Organizational Accountability – Pillars of Accountability
Organizational accountability exists when all members of the workforce individually and collectively act to consequentially promote the timely accomplishment of the organization’s mission.
StrategyDriven Contributors
Building an accountable organization can be a long and arduous task; renovating an entitlement organization even more difficult. During this construction project, many able builders will be lost, the victims of a harsh environment that naturally exists between the competent who seek the rightfully earned rewards of performance-based accountability and the low performers struggling to hold on to their positions of power and the accompanying easy life organizational indifference and years of clock-punching bestowed upon them.[wcm_restrict plans=”53509, 25542, 25653″]
Highly competent individuals seeking to reshape their organizations must recognize that as with all sound structures, three critical supports are needed to construct the accountable organization. These three pillars are represented by:
- clearly defined, broadly communicated, time-bound goals
- vertically cascaded, horizontally shared measures of performance
- transparent, equitably administered consequences
Without any one of these pillars, the structure that is organizational accountability will collapse.
Consider the definition of the accountable organization. How could such an organization exist without all of the three pillars? Indeed, the pillars are embedded within the very words of the definition. When examined more closely, the need for each pillar becomes evident.
- Clearly defined goals provide definition of what component of the mission each member of the organization is accountable for. Broadly communicating these goals ensures individual awareness of their responsibilities. Time bound restricts the period for goal achievement without which the goal would never have to be accomplished and accountability, both positive and negative, cannot exist.
- Vertically cascaded and horizontally shared measures of performance drive the workforce individually and collectively to act in a manner that is aligned with and promotes accomplishment of mission goals.
- Aligned measures drive decisions and actions to most directly serve the achievement of the organization’s goals and enables identification of successes and failures. With performance-based recognition, the organization becomes a meritocracy, where an individual’s performance is assessed against achievement of mission goals consistent with the organization’s values and meaningful rewards are equitably and transparently administered.
It is only through transparent, equitably distributed, goal-driven, performance-based, consequential rewards, both positive and negative, that accountability exists. Thus, it becomes clear that accountability cannot exist without any one of the three pillars. Similarly, degradation of any one of the pillars results in diminished organizational accountability and a lessening of the benefits realized.
As we explore the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with organizational accountability, we will examine how each relates to the three pillars of accountability; remembering that without these our pristine structure will decay into the realm of the mediocre and average if not crumbling into irrelevance and failure.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”53509, 25542, 25653″]
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About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
Organizational Performance Measures Whitepaper Introduction – Construction
StrategyDriven contributors are pleased to introduce the organizational performance measures whitepaper: Construction. This whitepaper focuses on the process of building selected performance measures in a manner that allows vertical cascading and horizontal sharing while also supporting organizational decision-making. Organizational Performance Measures – Construction is the capstone of the Organizational Performance Measures Whitepaper Series; presenting a method for developing organizational performance measures based on the principles presented the previously introduced organizational performance measures whitepapers: Alignment, Types, and Selection.
Constructing organizational performance measures addresses the practical side of building vertically cascaded and horizontally shared measures based on the principles discussed in earlier whitepapers. Because performance measures facilitate decision-making within an organization, their construction is highly influenced by the needs of executives and managers in making decisions regarding the parameters being reflected by the measures. Therefore, the methods described in Organizational Performance Measures – Construction focus on enhancing performance measure interpretation to speed condition recognition and promote appropriate, proactive response.
StrategyDriven whitepapers are available to Registered Members and registration is FREE! If you have not already done so, please click here to register and join the conversation.
Strategic Planning Best Practice 10 – Future Focus
Today’s rapidly changing business environment presents a daunting challenge to executives and managers. Gone are the days when a company’s competitive advantage could be leveraged to bring it untold riches year after year. Technology and the phenomenon of the flattening world have created a new market environment in which a company innovates one day only to see its unique creations commoditized the next.
To remain competitive in this new, flatter world, organization leaders must remain focused on the future. While crystal balls do not exist, corporate leaders must serve as the ultimate futurists; anticipating changes in both market demands as well as the availability of human, technological, and material resources. Strategic planning should incorporate these predictions while allowing for flexibility and adjustments to be made during tactical execution.
Additional information
Strategic Planning Warning Flag 2 – Near-Term Focus, highlights the process and behavioral signs of an organization that lacks a future focus. This article serves as a resource to those assessing their organization’s ability to maintain a future focus, thereby, enabling it to more easily adapt and excel in the ever increasingly competitive marketplace.
About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 3 – Prioritize the Mission, part 1 of 2
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques managers and executives can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Episode 3 – Prioritize the Mission, part 1 of 2 elaborates on Strategic Planning Best Practice 2 – Prioritize the Mission. This discussion…
- defines what mission prioritization is
- identifies the benefits of prioritizing the mission measures
- specifies the steps involved in prioritizing the mission measures
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About the Contributor
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal, and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
Organizational Performance Measures Whitepaper Introduction – Selection
StrategyDriven contributors are pleased to introduce the organizational performance measures whitepaper: Selection. This whitepaper focuses on the process of selecting measures that create complete understanding of organizational performance while at the same time aligning the organization’s efforts towards its mission goals. Organizational Performance Measures – Selection compliments and expands upon the principles discussed in the StrategyDriven organizational performance measures best practices Vertical Cascading and Horizontally Shared.
Performance measure selection is of critical importance to an organization because they serve as one of the most powerful drivers of organizational behavior. People respond to performance measures because they clearly establish standards and goals, provide routine and often public feedback, and are both generally and specifically consequential. A properly structured measurement system aligns management decisions and workforce actions to the achievement of the organization’s mission. Structured improperly, performance measures become one of the most destructive forces a company unknowingly unleashes upon itself.