Are you confronting your toughest problems? What about when someone tells you that you could have done a better job? Do you find yourself in a defensive mindset? What about the executive team?
Organizational excellence is tough to achieve. At the forefront there must be a great leader and a savvy executive team. At the core must be accountability: the willingness to do what is needed to get the job done. Everyone agrees accountability is key, but too many executives can’t discern when accountability is being replaced by blaming and complaining. By listening to what is being said, you can determine if your group is on the downhill slide into defensive excuse-making before it chokes high performance and productivity.
The essence of accountability is personal responsibility: what can I do to make it happen? No matter what the circumstance, no matter who is not stepping up, the mindset must be I will do what I can to make it happen. The opposite attitude builds an insidious blame and complain culture. Even the sharpest leaders and teams can fall into the trap of accepting reasons why objectives are not and cannot be achieved. Excuses and a victim mindset can get the best of us. I have sat in many executive board rooms where conversations were filled with phrases such as:
“I don’t understand why (sales, operations, etc.) department can’t get it together. Every month they repeat the same mistakes as last month.”
“We can’t make our numbers as long as he/she leads the team.”
“I think we should wait a bit and see if there is a change. I’m sure there’s going to be a change.”
“It’s not this team’s fault that we’re not achieving the goals.”
“I don’t have time to mentor that person — I didn’t have anyone mentor me, and I am doing just fine.”
“I send them email after email, and I never get a response.”
The one obstacle that does the most damage is when a leader knows that a particular executive team member simply refuses to change rigid and defensive posturing; and, the leader responds: “I know he/she is the problem – they’ve always been that way.”
This reluctance to address the real problem results in the leader’s loss of credibility with the rest of the team as the leader ‘makes allowances for one person.’ Others in the organization hear this, and the message is: it’s OK not to hold others accountable. You know the rest of the story.
Once a team is made aware of the vocabulary they have been using, the members can see that they unknowingly have created a limiting set of attitudes. A smart team will immediately self-correct, and the return of energy and can-do attitude is immediate and palpable.
In adverse times, bad economies, health crises, etc, it is dangerous to focus on outward circumstances that excuse poor performance. The key is to find out what we can do. Successful companies that survive will be the ones with disciplined thinking that result in problem-solving actions.
What are you hearing? What are you saying? Are you accepting good intentions?
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