Helping People Take Responsibility

Encouraging Accountability

“”A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions

cause your Rewards And Consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make.

- Denis Waitley, author and coach.

Case Study

• Sade manages a team of exceptional people, who work well together to accomplish the team's goals. However, one person, Felix, regularly causes problems with the rest of the group.

For instance, he consistently misses deadlines. When asked why, he points the finger at one of his teammates, instead of admitting that it was his own procrastination that caused him to fail.

• Felix's behavior has a significant negative impact on the team. People don't want to work with him; and they resent his apathetic attitude and his unwillingness to change his behavior.

It can be frustrating to have people like Felix on your team. However, there are steps that you take to put things right.

What Causes a Lack of Responsibility?

Signs and Symptoms

• Lacking interest in their work, and in the well-being of the team.

• Blaming others for mistakes and failures. • Missing deadlines. • Avoiding challenging tasks and projects; and not taking risks. • Regularly complaining about unfair treatment by team leaders

and team members - and engaging in self-pity.• Avoiding taking initiative, and being dependent on others for

work, advice, and instructions. • Lacking trust in team members and leaders. • Making excuses regularly - they may often say "It's not my

fault," or, "That's unfair."

Strategies and Tools

The situation is likely to get worse if you just leave it alone; while laying people off should be a last resort, especially if you're dealing with people who have the potential to be effective team members.

Instead, your aim should be to provide your people with the skills and resources needed to do their jobs, and then to create an environment where it's easy for them to take responsibility for their decisions and actions.

And yes, sometimes you'll need to be firm and courageous, and sometimes your actions will cause conflict.

Neither of these approaches is ideal

Start by Talking

Your first step is to talk to the individuals concerned. Find out if there are circumstances that are contributing to the situation, or if there are problems that you can deal with.

Then provide feedback, so that the individuals know that their behavior needs to change.

What you learn in your discussion provides the context for the next actions that you take.

GROW Model

GROW Model

G GoalThis is the end point, where the employee wants to be. The goal has to be defined in such a way that it is very clear to the employee when they have achieved it.

R RealityThis is how far the employee is away from their goal. If the employee were to look at all the steps he/she needs to take in order to achieve the goal, the Reality would be the number of those steps.

O

Obstacles

• There will be Obstacles stopping the team getting from where they are now to where they want to go. State all the obstacle and tell he/she that if there were no Obstacles the team would already have reached their goal before deadline.• Also know from the employee what went wrong.

Options Once Obstacles have been identified the boss need to find ways of dealing with them if they are to make progress. These are the Options.

W Way Forward The Options then need to be converted into action steps which will take the team to their goal. These are the Way Forward.

There are a number of different versions of the GROW model. This version presents one view of the stages but there are others. The 'O' in this version has two meanings.

• Tip:Make sure that you have clear, accurate examples that you can quote when you provide feedback. If you don't, your arguments won't stand up, and you'll risk leaving the individual feeling victimized.

Ensure Adequate Resources

Ensure Adequate Resources

• A sensible early action is to ensure that your people have the resources they need to do their job. This might include providing training, equipment, access to MENTORS and COACHES, and suchlike.

Communicate Roles, Responsibilities, and Objectives

Your people also need to know clearly what their job roles and responsibilities are.

Make sure that you have an up-to-date job description for each team member, and be as detailed as possible about every responsibility that they have.

When working with your team on a project, use a Responsibility Assignment Matrix to help keep assignments and responsibilities clear. You may also want to use a Team Charter to define everyone's roles and responsibilities within the team.

Re-Engage People

• This then leads on to re-engagement. Think about how you, yourself, feel when you're doing work that you love or care deeply about.

• Your people will be more engaged if their work aligns with their values. Meet with them to find out what these are. Then, illustrate how their daily tasks and responsibilities align with those values.

Help People Take Control

• Help them overcome this. • Help them build their self-confidence. Also,

remind them of their strengths and past successes, and teach them how to think positively, instead of engaging in damaging, negative self-talk.

Sometimes, people feel that they have no control over their lives. To them, it doesn't matter what they do or how hard they work, nothing makes much of a difference.

You can also break up any large tasks or projects into smaller goals or steps. A huge project or goal will make people feel overwhelmed

Don't Micromanage

• Look at your own management style. If certain team members aren't taking responsibility, it could be because you aren't delegating clearly, or because you're micromanaging them - if you hover over their shoulder and second guess their every action, they're going to be reluctant to do anything without you in the background.

So, learn the art of delegation and avoid micromanagement. Give your people the freedom they need to make their own decisions, but be ready to guide them in the right direction if required. If they're able to make decisions on their own, they'll start to realize that their efforts really do make a difference

Give Plenty of PraiseA final thing to do is to give plenty of praise when people do take responsibility. And,

help them improve by providing them with consistent, effective, fair feedback.

By using these strategies, you'll be able to go a long way towards getting people to take responsibility.

Some people, however, may simply not be mature enough to do the job. Do what you logically can, but don't keep them "hanging around" once you've exhausted all reasonable options.

People who don't take responsibility for their work or actions are likely to have a negative impact on their team. Look for apathy, finger pointing, missed deadlines, or phrases like "It's not my fault" to spot team members who are avoiding accountability.

To help people take more responsibility for their work, provide them with the skills and resources to actually do their job. Then set up an environment that makes it easy for them to change, and help them take responsibility for their decisions and actions.

You can do this by:

• Ensuring adequate resources. • Communicating roles, responsibilities, and

objectives. • Re-engaging people. • Helping them take control.• Avoiding micromanagement.• Giving praise.

THANK YOU