Accountability

            The hallmark of an effective organization is its ability to self-police.  Accountability of one’s own actions as well as the actions as a whole is critical to establishing individual and team goals.  Military and Business leaders alike use specific metrics to help guide and track a team’s progress towards the objective.  There are plenty of examples demonstrating the importance of accountability in the workforce and the Task Force.  We’ll review one example of the importance of accountability illustrated in Rudy Giuliani’s autobiography “Leadership” throughout this narrative.

Establish tracking metrics

            Upon Rudy Giuliani’s election to Mayor of New York, he inherited a dysfunctional organization that was unable to serve the people of New York effectively.  The scope of the problem involved almost every department within the city’s boundaries.  He knew that in order to win back the city, he needed to establish a system to track the current state of affairs, and its eventual progress.

            The establishment of tracking metrics is key to the success of any organization.  How can you improve your team if you don’t understand or know what you are improving?  There are several ways in which to set short term and long term tracking metrics.  Ultimately, the metrics you track need to be second and third order contributors to your main objective.  For instance, if you want to improve Net Income your tracking metrics may include:

- Sales by segment (region, country, etc.)

-  Fixed and Variable costs by department

- Operational Efficiency

- On-time performance

- Customer feedback (Market Feedback Analysis)

These obvious, but simple metrics will empower you as the leader to understand your company’s progress and ultimate success while exposing its weaknesses. 

Dashboard Use

            Once you’ve established your key metrics, establishing a company-wide implementation plan includes the use of a Dashboard-like interface.  This Dashboard is nothing more than making these metrics in a standard format throughout the organization.  There may be a dashboard with key metrics at the executive level and at the individual level of organization.  The important part of any Dashboard is the establishment of individual owners for each one of the company’s metrics.  Identifying a person responsible for a metric is critical for success.

            In the early 1990s, Rudy Giuliani used a Dashboard system for his cabinet members and reviewed it daily.  Individuals were responsible for their specific metrics, such as the Crime Rate, SAT scores, or even Services Support.  By having direct reports responsible for metrics at an executive level, Giuliani established accountability for the success and the weaknesses of the organization.  If, after a reasonable amount of time, the specific metric did not achieve the organizational goal, the individual responsible was removed from the cabinet position. 

Continuous evaluation

            If you consider your organization to be a “results based business,” than use accountability within the organization to continue to drive results and improve your company.  By reevaluating each metric at an established time interval (daily, weekly, monthly) you create an environment of accountability in which performance is measured.  Organizational tracking metrics may also be apart of every employee’s performance ratings.  Salary increases, bonuses, and other incentives are all based on these key metrics.

Short term / long term goals (metric improvement)

            Once the leader establishes a culture of accountability for improvement, developing future goals is critical to continuing to improve.  Using the information gained throughout the process of self-evaluation will help guide future goal setting.  Other important information outside of the data found on your dashboard may be required to understand how to set future goals.  For instance, future sales in a particular market are affected by a several exogenous factors (market saturation, economic factors, etc.).  Leaders need to be vary aware of the importance of involving may team members to create these metrics.

Concluding Thoughts

            The ultimate success of an organization hinges on the ability to establish clear goals and maintain a level of accountability within the team to meet them.  Rudy Giuliani cut the crime rate in half, improved SAT scores, and cleansed the city of a dysfunctional government by establishing clear objectives and maintaining pressure on individuals to meet organizational goals.  By creating tracking metrics and accountable employees, your company will understand what is happening and be able to achieve reachable objectives.