CHAPTER 1

What Managing for Accountability: A Business Leader’s Toolbox Promises You

Accountability is a choice, a decision you want each of your employees to make. Accountable employees demonstrate ownership and take responsibility for results. Employees with accountability invest themselves in your organization; they give 100 percent. They do what they say they will, and more.

Accountable employees ask:

When you view the inside of an organization staffed by accountable employees, you see employees who:

Accountable employees make an owner or executive’s work life easier and fuel an organization’s success.

Accountable employees also benefit from enhanced professional fulfillment, along with increased respect and recognition from their managers and colleagues.

Making Accountability Happen

Accountability doesn’t happen by chance. Although business owners and executives agree that employees can create an organization’s competitive advantage, few know exactly how to inspire employees to be “all in,” fully invested, and engaged in their work. Creating an accountable organization requires that an owner, executive, and manager make the right choices, take the correct actions, and use finely honed skills and strategies.

In Managing for Accountability, you will learn:

Each chapter of Managing for Accountability provides you tools, skills, and solutions, along with actionable strategies for maintaining your employees’ commitment, excitement, and effort. You will find the chapters chockful of useful tips and well organized to enable you to return to them for a quick reference when you need an immediate tactic.

The net result you will receive from reading and using the strategies presented in Managing for Accountability—you will manage employees who are “all in” and do what they say they will—and more. You will gain 100 percent value from your payroll dollars.

Here’s your guided tour through the chapters:

In Chapter 2, you will learn what it means to have a workplace in which your employees act with accountability, tackle problems, overcome obstacles, and achieve results. You will understand how accountability starts with you and how your leadership defines a culture of accountability. You will uncover key strategies for assessing and upgrading your workplace culture.

In Chapter 3, you will learn how to attract quality candidates and screen them for accountability. If you have ever hired a lion and discovered you instead on-boarded a kitty, you will learn what to do and what not to do in your future recruitment endeavors when screening and interviewing to avoid unwanted surprises.

In Chapter 4, you will learn strategies and tools for creating accountability and forward momentum in your employees. You will learn how to get your employees aligned and moving in the direction you want. You will learn how to lead your employees to take initiative and to give 100 percent.

In Chapter 5, you will learn how to create an accountability environment in your business. You will gain actionable strategies and tools for creating, increasing, and measuring accountability. You will learn how to use scores, goals, and incentives to incite your employees to win for themselves and your organization.

In Chapter 6, you will learn how to inspire your employees to work harder and as one team, united toward a common goal. You will learn the specific steps that build a high-performance team and how to lead high-energy team events.

In Chapter 7, you will learn how to press the reset button should an employee start to slip. You will learn how to effectively address broken promises, unmet expectations, and other work performance and attitude issues that get in the way of maximum performance.

In Chapter 8, you will learn how to coach your employees, deepening their personal and professional accountability and commitment. You will learn concrete strategies for increasing every employee’s commitment, job satisfaction, and connection to your organization’s mission and goals.

In Chapter 9, you will learn proven strategies for retaining your best employees and for avoiding the missteps that often lead good employers to lose their best employees.

Chapter 10 focuses on tailoring your accountability management strategies for Gen X, Y, and Z employees, who often don’t respond as well to traditional managerial strategies.

How I Can Make These Promises to You?

For 39 years, I ran a nationally respected management consulting company in which all employees aligned with our company’s mission and vision. I teach accountability to business owners, executives, managers, and supervisors.

I have directly worked with more than 4,300 organizations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Washington D.C., China, England, Guam, Japan, and Korea. My clients have included British Petroleum, Conoco Phillips, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the World Bank.

I have qualified in court as an expert witness in the areas of Management Best Practices, Human Resources, and Workplace Issues.

I commit to you an enjoyable read and a book you can learn from. Managing for Accountability provides proven strategies and tools you can immediately apply and includes real-world examples that show how these tools and strategies have worked for others and can prove successful for you.¹

¹ Throughout Managing for Accountability, “employees” refers to managers and employees.