Where Winners Live: Sell More, Earn More, Achieve More Through Personal Accountability by Dave Porter & Linda Galindo & Sharon O’Malley

Author:Dave Porter & Linda Galindo & Sharon O’Malley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Published: 2013-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

THE CONTRADICTION

“‘Circumstances beyond my control’ doesn’t mean you’re not accountable. It means you don’t understand teamwork. The team is accountable, and at the same time, the individual is accountable.”

—Linda Galindo, accountability thought leader, speaker, coach, consultant, author

True teamwork wasn’t happening when Cecilia received a poor evaluation after her team leader, Grant, dropped the ball on their joint project. Neither Cecilia nor Grant had taken 100 percent responsibility for the success of that project before they started. That seems to contradict the theory that each member of a team is 100 percent accountable.

The fact is that although Cecilia and Grant had different roles, each had an equal amount of responsibility for the team’s success. And each was 100 percent accountable for the team’s outcome.

That the so-called “team” was not operating according to the high-accountability model doesn’t mean 100 percent personal accountability wasn’t an option for them. In fact, it is an option for every team member and every person. Accountability is a mindset. On a highly accountable team, every member has a mindset of 100 percent accountability.

A team that doesn’t embrace 100 percent personal accountability is not a true team. It’s a group of people working toward a common goal—and hoping everyone does his or her part. Good luck.

When Cecilia complains that she got a poor performance evaluation because another member of her team didn’t get her what she needed when she needed it, it’s clear that the team she is on isn’t really a team at all. A real team includes the following:

Clear roles.

A clear goal.

The expectation that you hold each other accountable and the authority to make good on it.

Clear agreements that spell out who does what by when—with the understanding that any team member can renegotiate the commitment in advance of the deadline.

The authority to let nonperformers go.

The authority to add members to the team.

The need and trust to depend on one another to get the job done.

A team reward: If one of us fails, we all fail.

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