Source Article | Accountability Insights from Partners in Leadership | Adapted Implement the power of The Oz Principle Accountability in today’s organizations. Now, and into the future, accountability will be a competitive advantage that drives engagement, retention, operational efficiency, and bottom-line results. We aren’t talking about the historically negative, punitive view of accountability; we are talking about the positive, forward-looking empowering view of accountability. The New York Times Bestselling Book, The Oz Principle introduced the transformational model known as the Steps To Accountability®. This model consists of two parts separated by a thin line through the middle. Below The Line is where we aren’t taking accountability and where we focus on things we can’t control. We play the blame game, are reactive, and externalize the need for change. Above The Line is where we take accountability, we focus on those things we can control, we are proactive, internalize the need for change and take the See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It® steps to deliver results. The contrast is clear and the benefits are real. Yet so many leaders and organizations still get stuck Below The Line. Now we want to emphasize, it’s not wrong to go Below The Line from time to time. It’s human nature. We all do it. What’s wrong is getting stuck there. Think of the time, energy, and resources wasted when an organization plays the blame game instead of taking ownership for what it can control. Some organizations get creative about helping employees move from unproductive thinking to innovative thinking: They add five minutes to meeting agendas for Below The Line time. Employees are invited to be honest and transparent about challenges. It can be quite therapeutic to share frustrations. But the most powerful aspect of doing this is when the leader guides everyone to make the shift and spend the rest of their meeting Above The Line. It Starts with Results So how can you and your organization create a Culture of Accountability, where people act and think in an Above The Line manner? It starts with aligning on your results. This might seem like common sense, but unfortunately, we have found that it’s not common practice. Many organizations are going 100 mph, but they are not sure where they are headed or what the finish line is. Our studies reinforced this point: our Culture Advantage Index® reveals that today, 95% of senior executive teams do not effectively clarify their organizations’ top priorities—leaving employees with a vague sense of direction and little understanding of how their daily actions impact organizational performance. When we are talking about accountability it starts and ends with clearly defined results. Once the results are clearly defined and understood throughout the organizations, then you can take The Steps to Accountability® - See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It. 1. See It The first step Above The Line is about acknowledging the need for change and evaluating what’s causing the need for change, preparing yourself to make the change, and handling it in an open and candid matter. To be successful at this step, you must openly obtain the perspective of others by asking questions about the situation as well as asking for positive and constructive feedback about how you might impact the change. The perspectives and insight gained may not be what you want to hear—but hearing the hard things is critical in understanding how you need to adapt to the change with agility and effectiveness. 2. Own It The second step is to take ownership of the situation. It’s natural that many people tend to resist change, but this apprehension can cause failure to occur when change is needed in order to win or survive. It’s imperative that you take accountability for the overall needed change. Own the fact that you will encounter some challenges and failures, but never lose sight of the goal while adjusting accordingly. You must also operate on the principle that everyone involved is jointly accountable to get the right result, regardless of how little or how much an individual is accountable to deliver on. 3. Solve It Next is to move into solve it mode and develop your action plan. When identifying possible solutions to facilitate adaptation, it really comes down to asking one question, “What else can I (we) do?” This one question is disruptive in nature and perfect in times of change. It breaks down silos between teams, inspires innovative solutions, and helps you assess when a risk must be taken. When asking this simple question, it’s important to understand that “what else” often means “think differently,” not “do more.” 4. Do It The final step is to execute the change. This step is about follow through and staying accountable to your team. Trust is built throughout this entire process, but it’s here where you truly are accountable to one another to get the right result. Success will come by being honest, transparent, and not blaming one another. Impact of a Culture of Accountability This model and process works, it’s memorable, and it’s scalable through an entire organization. In a recent conversation with an SVP at a Fortune 100 Company he shared that he first saw this model in 1998, 22 years ago, and he has used it every day since. Imagine the impact that would come if you your entire organization aligned around this process and you created a Culture of Accountability. Consider the journey of one of the largest medical device companies in the World as they worked to embrace and champion accountability. The company had experienced excellent sales growth, but significant industry changes, depressed market conditions and formidable competitors put them in a challenging position. Making matters worse, their customer satisfaction and employee engagement ratings were in serious decline. The team easily could have been stuck blaming economic conditions, competitors or a host of other issues outside of their control. They could have been victims of the change, or champions of the change. They decided to become champions of the change and move Above The Line, to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do It®. They held SOSD meetings focused on Above The Line thinking and solutions. As management led the way, the rest of the company felt empowered to get on board and take accountability for making it happen. Within 8 months the company doubled sales, significantly improved their customer satisfaction and achieved record employee engagement ratings. As you and your organization take The Steps to Accountability® and create a Culture of Accountability it will be a significant competitive advantage that drives results now, and far into the future. Culture Forte is the Authorized Representative for Partners in Leadership in Singapore and Partner of DOOR International

Source Article | Accountability Insights from Partners in Leadership | Adapted As we fast-start into 2021, there is a need for leadership alignment, especially amid disruptions, whether you are a large organization or a small start-up. We start off this year sharing with you The Business Case for Company Culture. Leaders who prioritize company culture put their organizations on the fast track to long-term success. A company’s organizational goals, or Key Results, define what they desire to achieve. But to successfully achieve the “what,” employees need to understand the “how.” This is the culture component. Culture and strategy work in tandem to provide employees with a clear roadmap of expectations. By pairing three to five meaningful, measurable, and memorable organizational goals with four to five supporting cultural beliefs, leaders ensure employees understand exactly how they are expected to think and act to reach results. Strong company culture has become a major selling point — right up there with salary and healthcare benefits — for companies looking to recruit the best and brightest talent. But what exactly is company culture? Contrary to popular belief, company culture is not simply defined by quarterly happy hours and office snacks. Rather, company culture relates to the ways in which employees think and act on a daily basis. While Microsoft, Zoom, and HubSpot are infamous for their high-performing company cultures, many companies outside of the tech world are stepping up to the plate. Novelis, the world’s largest producer of flat-rolled aluminum, received significant praise for its commitment to operational excellence through culture management. “You can never overestimate the impact a strong culture has on an organization,” said HR (Shashi) Shashikant, Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer. “If you are genuine and use every means at your disposal to reach and engage your workforce toward specific business goals, the results are astounding.” Our findings prove it: companies that effectively manage their culture have 63% more successful product launches and their employees are 90% more likely to recommend their organization as a great place to work. These companies also deliver nearly 20% higher returns to shareholders relative to comparable companies over a five-year period. But reaching results isn’t the only advantage of culture management. Here are five additional benefits leaders reap when they intentionally cultivate their culture: 1. Strategic Clarity PETRONAS, a Malaysian oil and gas corporation, employs more than 53,000 people today, working in 80 countries and across multiple business pipelines, including accounting, engineering, retail, oil fieldwork, and beyond. While differences in location and job description abound, there’s one thing every PETRONAS employee has in common: a shared commitment to the PETRONAS company culture. This strategic and cultural clarity charted a course forward for the company, helping them rise above the economic downturn. “The upside of a crisis is that you are compelled to do whatever is necessary to ride out the tough times. This includes taking a hard look at your organizational culture. Is it one that helps you weather the storm, or does it need to be strengthened?” said Wan Zulkiflee in a recent interview. “Culture plays a critical part in bringing strategy to life. It’s the foundation that sustains all of our change initiatives.” 2. Top to Bottom Alignment Working in silos can be extremely beneficial for a workforce, allowing employees to become experts in a specific task and take pride in their work and ownership over moving the needle in a specific area. But there’s also a downside to this type of structure. Rather than looking at the big picture — the overall success of the company — siloed teams end up with a very narrow frame of focus. They are unable to keep pace with desired organization-wide results. According to our studies, only 36% of employees believe that individuals within their organization are aligned around a common set of cultural beliefs. What’s more, only 31% of individuals deeply understand how their work connects to their company’s strategic goals. Without a sense of alignment and purpose, business results can quickly slip through the cracks. Culture management gurus don’t just describe what the strategic goals are and how employees should think and act to accomplish them, they also explain why it all matters. This instills a sense of purpose in employees and leads to greater alignment among even the most siloed teams. In fact, employees at companies that intentionally cultivate their company culture are 76% better at working together across the organization to quickly and efficiently handle new projects. 3. Personal Accountability Individuals often externalize the need for change, and it’s easy to see why — it can be uncomfortable to take accountability and closely examine the issues right in front of us. But it can also be empowering. According to The New York Times bestseller, The Oz Principle, accountability is a “personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results.” In organizations with effective company culture, employees are astutely aware of their organization’s top priorities, why they matter, and how they play a part in accomplishing them. As such, they are empowered to take greater accountability when challenges arise. In fact, companies with strong workplace cultures see 53% more personal investment in achieving organizational Key Results among employees. Accountability-driven employees embody the Steps To Accountability (See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It) that promote ownership and propel change. For example, an accountable employee in a warehouse setting is one who sees that a machine is broken, takes ownership over the problem, develops a solution, and then puts that solution into place. They don’t say, “not my problem,” and wait for someone else to intervene, but rather do what’s needed to fix the issue. 4. Employee Engagement Accountable employees take ownership for driving their own improvement. They proactively seek feedback, adjust performance, and deliver better results. As such, accountable employees are also engaged employees. They feel a sense of purpose in their work and understand how they play a part in the overall success of their company. Our studies show this, organizations in the top quartile of accountability have 28% higher rates of employee engagement and 31% more growth potential. To bring this data to light, let’s look at Novelis, the company introduced at the beginning of this paper. CEO Steve Fisher knew something had to change — the survival of the business depended on it. At the company’s Global Leadership Summit, Fisher said “There is a blue ocean of opportunity in front of us. However, as a company, I’ve become convinced we will drown in that ocean if the people in this room don’t change. Accountability must be our vehicle for change.” “Accelerating change by getting accountability right, C-suite to the front line,” became the company’s primary propeller for growth. Under Fisher’s leadership, the senior team at Novelis led and achieved an astonishing transformation by getting people to take greater accountability for their results. As employees gained a renewed sense of direction and purpose, employee engagement scores rose to historic levels, return on capital employed nearly tripled, and profitability increased by 26%. 5. Organizational Agility Nearly 72% of executives believe their business model will be under threat within the next five years. As high as that is, that data predates the disruption of 2020. It’s no wonder “agility” has become a buzzword among leaders seeking to navigate the rapid pace of change in the marketplace and the slew demands spurred by emerging technologies, a global pandemic, and a total upheaval to way of life. As business strategies adapt and align around disruption, so must company cultures. An organizational mindset that is flexible, forward-thinking, and resilient is crucial. Just look at the mindsets behind the CEOs of companies like McDonald’s, Netflix, and Microsoft — all three have led organizational culture shifts designed to facilitate innovation. Without cultural beliefs, employees continue old patterns of thinking and behavior that don’t align with top priorities. On the flip side, without highly targeted, strategic goals, cultural beliefs are like a boat without an anchor — there’s nothing to tie them to. It takes both culture and strategy to succeed. Reaping the Benefits of Effective Company Culture While each of the benefits listed in this article — strategic clarity, top-to-bottom alignment, personal accountability, employee engagement, and organizational agility — is unique, they are also all related. Together, they form the basis of effective culture management and put companies on the path to sustainable success. In companies that get their culture right, employees are 73% more enthusiastic about going to work and 69% more willing to navigate changing situations. They are proud of their companies and proud of themselves for the role they play in attaining organizational goals. But while studies prove that strong company culture is crucial for success, so do our clients. Culture Forte is the Authorized Representative for Partners in Leadership for Singapore and Malaysia

5 Skills People Leaders Need to Exhibit as COVID-19 Recovery Plans Take Shape  Accountabiliy Insights Article reposted from Partners in Leadership, 15 July 2020 As organizations across the world begin to make the transition from a “preservation” to a “restoration” mindset, the pressure to execute has never been greater for many mid-level managers. What was known has become vague, what was expected has become unclear, and what worked before can now feel like a “hope strategy”. The speed and degree of change can be overwhelming, and the shifting priorities can leave teams frustrated and feeling as if they are building a sandcastle during high tide. All of this disruption can leave people leaders building, directing and repairing only to have the next wave seemingly wipe away all their efforts. So, where do you begin? Having spent over 30 years helping organizations develop and shift mindsets to create greater ownership and accountability for results, Partners In Leadership has found 5 key competencies that leaders need to utilize to make the switch from preservation to restoration during disruption. Each is valuable on their own, but when deployed as a system of leadership skills, they help a leader create incredible speed and engagement from their team or organization. Clarity In the absence of clarity of the desired results, individuals tend to self-select the actions they believe are needed—causing teams to seemingly chase everything. While long range objectives may be in place, this is rarely enough during uncertain times. Unfortunately, only 16% of employees surveyed in the Partners In Leadership Culture Advantage Index strongly agree that individuals in their organization are clear on top key results. With the uncertainty we’re facing today, that number is likely much lower, both for short-term results and certainly year-end results. The need for clarity is more important than ever. Besides yearly or quarterly results, what are the top 2-3 priorities to be accomplished by the team in the next 30 days? How will you measure success and ultimately ‘why” should your team be focused in these areas at this time? Keep these priorities simple and measurable and continue to regularly communicate them to your team while you transition into restoration mode. Building a strong comeback for your business will be much easier with everyone aligned around the same goals. Agility During massive change, the ability to learn fast and move fast becomes crucial. Learning has to do with acknowledging our realities; What are we facing? What are we ignoring? What do we have available to us? When teams are able to address the reality they are facing, they are more inclined to find ways to innovate and move around that issue to continue moving toward reaching results. Ask your team, “What are the obstacles getting in the way of making progress?” This question allows your team to willingly acknowledge the reality they are facing. Once they see the obstacle they are facing they can start taking ownership for closing the gaps. Acknowledging reality also looks at what is the role each person plays, how are they involved, and where they need to be more involved. This is a conversation that needs to happen regularly with our teams as a whole and with each individual. If you expect to have engagement and involvement, you need to know where each person stands relative to their mindset and willingness to learn and move fast. Once each team and employee knows how their individual actions contributes to reaching results, they are more inclined to work hard to obtain those results. Visibility Holding a weekly Zoom meeting or daily huddle may not be enough. Just because your team sees you or hears from you does not mean they believe you are accessible for them to express their ideas or concerns. If your team normally has meetings once a week, you might consider doing them two or three times a week. One of them could be the normal length. The others could be briefer and feature a “huddle-like” atmosphere. The longer the period without seeing and hearing from a leader and peers while recovering from disruption, the higher likelihood of distraction, confusion, and a lack of focus. When you consider the number of press conferences, daily updates and virtual meetings that have taken place in the last few months—are you just adding to the noise and confusion or are you creating experiences that let your team know you are accessible and appropriately transparent? Accessibility should accompany greater visibility. Those closest to the customer and those making critical decisions need access to leaders during moments like this. When leaders and teams don’t intentionally increase their accessibility, speed suffers, affecting an organization’s ability to pivot as needed. Some leaders demonstrate visibility and accessibility but still aren’t seeing enough acceleration. They’re likely missing transparency. Transparency leads to trust; and trust fosters engagement. Transformation demands radical candor. It requires acknowledging reality. Some leaders and teams aren’t listening or are holding onto the past. They don’t want transparency; they’d prefer to stay in preservation when restoration is what’s needed. Transformation is hard, and it requires speaking and dealing with the truth. Accountability Accountability is always a “personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances”. If you find yourself, your team, or organization using the words “they” or “them” quite frequently vs. “I” or “we”, take pause and ask yourself: Am I/We looking for someone or something else to solve the problems in front of us? In times of crisis, as humans we tend to externalize the need for change, often ignoring, waiting or expecting someone else to solve our greatest challenges.In what circumstances do you see your team externalizing the need for change or waiting for someone else to tell them what to do? Increase your personal and your team’s accountability by asking the questions, “What’s the reality I most need to acknowledge? How am I involved in the solution? What else can I do? What do I need to do, and by when?” Organizations where individuals choose to be part of the solution will accelerate the shifts needed to navigate disruption and move to restoration. These people are constantly asking, “What else can I do?” and create a huge competitive advantage for their organization with an 86% increase in innovation and 90% faster execution than organizations with low levels of accountability, according to our Culture Advantage Index. Empathy Empathy effects our ability to adapt and achieve results. It is the capacity to understand what someone else is experiencing. Leaders who practice empathy consider what people in the organization are experiencing through their frame of reference. While having empathy during times of disruption seems like a must, it may not be comfortable or natural for some leaders to demonstrate empathy to the same degree that others naturally exhibit it in their interactions. One of the simplest paths to showing greater empathy is to become more curious. Start asking more questions. How are your team members feeling about the project, their role, your leadership? How can you really know about what your employees are feeling? Ask. The goal of practicing empathy is not to solve problems or even offer comfort. The experience people need from their leaders is to be heard and understood. Take up residence with your employee’s perspective. People need to be able to reflect to release their anxiety. As you do this, you can identify the root cause of concerns while building trust and higher levels of collaboration. Keep these connections strong right now, which may mean changing the way you connect with your team and how frequently you communicate. Don’t Get Caught in the Middle The complexity of leading through change can feel overwhelming, especially when making the transition from preservation to restoration. These five competencies provide a framework for systematically driving the restoration mindset — ensuring you are creating appropriate experiences for your team to drive greater ownership, engagement, and achievement of desired results. Culture Forte is the Authorized Representative for Partners in Leadership for Singapore and Malaysia and partner of DOOR