Holding Oneself Accountable

Accountability...the word seems to hold such negative connotations. I remember conversations with my manager from my days at Microsoft. When I opted to take a risk or take on an extra project it was then followed by "Fine - but YOU'RE accountable." Those words translated to "It's on your lap if anything goes wrong." Or "Who's accountable for this??" which translates to "Who's fault is this?" But how often do we hear "Great work! Who's accountable?" No wonder the word holds negative connotations.

Yet personal accountability is one of the fine lines that separates a true leader from a manager. I think some very rare individuals seem to have high degrees of personal accoutability. They hold themselves to a high standard and never seem to lower the bar. But those folks are few and far between. What about the rest of us that set a reasonably high bar for ourselves, but can also convince ourselves that we're close enough to that number or we've almost given that project our all. We're the same ones that go to the gym for a one hour work out and then convince ourselves that 30 minutes is good enough!

Does this gracious attitude with oursevles mean that we can never be great leaders? I don't think so. But what it does mean is that we need to be smart enough to recognize our shortcoming and find ways of holding ourselves accountable in spite of ourselves. Some leaders need only to write down and post the things that they are holding themselves accountable for. Some great leaders use executive coaches. Others have peers/partners that they can confide in that will hold them accountable. Some join peer-to-peer CEO groups such as Excel CEO, The Alternative Board or The Executive Commitee. But whatever route you take, accountability is the fine line between someone who can never quite get their company to the next level versus someone that can consistently meet the metrics that they hold for themselves and their companies.

Good Luck! I'm off to the gym (with a trainer)!

Steve's Thoughts on Building Leaders

We are a builder species, put on this earth to grow, create and build things. This is a great way to consider our walk in life. In the old days when colonies were smaller and technology not so advanced, teamwork was a must. Communities relied on one another for harvest, building and to a greater extent raising children. In order to survive, communities relied on building strong relationships, helping each other out and working for the greater good of the community. There was no way a farmer was going to get his barn roof raised without most of the town, helping out in the build. And yet as technology has advanced, we have moved away from this critical sense of community and movement towards a common goal.

Many people today see teamwork as a corporate buzz word to get you to work harder and longer: a necessary evil. But teamwork is the result of one patient, caring and selfless person leading a group of people, helping them to see why it is in the best interest of all parties to attain the “common goal.” This takes clear direction and measurable and specific rewarding. But more importantly, it takes the ability to built trust and rapport. Developing these skills take a considerable amount of pre-planning and personal refocusing. And most of all, they take heart. It is said that authenticity is the hardest thing to fake. When a leader genuinely cares and then applies the discipline to develop and grow his/her team, the results are astounding. The team responds in kind and rallies for the good of the community.

Hungry to Matter: Hungry for Joy

Yesterday, at a consultants networking meeting, I had the pleasure of hearing Geoff Bellman speak. Geoff is a seasoned consultant, overall insightful fellow and author of:

• The Quest for Staff Leadership



• The Beauty of the Beast



• Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge.

He invited the group to re-live the feeling of participating on a highly effective team. There is really nothing like it. Experiencing the ecstatic thill of achieving something really challenging and revelling in the shared success. Bellman asked us to look even more deeply into the requirements for a high performing team. We were clear on what was required: a clear and common vision, trust, respect, clear definition of roles and responsibilities. Beyond that, Bellman urged us to consider the very primitive and basic needs that participating on a team serves. Those needs appear on Mazlow's heirarchy of needs. Things like being curious about the world around us and wanting to make a difference; needing to understand the world and succeed in it, knowing what we can and can't control and knowing just as clearly, what we have power over and finally knowing that we make a difference in the world.

This process helped me make a connection between why the criteria for high performing teams is so necessary. That it feeds something much deeper in our souls. Driving home from Bellman's speech, I heard an interviewer with Barbara Ehrenreich, anthropologist and author of Dancing in The Streets. Her book on collective joy, community dancing and rituals also supports our very human need to share joy. That all cultures have found a way to collectively express joy and that often, the higher reining in the society have frowned upon this collective celebration, fearing anarchy. Barbara has a great post today on CEO compensation. http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/

I am reminded today that we all hunger to matter; we hunger for joy; we hunger to belong. The leaders that recognize that and build on it find an unparalleled loyalty in their teams.

Functional Founders

I had the pleasure of working with the four incredible founders of Seattle Center For Peace ( http://seattlecenterforpeace.org/ ) yesterday on their business plan. It was a delight to work with people that use non-violent communication in their interactions. Conversations were lively and passionate, each deliberating strongly for her view and yet there was a level of respect that was palpable. We made great progress in their business plan. This is an organization to watch over the coming year.

Working with them reminded me of one of my most closely held beliefs: the leader(s) of an organization strongly impact every facet of the organization. The leader(s) truly establish the culture of a company by the way they do everything. The way leaders communicate is one very apparent aspect. Take Microsoft where the cultural norm is to be called out from an intelligent viewpoint on anything you present. Where did you get your statistics? Is it the most reliable source? Why did you select one source over another? Or take Real Networks where the tone is agressively confrontational. There the norm is a degrading tone where humiliation is the order of the day.

And of course, things roll down hill. So VP's emulate their CEO and Directors emulate their VP's and so it goes. It's good food for thought for up and coming leaders.