Creating Accountability
Through the Power of Conversation
Jamey Wheeler, CSP
Objectives
• Understand some behavioral concepts• Understand barriers to communication• Overcoming barriers to enhance
accountability• Incorporating conversation into the system to
build accountability
Organizational Decision Making
• Polarity Principle • Drift• Hindsight Bias• Relationships and Relational Correlation
Polarity
• Two apparently conflicting goals that are both necessary for success- people or profit
• Need to dissipate polarity • Replace either/or with both/and thinking
Polarity Principle“The idea that setting absolutist and
perfectionist goals followed by punitive measures to achieve those goals is a bankrupt
model for motivation of risk and safety ownership. The model ignores hidden pressures
that drive under reporting, totally misunderstands the nature of learning and
believes that only hedonic principle (carrot and stick) drives human relationship.”
– Rob Long, PhD
Drift
• Build sensitivity to weak signals• Allow timely corrective actions• Conversations address the successes,
failures, outcomes, potential outcomes and how to best bridge the gaps.
Hindsight
20/20
Meet Kenny Cypress
The Blame CycleHuman
Error
Counsel / Discipline
Reduced Trust
Less Communication
Mgmt Less Aware of Jobsite
Conditions
Latent Organizational
Weakness Persists
More Flawed Defenses
Relational Correlation
• Relationships drive behavior• Improve performance by strengthening leader
and follower relationships• Policies, procedures, and standards are
irrelevant if they are static
SCARF Model
• Status• Certainty• Autonomy• Relatedness• Fairness
Leaders Create or Undermine: • What they pay attention to, measure, and
control; • Their reactions to incidents; • Their allocation of resources; • Their criteria for reward and punishment; and• Their deliberate attempts to coach and model
behaviors“Any time significant change comes up against
significant culture – culture always wins.” – Dr. Edgar Schein
Communication Barriers
• Mistakes seen as failures• Mgr/supervisors seen as experts• Illusion of control• Silos and suppressed collaboration• Fear of giving/receiving feedback
Accountability
• Allow for learning; • Focus on understanding; • Establish clear, consistent, and manageable
expectations; • Communicate clearly and effectively; • Ensure individuals understand and have what they
need to fulfill expectations; • Leaders continually reinforce and clarify expectations; • Systems support expectations without conflict or
barriers.
HIGH ACCOUNTABILITY = LEADER’S CLEAR EXPECTATIONS +
OWNER’S AGREEMENT + PERSONAL REWARDS OR CONSEQUENCES
Changing Conversations
• Organizationally recognize and name polarities• Remain consciously aware of the impact of all
interactions• Provide resources for natural conversation• Explicitly deal with conflict• Remain open to new or contradictory information• Do not mistake meetings, emails or announcements
with conversation• Humble Inquiry and Seek to Understand• Cross-functional Trust
Cycle of Mistrust
US
THEM
1. Negative Action Observed
2. Negative Assumption Formed
3. Protective Action Taken
4. Negative Action Observed
5. Negative Assumption Formed
6. Protective Action Taken
7. Mistrust reinforces negative assumptions
Communication Training
Workers
Supervisors
Managers
Ask for what you need to hear, not what you want to
hear
Tell your boss what they need to hear, not what you think they want to
hear
“We must stop all this communication and start having conversation.” – Mark Twain
Thank You!
• Accountability can only be achieved with clearly outlined expectations
• Train supervisors in soft skills allowing them to better understand how to converse with their staff
• Encourage MBWA
Top Related