Building Self-Correcting Systems

Over the last several weeks we’ve talked about why consistent high-performance requires accountability, and how the quality of planning and decision-making processes can support accountability. “Go Slow to Go Fast” is a useful reminder that we will always pay later for taking a short-cut approach to accountability.

High-performance cultures are ones where systems of accountability are built and reinforced, and where accountabilities are reviewed and recommitted to on a continuous basis. But let’s suppose you haven’t yet built these systems, and you’ve just fallen short of an important goal, and no one is stepping up to accept accountability. Now what?

It’s time to go back to the beginning and build that system. There are five requirements:

1. Clarity and Transparency. Clarity means that our goals, the assumptions we’ve made about those goals, who is responsible for doing what in order to achieve our goals, and how will we track and measure our progress towards these goals are all specific and explicit. There should be no confusion about what we are trying to do, who is going to do it or whether we will know we are doing it. Transparency means that all of this is known and understood by everyone who plays a role in getting it all done. When in doubt about how explicit is necessary and how broadly to share information, be more clear and more transparent. For all the supposed downsides, clarity and transparency always pay off in performance.
2. Holistic Thinking. A piece-meal approach to accountability won’t work. Don’t get stuck in a silo mentality. Think as broadly as possible about who needs to play a role and what needs to get done. Where are there interdependencies? Who must rely on whom? Are there some things that must be completed before other things can be accomplished? Is there preparation or training required? Piecemeal thinking creates lots of easy excuses for people to fall back on when they have failed to deliver.
3. Deliberation and Inclusion. Thinking and planning cannot be short-circuited and those who must deliver cannot be excluded. Open-minded, complete and thoughtful analysis, evaluation and discussion are required and the viewpoints and expertise of all the necessary players must be solicited, considered and understood. Time matters of course, but don’t kid yourself into believing that you don’t need to take the time necessary to be deliberate and inclusive. You’ll spend more time later trying to re-engage the necessary players so that they’re prepared to re-commit.
4. Candor and Humility. Accountability means people don’t just crow about their accomplishments. Accountability means people own up to their mistakes, acknowledge their performance short-falls, and change their approach so they don’t make the same mistakes and fall short again. Acknowledgment, ownership, and change require candor and humility.
5. Review and Recommitment. Have you ever been in an organization where the Strategic Plan gets written and then sits on a shelf? Or where the goalpost is always moving and there is a constant air of crisis about what needs to get done? Or where everyone just seems to be doing their own thing and the big things never get accomplished? The honest answer is probably, because these are common organizational pit-falls. Cultures of accountability and high-performance are those where assumptions, goals, decisions, responsibilities, metrics and accomplishments are constantly reviewed against an aspirational game plan that is widely embraced and understood. These reviews are routinely held to examine what’s surprised us, what’s gone well, where can we aim even higher, where have we fallen short, and what can we do better next time. The purpose of these reviews is to learn, to adjust and adapt as necessary, and to recommit - to our game plan, to each other, and to our responsibilities.

When a system of accountability is built upon clarity and transparency, holistic thinking, inclusive deliberation, and candid conversation, this system becomes self-correcting. We know and agree on what we’re trying to accomplish, we thoroughly understand what’s required to do so, we’re prepared to honestly and constantly examine our own performance and we’re willing to do what is necessary to get back on track. A self-correcting system of accountability fosters wide-spread ownership and commitment, continuous learning and improvement and higher performance.

Does it take real time and effort to build? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely.