Almost every top leader I’ve ever talked with wants to attract and hire the best, most knowledgeable workers they can find, and then complains about the mediocre levels of employee accountability and engagement in the firm.
Hmmm…groceries in, garbage out.
You probably know what BUILT TO LEAD would say about this. “If you want more accountability and engagement, go first.” That means top leaders should step up and model accountability and engagement. But for what should they be accountable, and to what should they engage? Lord knows we don’t want The Boss swinging down out of the high limbs of the tree to mess with OUR jobs. So, if the goal is more accountability and engagement from the troops, my humble answer to this conundrum is this:
The CEO should start doing his or her job.
Ultimately, every leader gets exactly the team he or she deserves. If it lacks accountability and engagement, that’s the CEO’s failure to fulfill the duties and requirements of the CEO’s position.
Here’s a framework for gaining higher accountability and engagement from the team for you CEOs out there who want it:
Stop focusing on tasks and processes. That’s the “WHAT” and the “HOW” of the business. Your team can handle those for a while without you. That’s why you hired them in the first place, remember?
What did the Board hire you to do? Focus on your part of the system. And I’m NOT talking about the stuff in I.T., as in technology systems. “The System” is the whole of all four questions, starting with “WHO” and “WHY.”
Here’s what “the system” looks like:
Identity (who) informs purpose (why), which suggests processes (how), which demand tasks (what).
Throw yourself into your work with full engagement and high accountability to clarify the answers to those first two questions. Those are the tough ones. Identity and purpose. They are the twin sources of accountability and engagement. They are the ones we, the troops, don’t have permission to answer, at least not for the whole business. We’ll be glad to help you, and we’ll want some involvement to make the answers TRUE. But we’d like you to “go first,” as in “lead.”
I don’t know about you, but in 30 years or working in large companies, I never once was inspired to commit my full heart and mind to a process, even a “core” process. Oh sure, I concentrated a lot of energy on processes, and got lost sometimes in the flow of my involvement in many tasks, but never really mustered much passion for that part of the gigs I had.
There were four high points, though, when I was fully “in”–all the way. They were peak career experiences, when the crystal-clear definitions of who we were and why we were in business captured my heart and mind, and I gave myself fully to those gigs. For me, I had absolutely no problem accepting full accountability for my part of the mission, and I was totally engaged to make them all successes. Everyone I worked with, and for, were similarly “in.” Man, was THAT cool. We all were aligned. We all trusted each other, simply because we each could see the passion for the mission in each other. Today, I am forever grateful to the leaders who brought about the clarity of “who” and “why” we were what we were. Thank you, Pete, Debbie, Rob, and Chet.
So CEOs, take some time to give us the reasons for committing. “How” and “What” are MEANINGLESS without “Who” and “Why” informing them. If you don’t do your job, our jobs lose their meaning. It’s really tough to engage in meaningless processes and tasks with much accountability. Give us a CAUSE we can buy into. Show us a HERO (that would be you) we can follow who models what he or she seeks in us. Stop doing OUR jobs. Do YOURS. Accountably. With engagement.
Here’s a strong tip for how to get started: Do you know who YOU are and why YOU’RE here? Really? Deeply? Truly? If so, proceed.
If not, how can you give your team the answers to who THEY are and why THEY are here?
Is this making any sense to you?
BUILT TO LEAD 