Accountability and Ownership

Lisa Haneberg VP of OD, MPI Consulting

lhaneberg@managementperformance.com 513-638-0828

Accountability and Ownership Lisa Haneberg

Intro Putting Performance Management in Context

Performance management practices occur throughout an employees year and career. Although the performance management system is punctuated by larger events like goal setting and evaluation the methods that most improve performance are those that occur each week and that are embedded in how the workplace operates. It is rare that an employee will state that he or she is unable to do his or her best work because his or her manager does a poor job of giving an evaluation. Performance management events, like evaluations, make only a small impact on performance when compared to regular managerial habits and regimens. Your performance management process should support your managerial efforts and intentions and should: Clarify excellence. Your performance management system should provide a clear picture of great performance so that employees know what to shoot for. Most employees want to do a great job, but often dont clearly understand expectations. Facilitate substantive conversations between managers and employees regarding goals, performance, and development. Be nimble Performance management practices should help people focus on whats most important, even when priorities change throughout the year. Provide effective feedback and data so that great performance can be reinforced and inadequate performance managed. Catalyze and inspire performers to do their best work. Performance management refers to a set of practices that managers use to improve team and individual employee work outcomes. These practices can be clustered into types: Preparing for performance: e.g. Expectations, goal setting, roles definitions, relationship building. Supporting performance: e.g. Coaching, counseling, advocacy, team building, one-on-ones, workplace culture. Measuring performance: e.g. Evaluation, reinforcement, metrics.
Accountability and Ownership Lisa Haneberg 2

Another way to categorize and understand performance management practices is into two impacts of the performance culture: Accountability. Ownership. We will explore the distinctions between practices that affect accountability and those that improve ownership throughout this article.

Accountability and Ownership

To improve performance, managers need to adopt practices that help team members do their best work. Accountability and ownership are two distinct managerial systems that managers build and reinforce by practicing different habits and methods. Great managers are able to improve both accountability and ownership and create resultsoriented workplaces where team relationships, nimbleness, and collaboration are exceptional.

Accountability and Ownership Lisa Haneberg

Accountability The accountability system is used to ensure that all employees understand what their managers expect from them, what excellence looks like in action, how they are performing, and when and how they need to adjust work practices. Accountability is something that managers build into their daily schedules. Managers hold employees accountable. They do this through a system of actions including: Clarifying and aligning roles ensuring that the right people are doing the right work. Defining, communicating and describing expectations so that all employees know what excellence looks like in terms of performance and behaviors. Providing timely, candid, and clear feedback about how employees are performing. Measuring work and processes against the highest priority goals. Great metrics tell people the score. Evaluating employees periodically to give them a good picture for their overall contributions to the organization and to define development plan items. Rewarding performance and outcomes that are in alignment with your expectations and definitions of excellence. Recognizing great effort and work, including excellence in teaming and collaboration. Providing meaningful consequences for performance that continues to not meet standards. If your organization is lacking accountability - then something is out of alignment in your accountability system. Many organizations fail to adequately define excellence and struggle to hold people accountable for the standards they communicate.

Accountability and Ownership Lisa Haneberg

Ownership Ownership is not something that managers can demand employees choose whether to OWN their work, their departments goals, and their organization's mission. Managers need to create a work environment that improves the likelihood of high employee engagement and ownership. Employees choose to feel and display ownership. Ownership happens when employees give discretionary effort and put 100%+ to a task. These moments transcend the basic employee-employer relationship and show a higher level of connection and commitment. You cannot force ownership to happen, but you can create an environment where ownership is more likely to flourish. Elements of the ideal environment include: Challenging work and interesting problems to solve. Connection to the work, the team, and/or the industry/organization. Stronger connections are those that bring people together. A feeling of being cared for. Managers who show they care and make their employees feel special will earn more employee ownership. Collaboration and partnership. When people work together to seize and opportunity or solve a problem, they tend to engage and feel more pride for their work (increasing connection, too). Opportunities to grow as a person and in a profession. Your employees want to feel like they are expanding their skills and staying up to date in their chosen field. Autonomy to make choices that affect their work. A feeling that their work has meaning and is important to the organization. Work and workplaces that are fun and lighthearted. Managers can improve ownership by creating a workplace that is intrinsically motivating. Small but sincere gestures of care and concern go a long way toward showing your team members how important they are to you.

Accountability and Ownership Lisa Haneberg

Hello! I hope that you enjoyed this article and found it helpful. Please let me know if you would like to discuss the use of this model to develop your managers performance management skills. We offer interactive 4-hour and 8-hour training sessions that help managers understand how their day-to-day actions impact (and how they can improve) accountability and ownership. We also offer a training in a box product option that includes a facilitators guide, PowerPoint presentation, and reproducible participants manual.

Lisa Haneberg VP of OD, MPI Consulting lhaneberg@managementperformance.com 513-638-0828 For more information about our work, check out our blog, Management Craft, at www.managementcraft.com or our website at www.managementperformance.com.

Accountability and Ownership Lisa Haneberg