Libros

Accountability for Results: A CEO’s Ultimate Challenge
By Tom Northup, January, 2006 Have you participated in a business initiative that your company never completed? Did you watch key businessgoals suffer as teams missed deadline after deadline? Often such problems arise because neither the employees nor the management team hold themselves truly accountable. When teams don’t executeeffectively because of lack of accountability, the company fails to generate results. Accountability for results is the crucial step in producing outstanding performance. Many CEOs have trouble providing thisaccountability. Establishing Accountability The CEO is responsible for creating accountability in his organization. First, the CEO and his management team must develop and commit to a clear vision andtranslate that vision into a coordinated strategic plan. Without this foundation everyday pressures will overwhelm the process, producing an ever-changing environment that causes indecision anddelays. Second, the management team must make certain that everyone within the company knows that it is committed to the initiative. When teams work under public scrutiny, they develop a strong desire tosucceed and to share the achievement. Teams that only commit to doing well are subtly preparing for eventual failure. Third, the team must place the organization over individual interests. Whenindividuals channel their efforts into making the team work better, positive results occur. Conversely, when individuals protect their turf and work at cross purposes, they doom the initiative. Fourth, teammembers must coordinate their high payoff activities so that they work with the same result in mind. The team must focus both individually and collectively on objectives and outcomes to generatepositive performance. Using Accountability to Generate Results It is not enough to establish accountability in a company. To create results, management must create sound tactics to measure performance....