“I want to have a close enough relationship with my sister
so that when things like this happen we could talk about it
and I could share with her my hurt and disappointment.”
I followed her comment with my next question, “What would
you need to do to create that kind of a relationship?”
“I would need to take a risk and go to my sister and
talk about this situation and tell her how I felt.” She
turned to me. “Are you telling me that I need to take
responsibility for repairing our relationship when she was
the one who did something wrong?”
“I’m not telling you to do anything, but if you
look at the two options – creating distance between you
and your sister and taking the risk to go and talk to her
– which option will move you closer to the kind of relationship
you want to have?” My friend called me a month later
to tell me that she and her sister had a conversation about
what had happened between them, and that ultimately that conversation
brought them closer together.
This story illustrates for me the importance of being clear
about our desired outcomes, our role and responsibility in
addressing the issues and our willingness to take action.
What situations are you facing in your work or personal
life where you may be unclear? Are you clear about your desired
outcomes? Are you clear about your role and responsibilities
in the problem and/or the solution? Are you clear about the
actions you need to take? Are you clear about your commitment
to take the actions and achieve the outcomes?
It’s difficult to hold others accountable when
you are not clear.
I was recently brought into a meeting with a client to discuss
a solution for developing his leadership team. As he was discussing
what he wanted, he said his desire was for his leaders to
“Step Up”. When I asked what he meant by Step Up,
he told me that he wanted his leaders to take their leadership
to a new level.
“What would your leaders be doing that they are not doing
now? How would they be demonstrating that level of leadership?”
I asked.
“They would be better leaders” he told me.
I paused. “I’m sorry, but I’m just not clear
what you’re looking for. You’ve told me you want
your leaders to step up, lead at a new level and be better
leaders but I’m not sure what that means.”
“You don’t get it either” he said in an exasperated
tone.
I know most of his leaders. They’ve sensed their boss’
desire to get more out of them but they have been frustrated
at not knowing what he wants. Most of them have responded
to his frustration by working longer hours or taking on more
responsibility. The trouble is most of them were already overworked.
I often hear bosses say things like, we need to work smarter,
we need more leadership, we need people to be more accountable,
…. It’s often difficult for the recipients of those
messages to translate those statements into actions. Even
when it does inspire employees to action, they often don’t
have the confidence that comes with greater clarity. In contrast,
it would have been better for the leader in the story above
to give deliberate thought to just what he wanted from his
leaders. Once he had clarified what he needed from them in
his own mind, it would have been easy for him to say, “I
need my leaders to be focused on working cross-functionally
to better serve our customers. I expect them to take the initiative
to identify the common problems or breakdowns and come up
with solutions. I’ll know this is happening when I see
them coming to our leadership meetings and talking about how
they have been meeting with customers to better understand
the issues and working with other departments to design and
implement changes. And all of this would be happening with
their initiative, rather than coming from me.”
Are you currently frustrated with an employee or a teammate
over their lack of commitment or Accountability? Are you clear
about what you want from them? Have you clearly articulated
and communicated your expectation or standard to them? Do
they have the same understanding about the expectation or
standard that you do? Have you built in a review or recovery
mechanism to assess progress or improvement?
One of the tools in IMPAQ’s programs is the Accountability-Based
Questions. If you have been to an IMPAQ program, you have
most likely been exposed to this powerful tool. The purpose
of the tool in training courses is to facilitate Accountability
and action using a specific questioning approach with another
person. The same questions can also be a valuable tool for
self facilitation in helping you create clarity for yourself.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that clarity is the same
thing as being “right”. I can tell the difference
in myself by the emotional energy attached to my position.
When I am clear, I can stand in my clarity and be very open
to the thoughts, ideas and positions of others because my
focus is to add to my clarity. When I am focused on being
right, I don’t have that same level of openness.
Consider an area of your life where your lack of clarity has
cost you and commit yourself to living and operating with
new clarity in that area. You will find that your level of
Accountability will be in direct relationship to your level
of clarity as you move forward.
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