by Julie Miller and Brian Bedford, co-authors of “Culture Without Accountability: WTF? What’s The Fix?“
We all know what it’s like to be promised, “I’ll get back to you on that question,” only to never hear another word. Likewise, we’ve all dealt with colleagues who draft off of others’ achievements, salespeople who don’t stand behind their products when the crap hits the fan, and bosses who pass the buck far more often than they stop it. Chances are, when you come across these situations in your daily life, you chalk them up to customer service slip-ups, leadership breakdowns, personnel issues, and poor communication.
But you can actually trace these problems back to something much more granular but no less serious: a lack of accountability.
When employees behave with a lack of accountability, their actions hurt your bottom line, whether that’s through low personal productivity, negatively affecting morale, alienating coworkers and customers, or something else. The good news is, if you’re vigilant and proactive, you can catch and handle these accountability issues before they grow into ‘customer service problems,’ ‘leadership breakdowns,’ and so on.
If you’re a leader, it’s your job to hold your people responsible for what they do and don’t do. That means rewarding behaviors that help your company grow and promptly addressing those actions and habits that have a more negative impact. Don’t wait for something to go majorly wrong to do damage control. Remember, accountability is built or broken in the day-to-day.
Here are ten types of accountability-sabotaging employees to watch out for:
1. The cavalier promise maker.
We’ve all dealt with this person. “I’ll make sure I get back to youtomorrow.” “The product will be delivered by Thursday.” “Of course we can handle that order volume.” … Do these comments sound familiar? For the cavalier promise maker, it’s easy to promise someone the moon (especially if that promise makes the speaker look good!), but follow-through is a different story entirely.
If someone in your organization fails to meet his commitments more than once or twice, he lacks accountability. Over time, employees who fit this profile will cause your market share to drop, especially if you operate in the fast-moving consumer goods space. Customers who didn’t receive what was promised will take their business elsewhere, or even worse, take to the Internet to spread the word about their bad experience. These are the employees bad Yelp reviews are made of, and their lack of accountability will sink your business.
2. The feel-good tagline spouter.
“We put the customer first.” “Your best interests are our best interests.” “We’ll go the extra mile for you.” Sure, these assurances sound good, but only if they are supported by your employees’ actions. Watch out for individuals who spout platitudes while leaving customers unsatisfied.
Employees — and by extension, companies — who put their own convenience before that of the customer will see a rapid migration of their customers to other suppliers. Remember, your company’s stated values and policies aren’t worth much if they don’t match up with your individual employees’ attitudes, priorities, and behaviors. Your organization is accountable to its customers, and it’s crucial for your people to take that obligation personally. That means standing behind the product and taking ownership of any problems that crop up, regardless of inconvenience.
3. The expense account swindler.
We all know people who have doctored expense account forms for personal gain. (Maybe you’ve done so yourself at one time or another.) These folks are masters at justifying why they shelled out the company’s money for expensive meals, room service, entertainment, upgraded rental cars, and more. Sure, some of those expenditures may have been aimed at wooing a prospective client, but come on… no one really believes that the only vehicle the rental agency had to offer was a fully loaded Cadillac Escalade!
In some organizations, expense account swindling is fairly isolated, while in others, it’s an unwritten part of the culture. Either way, this lack of financial accountability needs to stop now. Employees who don’t have a problem lying about their expenses are just as likely to lie about other things, and who knows what that could cost you.
4. The thunder stealer.
Chances are, you know exactly who this person (or people) is in your organization. Odds are also good that she isn’t popular. After all, nobody is fond of a coworker or leader who steals others’ ideas and presents them as her own! Sure, she might say, “Brilliant idea — great job!” to your face, but the next thing you know, she has incorporated that “brilliant idea” into her presentation to the board and claimed all the credit.
This one really drives me crazy. It’s a clear accountability breach because the person in question is breaking the trust of her colleagues and representing herself dishonestly. If you don’t nip these behaviors in the bud, you’ll lose a lot of great employees who are sick and tired of working with their thunder-stealing colleagues, and you’ll damage your bottom line in the process. Employee turnover is a huge hidden cost of doing business.
5. The “indispensable” tyrant.
We’ve all had this boss, too. He (or she) is the person on whom the CEO relies to get the sales the company needs to meet its goals each quarter. Trouble is, he treats everyone like dirt in the process. Screams, yells, insults, even threatens — no tyrannical tactic is out of bounds. The CEO may know (or at least suspect) that this leader is overly harsh, but lets his bad behavior slide because of the mistaken belief that he is “indispensable.
In this instance, the tyrannical leader is showing a lack of accountability to his subordinates and to his employer. Whether it’s codified in company policy or not, leaders should develop, challenge, and motivate their teams in a way that doesn’t tank their morale. When tyrannical behaviors are allowed to continue, disillusioned employees eventually take their talents elsewhere, costing their former employers a fortune to attract and train a successor.
6. The chronic latecomer.
These are the people who screw up meetings, upset customers and suppliers, and give your company a bad name because they’re consistently tardy. You don’t necessarily see the financial impact immediately, but it’s all too apparent after your clients call you unreliable and go elsewhere.
Sure, there are legitimate reasons why even the most responsible person might be running late: a fender bender, a sick child, an unfortunate coffee spill, to name just a few. And yes, everybody gets a pass on this one from time to time when life’s curveballs happen. But if it happens again and again with the same person, you’ve got a problem. In effect, this employee is saying, ‘I don’t value my employer’s time,’ or, ‘It’s not important to me to honor the agreement we made.’ And that’s not what accountability looks like.
7. The mistake eraser.
This person could just as easily be called “the paragon of perfection,” because according to her, she never, ever makes a mistake. Over time, she has learned every trick in the book to cover up her missteps. She might tell herself, Well, last time this happened I just shredded the document, or, I’ll just delete the customer’s email again. No one noticed before.
It’s easy to see how this type of lack of accountability can hurt your organization’s bottom line. If her self-serving behavior doesn’t immediately alienate customers and coworkers, when her deceptions come to light (and they always do), people will feel that much angrier and betrayed.
8. The blame deflector.
At first glance, this employee might seem to be a clone of the mistake eraser. And yes, the two of them do have quite a bit in common. But when you get right down to it, their MOs are different. While the mistake eraser pretends that nothing bad happened to start with, the blame deflector is all too happy to admit that a ball was dropped… by somebody else. It’s always someone else’s fault!
When the boss is wondering where an error originated, this person’s ‘deflector shields’ come up immediately. ‘Well, I was only doing what I was told,’ he might say. Or, ‘I didn’t misquote the price to that customer. They must have misheard.’ If these types of excuses come out of the same employee’s mouth on a regular basis, don’t fall for them. Remember, a big part of accountability is owning up to your own mistakes.
9. The truth avoider.
This person “just can’t handle the truth!” When someone calls her out — for dropping the ball, for behaving badly, etc. — her reaction isn’t pretty. Maybe she bursts into tears, sulks for days, stomps off indignantly, or angrily denies all charges.
If an employee is offended instead of accepting that the other person has made a valid observation, she has just killed her accountability. Denying or just having a bad attitude about what’s obviously true will cause her credibility and trustworthiness to take a significant hit. Other employees as well as customers won’t want to work with her.
10. The white liar.
When this person doesn’t want to spend time giving feedback, he says, “That PowerPoint looks fine to me,” even though he knows it’s on the bland side. Or when he knows he won’t be able to meet a deadline, he emails the client and claims to have been out of commission for a few days due to the flu. “Do you mind if I take a few extra days to complete the project?” he asks. “I want to make sure that I deliver the best possible work to you.”
The white liar probably thinks he isn’t really hurting anyone with his fibs, but of course, that isn’t the case. Anytime an employee’s lack of total honesty impacts the quality of his own work, someone else’s work, or a client relationship, he has shown that he lacks accountability.
Next time you think that a lack of accountability doesn’t have a price tag, just look at this list and think again! When you notice any of these behaviors in any of your employees (or in yourself!), make sure to address the issue promptly. Explain why you object to the behavior and make sure the employee knows what consequences will be incurred if it continues.
Especially in today’s transparent business environment, your company’s accountability cannot be taken lightly. Safeguard it as the valuable commodity it is!
In 2001, drawing on their respective years of experience in senior global leadership at Motorola, Julie Miller and Brian Bedford joined forces to establish MillerBedford Executive Solutions. MillerBedford helps businesses and organizations improve strategy, culture, and leadership, while addressing issues that limit success.
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