The Oz PRINCIPLE

‘The Oz Principle’ takes its name from The Wizard of Oz, which the authors say captures
perfectly the importance of personal accountability. The journey of Dorothy and her
friends is the metaphor that is used throughout the book to highlight our own journey
to accountability. Dorothy, the tin man, the lion and the scarecrow all went in search of
the wizard to solve their problems. If you are familiar with the story, you know what
happens in the end.

In this summary we have condensed the key lessons from the book and added in
exercises for you to do along the way to cement your learning of the content and ensure
you can take the steps to being fully accountable in your organisation and your life.

We hope you enjoy it and wish you every success on your own journey to above the line
accountability!
BOOK REVIEW

PART 1
THE OZ PRINCIPLE – GETTING REUSLTS THROUGH ACCOUNTABILITY

CH. 1
OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD:
SEARCHING FOR GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY IN BUSINESS

In the beginning the characters in the book are seeking the wizard to solve their problems, they
are helpless actors in an unforgiving world and void of any power. They are victims.

Accountable Companies
When things go wrong in businesses in average companies the leaders will look outside to
explain why the numbers are down – the economy is bad, trade regulations worked against us,
the weak currency hit us hard. The best companies will look internally and accept accountability
and address bad news head on, understanding what is going wrong with the business and
changing it. Accountable companies take action when the market changes or economy drops
and do something about it to ensure their success. This can mean making hard decisions.

Victim attitudes - where employees look for the quick fix and worry
Key Point:
more about perception than results - can erode productivity,
Accountability =
competitiveness, morale and trust. Your organisation will not succeed
SEE IT, OWN IT,
in the long run unless people take accountability for long term results.
SOLVE IT,
DO IT
The power and ability to rise above your circumstances and achieve
what you desire resides within you, not in the latest management fad or
promise from management consultants.

Victimization vs Accountability
Victim mentality – other people and circumstances prevent you from achieving your goals.
Accountability – a personal choice to rise above ones circumstances and demonstrate the
ownership necessary for achieving desired results to see it, own it, solve it and do it.

Ownership
Accountability
ABOVE THE LINE Responsibility
Opportunities

Blame
BELOW THE LINE Excuses
Denial
Drama
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
Don’t look for a magic wizard to solve your problems (you are the wizard)

Activity:
Consider examples where you have acted below the line and consider what else you
could have done in that situation to take more control over your circumstances.
BOOK REVIEW

CH. 2

THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD:

GETTING STUCK IN THE VICTIM CYCLE

Everyone can fall below the line. Invoking excuses is easier than accepting responsibility. It’s
safe and comforting below the line, but you are trapped and cannot move towards results.

To be able to move towards accountability you need to be able to recognise that you are in the
victim cycle. Once you can see the signals you can start to move out of it.

Stages of Victimization
1 Ignore/Deny – you pretend not to know there is a problem or act unaware that the
problem affects you.
2 It’s Not My Job – you duck responsibility because you don’t want the hassle or extra
work. “That’s not my responsibility someone else needs to take care of it.” In days where
roles where heavily reliant on the job description this approach may have been valid, but
nowadays roles are a lot more fluid.
3 Finger Pointing – you blame others and excuse your own
contribution to the problem. This happens all the time between Key Point:
individuals departments and different management levels. “If It is human and
only they would change, all my problems would be solved. natural to fall into
4 Instead of the constant blame game accept responsibility for the victim cycle
your own role and take action. from time to time
Confusion – you claim confusion and ask others what you
5 should do or complain of mixed messages so use that to defend
inaction. “Tell me what to do” – going into child state. Some corporate cultures may
encourage this – ‘just do what you are told!’
Cover Your Tail – you craft and elaborate story to explain why you can’t be to blame.
6 Could involve documenting absolutely everything, building alibis or sending emails for
sake of proof that ‘I did my part.’ Most of the time this just uses unnecessary energy and
resources.
Wait and See – you withhold action in the hope that things will miraculously improve.
Usually while you wait, your competitors (or colleagues) will act and you will be left behind
(or sacked!)

How to Know you are Below the Line

Are you stuck in victimization? Look for these signals -
• You feel you lack any control over your • You think you are been treated
present circumstances unfairly and can’t do anything about it
• You don’t listen when people tell you • You find yourself acting defensively a
that you could have done more lot of the time
• You find yourself blaming others and • You spend a lot of time talking about
pointing fingers things you cannot change
• Your discussions focus on what you • You say ‘It’s not my job’ ‘there is
can’t do rather than what you can do nothing I can do’ ‘let’s wait and see’
• You fail to confront the toughest • You talk about being taken advantage
issues you face of
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
We can all get stuck in the victim cycle but we can choose whether we stay
there!

Activity:
Consider what is going on in your life right now and ask yourself these questions:

Are there any issues you are ignoring?

What are you spending a lot of time talking/thinking about over which you have no
control?

Who are you blaming for things that are happening?

What do you think is unfair in your life?

BOOK REVIEW

CH. 3

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME:

FOCUSSING ON RESULTS

Common Misconception: Accountability is something that comes up when there is a problem

in order to allocate blame.

This is how many people experience accountability and so no wonder people resist it. When
things go wrong often organisations get locked in a blame game of finding who is accountable
for the mistake. We must move away from this ‘who done it’ and ‘craft your story’ game if we
are to start to see the true benefits of accountability.

Remember the Oz Principle definition of accountability - a personal choice to rise above ones
circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results to see it,
own it, solve it and do it.

This definition helps us to see accountability in a positive perspective Key Point:

where we focus on what we can do to overcome challenges. It Assigning blame
focuses on holding people to account for current and future actions does not remove
whereas traditional interpretations of accountability focus your accountability
accountability on past actions. The later approach encourages blame to deliver results
and story-telling to avoid accountability. The former approach
focuses on what you can do to achieve the results you have set for
yourself.

When we view accountability from only an individual perspective things slip through the cracks
because, we reason, that is someone else’s responsibility. Accountability is a team commitment
to achieving results, it is not just about doing your job.

Joint accountability is hard to find because it is difficult to create. It comes from a laser focus
on the results of the organisation. It takes time, effort and commitment to this. But when
organisations stay above the line the benefits are so strong they do not want to slip below it
again.

Even when we are truly victimised we must show some accountability for the outcomes we
experience. Rarely is someone 100% victim.

Signals you are operating above the line:

• You invite candid feedback from • You own your circumstances and
others about your performance your results
• You don’t want anyone to hide the • You recognise when you are drop-
truth ping below the line and act quickly
• You acknowledge reality including • You make things happen
problems • You ask ‘what else can I do to drive
• You always commit 100% to what you my results?’
are doing
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
Accountability works best when people share ownership of responsibilities and
tasks

Activity:
Clarify the results you are working towards.

What are the 2-3 big picture goals that you are working towards in your role?

Why are these goals important to you?

How will you know when you have achieved them?

BOOK REVIEW

PART 2
THE POWER OF ACCOUNTABILITY: MOVING YOURSELF ABOVE THE LINE

CH. 4
THE LION –
MUSTERING THE COURAGE TO SEE IT

Taking accountability and admitting that you have the means to overcome your circumstances
takes courage.

Failing to accept changing external circumstances or resisting change is a below the line
behaviour.

It takes courage to:

1 Recognise when you 2 Realise that remaining 3 Acknowledge and accept

have fallen below the below the line leads to reality as the first step in
line poor results taking accountability.

Embracing reality involves seeing a different perspective than the Key Point:
version you have been telling yourself up to now and may involve Facing reality
admitting you are at fault or doing something that you don’t want to means facing your
do. In this process you shed the protective cocoon of the victim story. fears – fear that
You must recognise your victim story and start to see things as they you are not good
really are. enough and fear of
rejection.
If you fail to see reality the consequences will be severe – failed
company strategy, lost jobs and company losses.

SEE IT
To start to see reality more clearly, review the victim cycle symptoms from Ch2 and see if you
can relate to any of them. These are signs that you may be hiding from reality. Other people
can be a great source of feedback that can increase self-awareness. Approach colleagues for
feedback and let them know your motivation for wanting feedback and that you would like
them to be honest with you. When receiving the feedback listen carefully, ask questions and
don’t get defensive. Once you start to get more feedback you will start to see things as others
see them. If you get negative feedback in a performance review or informally, instead of
leaning away from it, lean into it. Seek more feedback in this area and act with courage to face
the fact that you might wrong and acting below the line. However by seeking feedback you are
immediately starting to act above the line and taking the first steps in your road to
accountability.
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
It takes courage to see things as they really are and to step out of the victim
cycle.

Activity:
Consider some negative feedback you have received recently or at any time in your
professional career.

At the time what was your response to that feedback?

What were you choosing not to see?

What new perspective could you take on it now?

How can this situation help your future development

BOOK REVIEW

CH. 5

THE TIN MAN -

FINDING THE HEART TO OWN IT

Only by accepting full ownership of all the past and present behaviour that keeps you in your
current circumstances can you hope to improve things. This is the second step of acting above
the line. Ownership shouldn’t depend on circumstances. We tend to take credit when things
are going well and distance ourselves when things are bad. But ownership is ownership
regardless of outcomes.

In the victim cycle we usually see things in black and white. In reality things are mostly grey and
things are not as clear cut as we like to think. There is really a situation where we are completely
innocent of any blame.

To help you take more ownership, consider:

1 What facts which you 2 If you were to face the 3 What were the
knew to exist did you situation again what warning signs along
choose not to would you do the way?
acknowledge? differently?

4 What could you have learnt from similar 5 Can you see how your behaviour and
experiences that could have helped you actions prevented you from getting
to avoid a negative outcome? the results you wanted?

Once you start to answer these tough questions you start to see
where you had opportunities to take more ownership and shoulder Key Point:
some responsibility for things that have gone wrong. Most admired
companies treat
OWN IT their employees
Too many people have lost the heart to own their circumstances and exceptionally well
this erodes organisational performance. In the new knowledge which is a factor in
economy, geographies are dissolved and workers increasingly and a result of their
become disposable and part of the freelance economy. Are these success
freelance workers as engaged as full time staff and does their
employment status give them another reason to not take full
accountability in their role? Companies that fail to address these challenges and consider how
they can structure service and incentives to place accountability on their employees will
ultimately build a culture of covering up, blame and inaction.

Truly owning the circumstances that you face requires you to make a link between what has
happened and all the factors contributing to the problem, however much that may implicate
you. Then can you move to ownership – the ability to connect current circumstances with what
I have done and the ability to tie future circumstances with what I am going to do.

To assess your level of ownership work through the ownership self-assessment on the following
page.
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
Owning it requires a candid acknowledgement of things that you and others
would probably rather sweep under the carpet. See both sides of the story.

Activity:
Ownership self-assessment

Consider a situation where you see yourself as the victim of circumstance

Now consider the other version of the story – how did you contribute? Answer these
questions
.
1. Can you cite the most convincing point of the ‘other story’ that ‘they’ are telling?

2. If you wished to warn someone else in a similar situation not to make the same
mistakes what would you tell them?

3. What facts did you choose to ignore

4. What facts should you add to the story that you have left out?

5. What would you do differently if facing this situation again?

Now list 4 accountable facts about the situation.

Then score yourself on how accountable you feel for that fact on a scale of 1-10, a score
of 1 means you do not feel at all accountable, 10 means you feel fully accountable.

Add up your total score and divide by the number of facts you listed.

A low score can indicate that you are failing to take accountability or that you truly are a
victim of circumstance – either way it is not helpful to stay here. The accountable accepts
whatever ways they contributed to the situation and tries to overcome them. Even true
victims cannot move forward until they can be accountable for where they go from here.
Owning your circumstances gives you the strength to overcome the powerlessness of
being a victim.

A high score indicates you are acting above the line and now taking accountability for
your role in the situation.
BOOK REVIEW

CH. 6

THE SCARECROW –
OBTAINING THE WISDOM TO SOLVE IT

Solve it means to discover and tackle real problems, not changing things for changes sake.
Acknowledging reality and accepting your role in creating your circumstances will achieve little
if you fail to tackle problems and remove obstacles on the road to results. To do so you must
exercise wisdom.

Solve it can come before problems even arise – it can look like anticipating what problems
could occur and preparing for the worst. This allows you to be on the front foot when problems
occur. The solve it attitude and behaviour stems from continuously
asking, What else can I do? By doing this you avoid slipping into the Key Point:
victim cycle when challenges arise. Even intelligent,
hardworking,
Many within organisation become passive and a product of their accountable
circumstances. They get stuck in the victim cycle and bemoan that employees can get
there is nothing they can do to improve their situation. Anyone at any stuck at the solve it
level of an organisation who acknowledges reality and owns the stage as they fall
circumstances surrounding the dissatisfaction with their job can back into old habits
develop the wisdom to solve it and removes the obstacles
preventing them from attaining full job satisfaction.

How to find the wisdom to solve it:

Stay Engaged – keep Persist – continue to ask Think Differently - look

trying and keep the solve it question – for creative ways to
focussing on what what else can I do? solve problems
solutions can be done

Create New Linkages – Take the Initiative – take Stay Conscious –

look for ways you can accountability for overcome your auto
build new connections delivering solutions pilot mode and pay
and relationships to attention to everything
address challenges

The scarecrow always had the brains he needed, just as you have the wisdom to solve your own
problems. Those acting above the line in solve it mode continue to look for new ways to
achieve goals and refuse to be defeated.
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
Push the question – ‘What else can we do to achieve the result?’ to your team
and challenge them to come up with the answers.

Activity:
Challenge yourself to do more.

Consider the three big picture goals you wrote down in the activity in Ch. 3. Now ask
yourself, what else could I be doing that I am not already doing to make progress towards
those goals? Come up with at least 10 ideas for each goal. Make no decisions yet about
what you will do, the purpose is to generate as many ideas as possible.

Goal One

Goal Two

Goal Three
BOOK REVIEW

CH. 7

DOROTHY:
EXERSISING THE MEANS TO DO IT

The final step of living above the line is to ‘do it’. If you don’t get it done you will never see the
full benefit of achieving accountability.

‘Do It’ means embracing your full responsibility towards results and remaining
answerable to your progress towards those results.

Any effort that falls short of making it happen and getting it done
indicates a lack of full acceptance of accountability. Doing it requires
Key Point:
that you work continually to stay above the line. Accountability is a
The line between
process and you can fall below the line at any stage. Fear of failure
solve it and do it
may cause people to stop after solve it and not take the risk into
separates good
execution. Most people fail to ‘do it’ because they get pulled back
companies from
below the line into the victim cycle. There is a natural resistance to
great ones.
the perceived risk of taking full accountability for your actions.

The line between solve it and do it separates good companies from

great ones. Great organisations welcome the risks that comes with actions. In these
organisations they create a sense of urgency over taking action. They give real autonomy and
responsibility to the people on the ground who need to take action, rather than getting lost in
micromanaging and layers of approval and bureaucracy.

If you fail to ‘do it’ continuously you set yourself up for failure in the long run. Don’t sit back
and fail to take action even if things seem to be going well. The lack of company-wide
accountability will cause steep declines for the business as soon as problems occur.

The ‘do it’ attitude helps you recover from failure faster. As soon as you take accountability for
your role in the problem you can work through the steps and commit to take action to
overcome the current circumstances. Without action you will remain stuck and continue to
under achieve. This ability to take action means tackling issues head on and having the tough
conversations that you don’t necessarily want to have.

Only when Dorothy was able to utilise the skills and talents that she possessed all along could
she cement her own accountability for her circumstances and the results that she wanted. She
always had the means to get home but wasn’t able to action it until she understand the power
of personal accountability.
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
To Do It is a continuous process, face the risk every day to take action and get it
done.

Activity:
Take Action

Review the ideas you came up with in the previous chapter. Select the ideas from each
goal that you feel the most energy behind and want to take forward.

What are the ideas you want to act on?

What is the very next steps you need to take?

Can anyone else help you?

BOOK REVIEW

PART 3
RESULTS THROUGH COLLECTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY: HELPING YOUR
ORGANISATION PERFORM ABOVE THE LINE

CH. 8
THE GOOD WHICH GLINDA:
MASTERING ABOVE THE LINE LEADERSHIP

Getting your organisation above the line requires every individual to take accountability for
results. This requires above the line leadership.

Glinda mentors and coaches the group on their journey and guides them in the right direction.
She doesn’t do the work but encourages and supports them along the way. Glinda is our
inspiration for above the line leadership.

An above the line leader, seeks and provides feedback, holds themselves accountable as much
as others and desires to help others to follow their lead. These leaders are not immune to
falling below the line but they don’t stay there for long. They recognise when others are stuck
below the line and want to help them get out of the victim cycle. They won’t fall for a victim
story and drive relentlessly to get to the core of what is going wrong. They dismiss the blame
game and denial and uncover and solve the real problems.
Key Point:
Behaviours of an above the line leader: Helping people to
stay above the line
• Constantly ask yourself – what else can I do to achieve results and involves helping
encourage your team to ask this question also them to see it, own
• Invite others to give you feedback on if they see you acting above it, solve it and do it
the line despite the
• Provide honest yet encouraging feedback when you see others challenges they
acting below the line face that are
• Actively observe activities and offer coaching rather than waiting beyond their
for updates control.
• Don’t delay reporting progress to your superiors
• Focus discussions on what you can control rather than on what
you can’t control
• Recognise when you fall below the line and avoid acting defensively when you get
feedback from others.
BOOK REVIEW

Coaching skills of above the line leaders:

Listen – remain alerts for signs of victim behaviour and listen

sympathetically

Acknowledge – accept the victim facts and genuine obstacles

Ask – edge the discussion towards the accountable version – what else
can you do?

Coach – use the steps to accountability to identify where they stand and
where they need to go. Explain the 4 steps to accountability and explain
it is natural to fall below the line but that it never yields results

Commit – dedicate yourself to helping them create an action plan and

set a time to follow up with thems

Accounting for progress

It is necessary for leaders to review the performance of individuals after the work in order for
people to measure progress towards results, learn from their experience, instil a sense of
accomplishment and determine what else could have been done.

Too many leaders fail to hold team members accountable, instead they:

• Adopt a wait and see approach and hope people do the right thing
• Avoid having the tough conversations about performance, assuming that this would
damage the relationship
• Allow troublesome issues to stay locked away
• Tolerate excuses as true representations of reality in the hope the problem will fix itself
• Allow other responsibilities to consume their time and not make time for accounting for
others
• Fail to convince people of the value in reporting for progress – their low priority
becomes their peoples low priority
• Insufficiently clarify expectation or inadequately explain progress of accounting
• Do not set a specific reporting time table or schedule
• Fail to coach individuals towards desired outcomes
• Do not understand that holding people accountable does not need to be an
unpleasant experience.
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
Above the line leaders recognise that the above behaviours do not help them
to reach their goals and take the action required to hold their team
accountable.

Activity:
Leading others to accountability

Consider what tasks are ongoing that you are failing to follow up on with others?

How regularly are you coaching your team?

Do you let others get away with blaming and victim stories as excuses?

Use the steps to coaching to have more positive interactions with your team/colleagues.
How did the conversation go?
BOOK REVIEW

CH. 9

THE EMERALD CITY AND BEYOND:

GETTING YOUR ENTIRE ORGANISATION ABOVE THE LINE

You can create and sustain a culture of accountability throughout your entire organisation by
following these five steps:

1. Training everyone at every level

Everyone needs to understand what accountability means and know the positive relationship
between accountability and results. Your training of everyone should include:
- Help people recognise below the line viewpoints
- Assist them in transitioning to a new view of accountability
- Work to lock in the new above the line perspectives

2. Coaching accountability

No organisation can consistently operate above the line without Key Point:
consistent feedback. Employees need to agree to provide honest, Building a culture of
respectful and timely feedback to help everyone recognise when accountability
they fall below the line and help them to get above the line. Ask in a comes from role
supportive and encouraging way – what else could you/we have modelling and
done to achieve results? reinforcement from
senior leadership
3. Asking above the line questions

Anyone trying to stay above the line can ask these questions:

What aspects of this What aspects of this What can we control

situation will most likely situation will most likely and what can’t we
pull us below the line in pull us below the line in control?
the future? the future?

Have we fallen below What are we Which areas of joint

the line? pretending not to know accountability may
about our allow us to drop the
accountability? ball?

Which areas of joint Does anyone involved Who is accountable for

accountability may fail to own the achieving results and in
allow us to drop the decisions we have what timeframe?
ball? made?

What have we learnt from our recent experience that we can apply as we move forward?
BOOK REVIEW

4. Rewarding accountability

The culture of the organisation needs to recognise and reward above the line behaviours. If
below the line behaviours are tolerated these behaviours will spread. Align the performance
management and promotion procedures with rewards for above the line behaviours.
Recognise day to day behaviours of people who step up and take accountability. The leaders
need to role model the way and highlight positive examples of living above the line.

5. Holding people accountable

Accountability should not mean that you overload people with projects to the point to which
they cannot manage the workload. Often organisations end up in an unspoken contract where
managers add project after project but don’t follow through on holding the individual
accountable for outcomes – because they know the workload is unattainable! In accountable
organisations reporting on progress is critical, this accelerates and improves performance.
Follow these steps to hold people accountable without punishing them:

1. Clearly define the desired result

2. Determine a mutually agreeable time for a progress report
3. Deliver praise or coach them to do better

Lesson: Building an organisation that stays above the line is a continuous process that requires
culture change and ongoing monitoring and action

LESSON:
Building an organisation that stays above the line is a continuous process that
requires culture change and ongoing monitoring and action

Activity:
Raising your whole organisation up

Of the steps above which can you influence in your organisation?

What steps can you start right now to build a culture of accountability?

Who can you get on board to support you?

BOOK REVIEW

CH. 10

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW:

APPLYING OZ PRINCIPLES TO THE TOUGHEST ISSUES IN BUSINESS TODAY

Here are the top 10 most threatening unresolved organisational Key Point:
issues according to the authors. These issues are stifling All of these key
organisations in their quest to become more competitive, more organisational
profitable and more successful. What is the link between these issues can in part be
challenges and accountability?
tackled by an
increased focus on
accountability

Poor Communication – people People Development – people tend

complain of poor communication to blame their lack of advancement on
between team members, managers and the organisation for not providing the
employees, departments. This problem is support, tools and training they need to
pandemic. Accountability places more develop. They wait and hope to be
importance on communication – you acknowledged and nurtured. Those that
need to know in real time what is working take steps to act above the line and play
and what isn’t. Communication is critical a role in their own development will see
for accountability and accountability is the benefits. They make it known they
critical for open communication. Instead want to advance, take steps to improve
of making excuses for a lack of their skills, seek feedback and look for
communication and complaining about it mentors and coaches. Those who chose
apply the accountability steps to do to stay victimised and not take action will
something about it. seldom advance.

Empowerment – Is empowerment Misalignment – Organisations need a

something that is given by management clear focus and strategy, often people
or claimed by employees? Empowered to within the organisation hold different
get results and accountable for results are views of that vision and how to execute it.
two sides of the same coin. Managers To ignore the issues of misalignment is to
should empower their team yes, but also act below the line. If you see it, say it.
individuals should realise that they must Accept your own role in perpetuating
empower themselves. Empowerment can misalignment and take what steps you
come by seeing it, owning it, solving it can to ensure you are in line with the
and doing it. company’s focus.
BOOK REVIEW

Entitlement – Over time people can Work and Personal life Imbalance –
become accustomed to the organisations Most high achievers struggle with the
events, celebrations, special treatment, balance between work and home life.
rewards and bonuses. They become to Work-life balance is an issue for the
expect it and it is no longer a reward but person themselves. Partners, colleagues
an expectation. Demand for better and bosses cannot solve this problem.
bottom line results mean that many Use the four steps to accountability to
organisation must rethink their reward gain understanding of the problem and
programmes. When they do people can decide what steps you need to take.
quickly slip below the line and forget that Recognise how you are contributing to
benefits should be linked to performance. the problem and find the courage to take
To be accountable means acknowledging the action required to attain more
that nothing is guaranteed and you must balance. Managers must also build a
work for the privileges that come with culture where finding balance is
excellent performance. encouraged.

Poor Performance – By failing to Senior Management Development

confront poor performance organisations – Senior managers are often unable to
foster feelings of victimisation amongst get honest feedback from their team
people who perform poorly but don’t members. Both employees and senior
know it and therefore cant improve. Poor management must accept that feedback
performers, if not confronted will get creates accountability. Managers assume
worse and feel betrayed when feedback accountability for getting feedback by
comes too late. Management must learn making it known that they want it and
to confront performance issues in a direct, value it. Employees must take the risk to
considered and timely manner. give helpful feedback to their superiors.

Cross-Functional Strife – Sales v Programitus – This is the endemic of

Operations, Finance v Procurement, HR v new management fads that come around
Management. Your organisations enemy - core competencies, business
is not the other person or department, reorganisations, business reengineering,
the enemy is the cross functional strife total quality management, zero based
itself. You must step outside your budgeting, just in time production,
functional silo and reach across the lines learning organisations and so on.
to focus on mutual results. Take Consultants push the latest fad, pushing
accountability to get to know people and changes that fail to live up to their
understand their perspective. This is expectations. These management
something that anyone at any level can philosophies can produce results but too
do, instead of playing the blame game. many organisations look for the latest
saving tool when results will only come
from building a culture of accountability
to results. Almost anything will work once
you get above the line.
BOOK REVIEW

LESSON:
The power lies within each employee to overcome some of the organisations
most difficult challenges.

Activity:
Identify and overcome challenges

Which of the above challenges do you recognise in your organisation?

What can you do for yourself to not fall victim to these challenges?

How can you encourage others to take more accountability?