Joint Accountability: Another Key for Your Business Effectiveness

Written by admin on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

We agreed that when Larry told Dick he didn’t want me to know, Dick would say that I needed to know, otherwise I couldn’t improve my performance, which was Larry’s interest. Dick would agree to coach Larry on how Larry could give me feedback and Dick would even agree to be present to help Larry give me the feedback. If Larry still said he didn’t want me to know, Dick would say that he couldn’t honor an agreement that would withhold important information about my performance. Dick would tell Larry that he (Dick) planned to give me Larry’s feedback and that I would likely come visit Larry to find out first hand what Larry’s concerns were about my performance. When Dick gave me the feedback, I went to Larry’s office and, with genuine curiosity, asked about his concerns with my performance. By working in this way, my management colleagues and I asked our other colleagues to be accountable to us directly and we were accountable to them.

And the second story? Kurt told me that if I was going to walk my talk, my only choice was to write a letter and sign it. I wrote the letter evaluating all three candidates using specific examples, and sharing my conclusions about their leadership ability based on the data I had. After emailing the letter to the search committee, I emailed a copy to all three candidates. I told them that, as my peers, I owed them the same feedback about their performance that I gave to the search committee. My only request was that if they had questions or concerns about what I wrote, that they talk with me directly.

Ten minutes after sending the email, the candidate who I was most concerned about knocked on my door and asked to talk. We had a difficult but productive conversation. He agreed with my data but came to different conclusions about his leadership ability. He thanked me for sharing the letter with him. We remained good colleagues as he became the equivalent of Associate Dean. And I got tenure.

How does your organization or the organizations you consult to handle this kind of accountability? How do you handle it yourself? Please join our free Mutual Learning Action Group (on our website) and post your thoughts so others can learn from you as well.

Roger Schwarz, Ph.D., is author of the international bestseller “The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers and Coaches.” You can subscribe here to Fundamental Change, our free, monthly ezine: www.schwarzassociates.com/fundamental_change.html In exchange for subscribing, you’ll receive a free copy of “Holding Risky Conversations,” a chapter from our newly-published Fieldbook.

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