I am a big fan of accountability. It is a trait many people have told me they don't enjoy about me. It seems at Willmar Electric I have been doing things the wrong but I recently have seen a couple of positive signs. Let me explain.
In the book "The Advantage" by Patrick Lencioni he points out that true accountability within an organization comes at the peer level.
A couple of weeks ago two of my coworkers made a minor error and when I found it I call both of them and discussed the situation. Both realized the error right away and set about fixing the problem. No big deal. Mistakes are allowed.
The very next day in a meeting another co-worker started talking about something wasn't possible. He just didn't think he could do the necessary tasks. The two coworkers from the day before quickly pointed out that the task was in fact possible and told our coworker how he could accomplish the task.
Wonderful. Before I could even say a word the first two people were holding the third person accountable. The third coworker took the correction from his peers and move ahead without incident. I loved it.
The same two people that I corrected only a day earlier were holding a peer accountable and they did it in such a matter of fact way that the third person excepted it.
Nobody wants to be the cop in the sky that overlooks and lords over everybody. Everybody wants to be part of a team where everybody respects each other. Respects them so much they aren't afraid to hold them accountable.
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