Team Accountability – Workshop 1 (Introduction to DTW)
The Appleton Greene Corporate Training Program (CTP) for Team Accountability is provided by Mr. Teschner MBA BA Certified Learning Provider (CLP). Program Specifications: Monthly cost USD$2,500.00; Monthly Workshops 6 hours; Monthly Support 4 hours; Program Duration 12 months; Program orders subject to ongoing availability.
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To be advised.
MOST Analysis
Mission Statement
This is the Vistage workshop – our current core product – delivered over the course of 6 hours. Outcome: understanding of where we’re going. Tools: VMG Pre-workshop assessment. Desired Learning Objectives: We understand what Accountability truly is and how it’s practiced. We know the definition of both a Team, and a High-Performance Team. We understand the basic outline of the “F-4 Debrief” methodology. We understand the High-Performance Team Lifecycle. We understand Mission Command and Commander’s Intent.
Objectives
01. Understanding Accountability: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Accountability Roadmap: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Pre-Assessment: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Debriefs Explained: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Mission Command: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Commander’s Intent.: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Building Teams: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. High-Performance Teams: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Common Barriers: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Creating Culture: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Accountable Leaders: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Team Dynamic: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
Strategies
01. Understanding Accountability: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Accountability Roadmap: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Pre-Assessment: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Debriefs Explained: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Mission Command: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Commander’s Intent.: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Building Teams: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. High-Performance Teams: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Common Barriers: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Creating Culture: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Accountable Leaders: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Team Dynamic: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
Tasks
01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Understanding Accountability.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Accountability Roadmap.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Pre-Assessment.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Debriefs Explained.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Mission Command.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Commander’s Intent.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Building Teams.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze High-Performance Teams.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Common Barriers.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Creating Culture.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Accountable Leaders.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Team Dynamic.
Introduction
How to integrate accountability into your company culture
Lack of accountability makes it impossible to build a high-performing team.
Why?
Simply said, things don’t get done when no one takes responsibility for making decisions, handling problems, and fixing them.
When someone accepts accountability, they do so for their own decisions. It involves taking the initiative and realising that people have the ability to both cause and solve problems. We’ll get into what accountability looks like at work, why it’s critical, and how to incorporate it into your culture in this article.
• What exactly does accountability mean at work?
• What occurs at work when there is a lack of accountability?
• How do you demonstrate responsibility at work?
• Making responsibility a cornerstone of your culture in 7 simple steps
• Bonus section: Accountability for coworkers
What exactly does accountability mean at work?
Every employee must take responsibility for their actions, behaviours, output, and decisions in the workplace. Additionally, it’s associated with better levels of devotion to work and employee morale, both of which boost performance.
It’s understanding that the outcomes of your job affect other team members and overall corporate performance.
When employees are held accountable, they accept responsibility for the outcomes and do not think it is the responsibility of someone else.
In essence, it’s the antithesis of passing responsibility.
The person who is specifically accountable
The directly responsible individual (DRI), a term coined by Apple, is the ideal illustration of accountability in the workplace. Every task at Apple, no matter how little, is given to a person who is personally in charge of it.
DRIs are responsible for the accomplishment or failure of the projects they are given. By clearly defining who is responsible, there is less potential for shifting blame and greater transparency regarding decision-making.
In the end, trust is built when team members continuously show ownership and accountability.
Performance improves and micromanagement decreases as a result.
What occurs at work when there is a lack of accountability?
Simply put: The team suffers from a lack of accountability.
When no one takes responsibility, the delay of one individual affects the entire team. A little shortage quickly grows into a larger one.
When unfinished work, missing deadlines, and poor punctuality are accepted, they often start to become the standard. People are taught that the actual deadline is a week after the one that was publicised, that it’s normal to constantly be 10 minutes late for meetings, and that producing subpar work is acceptable. Your team suffers, and eventually, so does the culture of your organisation.
The team as a whole becomes frustrated and disengaged when one of its members consistently breaks promises and isn’t held accountable.
Partners In Leadership claims that a lack of accountability at work results in:
• low team spirit
• Team members’ priorities are unclear.
• reduced level of employee involvement
• Unmet team and personal objectives
• Low trust levels
• a lot of change
How do you demonstrate responsibility at work?
It is obvious that a lack of responsibility has a hefty cost. So how do you avoid it or fix the problem? You need to go inward before you even consider how to include accountability into your workplace culture. At work, do you exhibit accountability?
A excellent place to start is with your goals and objectives. If you don’t know what you should be accepting responsibility for, you can’t be accountable. Set measurable, unambiguous goals for yourself and your team so that everyone, including you, understands what you’re aiming to accomplish.
You can skip forward to the next section, where we’ll talk about setting goals, if you’d like.
The discrepancy between expectations and performance should then be addressed. You can close the gap between what you’re doing and what you should be doing after you have a clear understanding of your objectives and expectations. Do things fall into a black hole because you weren’t aware they were on your plate?
Finally, and most importantly: Be accountable for your deeds. When you admit a mistake you’ve made, you’re also admitting that you have the ability to correct it. And accountability has this wonderful quality.
Examples of how you can show your own accountability at work:
• Within the time frame you agreed upon, finish the duties that have been allocated to you.
• Be accountable for your team’s success and put out the effort to assist your team when necessary.
• Respect everyone else’s time by arriving on time and prepared for meetings you schedule (and expect that others do too).
• Take responsibility for the issues you raise by offering solutions as well.
• Avoid brushing issues under the rug or assuming they have already been resolved. Instead, raise red flags as they appear.
How to instil accountability as a fundamental value across your team and in your culture
Because it makes us uncomfortable, we frequently forget to do it, or perhaps we are unsure of how to go about it, we avoid holding others accountable. Here are some strategies for dealing with these problems and fostering an accountable workplace culture.
1. Set a good example and start with being responsible for yourself.
As we just established, you create the tone, performance, and culture for your team as the manager. People will imitate your actions. The team will copy your behaviour if you consistently arrive late for meetings, miss deadlines, and refuse to accept responsibility for your errors.
2. Set collective objectives
Developing an environment of accountability on your team requires setting goals. It clarifies what you’re attempting to accomplish collectively.
To be clear, not all objectives are created equal. They must also be measurable, explicit, and demanding in order to be set in a way that promotes accountability. Our preferred method of setting goals is using the OKR framework (objective and key results). The fact that OKRs are bottom-up makes them beautiful. They are simple to track and are created collaboratively. Additionally, they must to be linked to more significant corporate objectives so that everyone is aware of their significance.
Everyone’s understanding of their tasks and expectations—both individually and collectively—is facilitated by this.
3. Improve your feedback abilities
Although it’s difficult, giving difficult feedback is a talent that can be developed. Giving feedback is one of the most crucial things a manager does. Giving severe feedback is lot simpler when you do it frequently, even when it’s favourable. It also lessens the possibility that the feedback your direct report is receiving may come as a surprise to them, which could result in even more disengagement.
Effective feedback is made up of a few components:
• Ensure psychological safety by providing critical feedback in a secure, private setting, such as your one-on-one meetings. However, it’s crucial to keep in mind that psychological safety doesn’t develop overnight. Work to establish an environment with your team where people feel free to be open and authentic. If they don’t, it will be far more difficult for them to take your advice.
• Assume good intentions: At its core, constructive criticism stems from a desire to sincerely assist someone in developing. You must show that you care. Assume that the problem you’re trying to solve wasn’t done intentionally, and vice versa. The key is to always have each other’s backs.
• Be specific; being overly generic is not helpful to your team member. Give specific examples to support your criticism so they may better grasp how to improve.
Check out this collection of constructive feedback examples for more information on how to provide feedback effectively.
4. Establish a two-way feedback culture.
Good feedback requires not just the ability to give it, but also the willingness to receive it and the provision of a safe environment in which to do so. Your team members start to disengage when you don’t promote a culture of two-way feedback and they don’t feel like there is a safe area to speak up. According to a study by Vital Smarts of over 800 professionals,
• 52% are hesitant to bring up issues with peers’ work, such as incorrect shortcuts, a lack of attention to detail, and incomplete assignments.
• 47% of respondents claim they hold back on raising issues or suggestions that could help the company since doing so would infringe on someone else’s territory.
• When policy actions are starting to have unanticipated negative impacts, 49% of people wait more than a week to voice their concerns.
• When they think someone (or a group) has made a poor strategic decision, 55% are unwilling to address it.
That is a significant amount of missed opportunities for insightful learning and resource waste. Encourage two-way communication so that your staff feels comfortable identifying and outlining issues. Try the lettuce agreement with your team to help promote feedback.
5. Create a habit of accountability
It will be easier to ensure constant feedback flow if you include a reminder to provide and request feedback in the agenda for each meeting. We think team meetings and one-on-one conversations are excellent venues for developing an accountability habit.
To establish accountability as a habit, managers who use Hypercontext include the following meeting questions on their one-on-one agendas:
• Is there anything that our group should GET STARTED doing?
• Do you want me to give you more or less direction for your work?
• Do you believe you receive adequate criticism on your work? Where would you like further input if not here?
• Is there a part of your career that you feel could use extra coaching or help?
• How can we make our teamwork more effective?
6. Keep a record of your obligations, and keep one another responsible.
Make sure to include that as a future agenda item if you pledge to provide your direct reports more input so that you can hold yourself accountable. Make sure you have a mechanism to check-in on the day your employee promises to deliver a workback schedule for a project.
Making sure you’re assigning action items during meetings is a simple method to promote an accountability culture or, if the harm has already been done, repair a lack of accountability.
This is the ideal method for holding each and every team member responsible for their activities. For instance, the Next Steps feature in Hypercontext lets you add action items with deadlines to each meeting agenda item and assign them to team members. The team will have a clear understanding of what is being done and who needs to be held responsible for duties that have been neglected because you can’t close the agenda item until all of the subsequent stages have been completed.
7. Use a framework for accountability
Rarely is a lack of accountability on purpose. It frequently happens as a result of various issues, one of which being unclear roles and duties.
Accountability is very difficult when there is ambiguity on who is in charge of what. In fact, according to a Gallup poll, just 50% of workers firmly agree that they are aware of their obligations at work.
Fortunately, accountability models like the RACI matrix can assist with this issue. This accountability framework, sometimes referred to as a RACI chart, makes sure that every person involved in a project is given a role at each stage. There are 4 degrees of accountability for these roles:
• Responsible: Those who are in charge of finishing the given duty.
• Accountable: Individuals who are ultimately responsible for seeing that the work or delivery is finished. Additionally, this person is in charge of assigning the job to the appropriate parties.
• Consulted: For the task at hand, these people are often the subject-matter experts. They take on a consultancy and advisory role at the particular project stage.
• People who are informed are those who are given regular updates on the project’s status. One-way communication is the most common method used for this.
Here is an illustration of how the RACI matrix for an engineering team might appear:
Bonus section: Accountability for coworkers
One example is fostering an environment of accountability within your direct staff. Another one is holding your fellow students accountable. How can you hold your coworkers accountable so that your teamwork across the entire company is optimised?
Contrary to what many people think, holding your coworkers accountable doesn’t involve blaming or accusing them. It all comes down to helping each other. To encourage greater accountability among your coworkers, think about the following important factors:
1. Be open and honest Be forthright and honest with your coworkers. Due to complex office politics or working in silos, we sometimes keep our cards close to our chests. However, being honest promotes accountability for both you and your colleagues.
2. Work collaboratively: Working in silos can quickly lead to a lack of accountability for anything that occurs outside of your team. The truth is that each team is a component of the overall picture in an organisation, which is a puzzle. To accomplish your company’s objectives, you must collaborate. Look for ways you can help one another, even if it’s “outside of your job description.” Your troubles are also their problems.
3. Don’t overlook peer-to-peer one-on-one interactions:
One-on-ones are frequently only used in situations involving a management and a direct report. However, peer-to-peer one-on-one conversations are crucial for fostering empathy and responsibility throughout the company. It’s simple to blame another team for a project that doesn’t go as planned. However, by regularly engaging with your peers, you can better comprehend their challenges and constraints and have a deeper understanding of the context in which team choices are made.
To sum up:
Overall, encouraging an accountable culture within your team will not only increase productivity and employee morale, but it will also provide your team the autonomy and sense of responsibility they require to succeed. Changes need to be made if you believe your team lacks accountability.
Executive Summary
Chapter 1: Understanding Accountability
What Does Workplace Accountability Mean?
A culture of ownership, a climate of trust, and high-performing teams all depend on accountability in the workplace. Accountability is necessary for employees at all levels of a business to perform their jobs most effectively. Being a better employee and creating a culture of responsibility can be achieved by understanding what it means to be accountable in the workplace. In this course manual, we cover workplace accountability as well as the advantages of taking responsibility for your actions.
What exactly does accountability mean at work?
You might be unsure of how to respond to the query, “What is accountability in the workplace?” whether you’re a manager or an employee. You need first become familiar with the definition of accountability in order to completely respond to this query. Accepting responsibility for your actions is central to the idea of accountability. But accountability goes beyond that. Accountability also entails taking responsibility for your job responsibilities and using initiative to take on additional jobs as necessary. It entails owning up to your errors and making the necessary corrections.
Any level of employee in a business is accountable for achieving certain objectives. This calls for you to be dependable and to act on your promises. When you go above and beyond to fulfil your own and other people’s deadlines and expectations, you are being accountable. To create a culture of openness and trust at work, accountability also demands transparency between management and employees.
Chapter 2: Accountability Roadmap
The finest businesses are always looking for ways to develop as a team, whether it’s creating a stronger culture, cutting down on errors, or avoiding failure.
Some of the finest businesses will examine each project in detail to determine what went correctly and what went wrong. The huddle, also known as a “debrief,” is popular outside of the commercial sphere.
Each project or mission is followed by a debriefing in many of the top businesses (and military units), where it is discussed what made it successful and where there is room for improvement. One of the most important lessons is to constantly think positively and avoid assigning blame.
Chapter 3: Pre-Assessment
Imagine this: Your weekly team meeting is about to begin, but barely half of your staff are there.
Even so, you get going, only to have two more employees show up five minutes later.
Finally, another employee enters as you proceed.
You and your entire team experience disruption, which causes your meeting to run longer than usual.
It’s improbable that the primary issue at work in a setting like this is being late to meetings. There’s a good chance that you also experience missed deadlines, finger-pointing, and low productivity.
A lack of accountability at work is the root of all of these problems.
Work is substandard and frequently delivered late in a team that lacks accountability. Nobody accepts responsibility for their acts, which has a negative impact on all outcomes.
We’ve put up this comprehensive guide to assist you in identifying and resolving a lack of responsibility on your team. We’ll discuss what it means to be accountable at work, the issues that result from a lack of accountability, and how to deal with these issues on your team.
Chapter 4: Debriefs Explained
Your team has chosen a significant objective to achieve, a problem to solve, or a chance to seize. You convene one or more meetings, establish goals, create a plan, and then begin to carry it out. On paper, everything seems excellent.
But then things start to go wrong with your strategy. Some goals are more challenging to achieve than you anticipated. Important players are enticed to join another project. Timelines go more slowly than you expected. The impact is not as great as it should be.
You have three options at this point: (1) keep plodding along in the hopes that things improve; (2) scrap the entire plan; or (3) adjust and dive back in. In my experience, options one and two don’t work and are ultimately ineffective. Only option three has the potential to sustainably propel the development of your group and business. Debriefing, a straightforward yet effective tool, enters the picture here.
Debriefing is a methodical learning procedure created to help plans continually improve as they are being carried out. It first appeared in the military as a means of addressing errors or modifications on the field while also learning swiftly in situations that were changing quickly. Debriefing is well known in business as being essential to advancing initiatives, developing fresh strategies, and accomplishing challenging goals. Additionally, it unites a team, stimulates relationship-building, and supports team learning. In my experience, teams that routinely debrief are closer than those that don’t. All in all, they communicate more successfully. Their values and purposes are more in line. In essence, they develop into more effective teams.
Chapter 5: Mission Command
Mission Command: What is it?
According to the Capstone Doctrine of the Irish Defense Forces, “Mission Command is a philosophy of command that emphasises decentralised command, freedom, and speed of action and initiative, but is responsive to superior direction.” The mission command philosophy is described as “The exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations” in the US Army’s pamphlet on mission command (ADRP 6-0). Simply said, Job Command permits subordinate leaders to carry out their mission with the greatest amount of latitude feasible when their commander has delegated decision-making to their level through the issuance of a clear “commander’s intent” and control measures.
Make sure your goals are clear. a goal, at the very least.
It may sound overly dramatic, but how can you get somewhere if you don’t know where you’re going? More importantly, how will your staff members carry out your instructions?
Look at the British Army’s Leadership Code or Doctrine to see how vision is incorporated into our doctrine. A good leader must set the vision, encourage followers to work toward it, and challenge them to do so. The vision is where it all begins. Let’s call it a mission and use verbs that are appropriate for missions if you are uncomfortable with the idea of your team having a vision. But you need something to keep you from being blown around by the dominant winds.
Chapter 6: Commander’s Intent
Utilize the Commander’s Intent to Prepare Your Team for Action
What is the appropriate level of insight and direction I need to offer and get from my team? is by far one of the most frequent execution difficulties our clients ask for assistance with.
In other words, how can teams ensure that they are behaving in the interests of the desired aim while still having the most flexibility to decide and move quickly?
In a leadership role, you must continuously strike a balance between effective oversight and ineffective micromanagement. Your planning process and consequent success of your organisation might soon come to a standstill without a clear understanding of how much guidance is required.
What level of management knowledge is appropriate if you’re in a philosophical rut? How do I make sure my team is moving in the right direction while yet allowing them the freedom to make choices and carry out their tasks? – attempt implementing some of this leadership tenet’s essential components.
The Commander’s Intent to Carry Out the Plan
Think about the commander’s intent concept when attempting to define your role as a strategic plan leader.
For decades, military operations have used the Commander’s Intent as their standard operating procedure. But the business sector can use the idea just as well.
The process essentially depends on identifying a precisely defined end-state, i.e., what will the world look like if everything goes according to plan?
Teams are then sent out to begin carrying out minor tasks in order to reach the end-state with little guidance.
The emphasis on the objective guarantees that teams have direction in their work but autonomy to be subject-matter experts who can make judgments in the moment.
Chapter 7: Building Teams
Putting together a brilliant collection of people at random is not enough to create a high performance team. A team needs its members to share a same vision and be driven to realise that vision in order to be genuinely effective. They must have mutually understood, quantifiable objectives and be dedicated to each contributing to the success of the team as a whole.
Here are six essential measures for creating and maintaining a powerful, harmonious, and efficient team:
1. Define the goal.
The team’s goal should be expressly stated, along with the larger goal that brought the team together. What do you wish to develop, enhance, or alter? What does each member of the team’s function serve to accomplish? Having a strong, motivating vision lays the groundwork for effective teamwork and aids in directing the group’s course when it comes to decisions and problems.
2. Gather the crew.
People that fervently embrace the goal, think their contributions matter, and are driven to put up their best effort make up high performance teams. Each team member needs to have the other’s trust, respect, and support. Choose team members who can contribute a variety of perspectives and ideas and who have complimentary talents and abilities. The group will be able to collaborate well but also push each other when necessary by striking a solid balance of personality types.
3. Identify the objectives
The next phase is to divide the vision into more manageable goals and tasks once the team has been formed and is united under a common, compelling purpose. Create a schedule outlining the necessary tasks, together with agreed-upon due dates, milestones, and roles. Establish the functions that each team member will perform. Make sure you take into account the additional time, materials, space, assistance, and financial resources that may be needed.
4. Set objectives
Establish a team code of conduct so that everyone is aware of what is expected of them. Will there be regular, honest, open, and transparent communication? Will contributions be rewarded, appreciated, and encouraged? Will disagreements be resolved amicably? Will team decisions and suggestions be honoured? Establishing clear expectations early on will guarantee that each participant behaves appropriately and makes valuable contributions.
5. Observe and evaluate
To make sure that progress is being made, regularly evaluate the group’s performance through team meetings and one-on-one catch ups. We should ask ourselves: How are we doing? What progress have we made so far? What do we now know? What isn’t functioning very well? How can we get better? It is possible to implement changes and enhancements along the route by tracking and analysing progress.
6. Commemorate and honour
Schedule time to recognise, honour, and celebrate team and individual accomplishments on a regular basis. This will boost the group’s motivation to keep up the hard work and help boost morale. To recognise team accomplishments, choose the most suitable method, such as a personal “thank you” during a team meeting, an email with a copy to senior managers, or a team lunch. Make sure that praise is given consistently, and that the approach you use encourages and reaffirms team members to keep up their constructive contributions to the group’s advancement.
Chapter 8: High Performance
High-Performance Work Teams’ Personalities
Although no team is the same and there is no easy way to gauge a group’s performance effectiveness, there seems to be a general consensus on what makes an effective group function. Norms and standards, power and empowerment, conflict, communication, efficacy, leadership, talent, skills, performance ethics, incentives, and motivation are all components of high-performing work teams in general.
Purpose, Aim, And Roles Of The Team
High-performing groups collaborate to accomplish a shared objective or objectives, both short-term and long-term. They frequently serve as an example of entire dedication to the task and to one another. When responsibilities are defined, team members perform better because they understand how and why they are performing each task. The mission and vision of the team must be understood by each member and supported. The potential of the team is increased by making the objective clear and connecting it to each person’s position and duties, as well as by including “stretch” goals that raise the bar on the level of difficulty required to inspire team members.
Ability, Capability, And Work Ethic
High-performance teams start by bringing on and keeping the best talent while helping underachievers find new jobs as soon as possible. Performance usually rises along with morale. After choosing team members based on talent, it is crucial to make sure they have complementary talents (e.g., technical, problem-solving, decision-making and interpersonal skills). Team members are expected to consistently commit to performing at the highest level, to be open and respectful with one another, and to hold themselves and their organisations accountable on both an individual and team level.
Rewards, Motivation, And Effectiveness
Systems that reward outstanding performance both financially and nonfinancially have a positive effect on the tactical realisation of the team’s objectives. The greatest influence on performance is made over the long run by intrinsic motivators like job satisfaction and engaging initiatives. Additionally, having confidence in one’s abilities and self motivates one to take more calculated risks in order to accomplish team objectives.
Leadership
High-performing work teams typically have high-performing leaders. The ability to a) maintain the relevance and significance of the purpose, goals, and strategy; b) foster commitment and confidence; c) ensure that team members continually improve their skills; d) manage relationships from the outside with a focus on the removal of obstacles that might hinder group performance; e) provide opportunities for others without seeking credit; and f) get in the trenches and carry out the necessary work are all essential leadership qualities. There is broad consensus that great team leaders put a strong emphasis on connections, purpose, goals, and an unflinching dedication to outcomes that are advantageous to both the organisation and each individual.
Communication And Conflict
A high-performance team must have effective conflict management. In these teams, open communication implies putting more emphasis on coaching than on directing and emphasising the capacity to face problems head-on in an honest and open manner. Open channels of communication are essential for team performance because they inspire cooperation, retain interest, and provide incentive.
Embodiment And Power
Increased ownership, the chance to learn new skills, increased enthusiasm in the project, and easier decision-making are all benefits of empowered work teams. The perfect scenario, according to researchers, is described as being “loose-tight,” meaning that certain decision-making constraints are created with enough leeway for people to make informed decisions.
Standards And Norms
Norms, like the guidelines that direct group behaviour, can aid in enhancing the growth and effectiveness of a team. Open lines of communication, quick conflict resolution, regular evaluations of both individual and team performance, high levels of respect among team members, a supportive and cohesive team environment, a strong work ethic that prioritises results, and shared appreciation of team accomplishments are all norms for high-performance teams. The crucial factor is that high-performing teams genuinely talk about and decide on their operating principles—standards that each team member commits to upholding and for which they hold one another accountable.
Chapter 9: Common Barriers
Experts have concentrated on employing evidence-based organisational research to identify the distinguishing characteristics of high-performance teams because of the significance of team-based work in today’s economy.
Even though there are many different ways to define high-performance teams, some common traits appear to be reliable signs that a team is underperforming or requires assistance:
• leadership that doesn’t participate. Team members do not engage and involve team members through democratic leadership.
• Making poor decisions.
• Without a mix of analytical and intuitiv methods, team members make judgments too quickly.
• sporadic communication
• Communication channels are closed and intermittent.
• Diversity isn’t respected.
• Due to a lack of different opinions and unsuccessful decision-making and solutions, team members do not value the diversity of experience and backgrounds of their fellow team members.
• reciprocal lack of trust.
• Team members do not have complete faith in one another or the group as a whole.
• incapacity to control conflict
• Team morale can be ruined if dispute is not handled openly and honestly and grudges are allowed to fester.
• not having a clear goal.
• There is a lack of commitment and involvement among team members as a result of their uncertainty about their duties and the overall team goals.
• roles and obligations that are poorly defined.
• Team members lack clarity over what they must do (and must not do) to support the success of the team and show their dedication to the group.
• issues in relationships.
• Team members’ relationships are weak, which has an impact on their efficacy and efficiency.
• negative environment
• Failure to perform at high levels is caused by an overall team culture that is not open, transparent, positive, and future-focused.
Chapter 10: Creating Culture
Organizations simply cannot function or perform without accountability, which is at the core of organisational success and high-performing teams!
It involves individuals accepting accountability for their own acts. And it has to do with exercising initiative and appreciating one’s own power to solve issues. Because flourishing employees are those that are responsible.
Although each person must develop their own sense of accountability, this does not occur in a vacuum. Accountable people are more likely to be fostered in an organisation that cultivates an accountable culture. However, accountability doesn’t just come by accident; deliberate action is needed. In this essay, I’ll go into detail about what responsibility at work looks like, why it’s important, and how to incorporate it into your culture.
What Does It Mean to Foster an Accountability Culture in the Workplace?
Every employee must take responsibility for their actions, behaviours, output, and decisions in the workplace. When implemented properly, personal accountability is associated with a rise in dedication to the job and employee morale, both of which contribute to better performance. Employees improve workplace culture when they feel like they are a part of something greater than themselves and understand that their contribution, no matter how “large” or “little,” is significant to the organization’s ecology.
Although it seems excellent in theory, accountability is not always that simple to put into practise. You are not the only one who feels upset by a lack of accountability at work. According to data, 82% of managers admit they have “little to no” ability to hold others accountable effectively, and 91% of employees believe it is one of the most important areas in need of leadership development at their firm. Low accountability breeds distrust, low morale, and a poisonous work environment, which is the worst possible scenario for any firm.
Chapter 11: Accountable Leaders
One of the most important abilities a corporate leader can have is accountability. The culture, output, and overall performance of an organisation are built on the foundation of leadership responsibility.
More than merely accepting responsibility or being dependable constitutes being “accountable.” A really accountable leader has several veins running through him or her.
Leadership requires leaders to accept responsibility for their actions, choices, and errors. It also includes the capacity to follow through on the promises they have made to an organization’s members. Finally, effective leadership demands that managers take ownership of the art of motivating and directing their teams.
Although it may not be as simple as it may seem, being an accountable leader is essential if you want to add real value to your team of employees and your organisation as a whole.
What Takes Place When a Leader Lacks Accountability Skills?
Lack of an accountability culture in an organisation can result in a variety of problems, including but not limited to:
• Inefficiency
• low-spirited personnel
• a lack of company morale
• high turnover rates
• lack of faith
• inadequate performance at work
Giving staff enlightening criticism is part of accountable leadership. Employees won’t know how to progress in the future if they don’t recognise their own strengths and shortcomings as well as the preferred direction and leadership style.
Employees can be encouraged to improve their work performance through regular and insightful feedback, which will produce happier outcomes. Leaders must point out both an employee’s strengths and weaknesses while providing feedback to their staff. The employee will be motivated to implement the suggested improvements if they receive some encouraging feedback for their efforts.
Chapter 12: Team Dynamic
We ask a lot of our staff, let’s face it. We want them to be highly effective, innovative, and engaged. Their capacities and problem-solving abilities should be diverse. In addition, we want them to lead balanced, healthy lives outside of work. So how can you entice such workers? Being a well-rounded organisation is one of the finest methods to find well-rounded employees.
Today’s businesses face several difficulties. For instance, there is a labour shortage. The pandemic has changed the way that individuals perceive the world. First off, some people found it more profitable to NOT work because of the hefty unemployment payments. Second, it became commonplace to be able to work independently or from home. Last but not least, workers desire to be part of an organisation whose goals extend beyond financial success. What strategies can companies use to balance these demands and changes? And how can you be sure to stay away from the burnout that is currently affecting so many businesses?
It’s crucial to set an example for your staff members by having the traits you want your business to have. What traits have you had success with? You must be able to see things from everyone else’s point of view in order to be a successful leader. What’s it like to walk a mile in their shoes? Don’t solely live for your work, too. Business executives should strive to lead multifaceted lives. A well-rounded leader takes into account how their actions influence others. This includes the impression they leave on their loved ones, friends, coworkers, business partners, and community. Show by example that maintaining a healthy balance is necessary for happiness. Additionally, happiness promotes productivity.
Curriculum
Team Accountability – Workshop 1 – Introduction to DTW
- Understanding Accountability
- Accountability Roadmap
- Pre-Assessment
- Debriefs Explained
- Mission Command
- Commander’s Intent.
- Building Teams
- High-Performance Teams
- Common Barriers
- Creating Culture
- Accountable Leaders
- Team Dynamic
Distance Learning
Introduction
Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Team Accountability corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.
Study environment
You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.
Study tools & rules
Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.
Successful distance-learning
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.
Self-assessment
Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.
Accepting responsibility as a student
Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.
Planning
By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.
Management
Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.
Study objectives & tasks
The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.
Study forecast
As a guide, the Appleton Greene Team Accountability corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiations are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.
Performance management
It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.
With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.
With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.
Keeping in touch
You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.
Work colleagues and family
You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.
Making it relevant
The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.
Distance-learning check-list
Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.
Tutorial Support
Programs
Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.
Support available
You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.
Support Process
Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Please therefore kindly allow for this within your time planning. All communications are managed online via email because it enables tutorial service support managers to review other communications which have been received before responding and it ensures that there is a copy of all communications retained on file for future reference. All communications will be stored within your personal (CLP) study file here at Appleton Greene throughout your designated study period. If you need any assistance or clarification at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us by forwarding an email and remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please list and number your questions succinctly and you can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each and every query.
Time Management
It takes approximately 1 Year to complete the Team Accountability corporate training program, incorporating 12 x 6-hour monthly workshops. Each student will also need to contribute approximately 4 hours per week over 1 Year of their personal time. Students can study from home or work at their own pace and are responsible for managing their own study plan. There are no formal examinations and students are evaluated and assessed based upon their project study submissions, together with the quality of their internal analysis and supporting documents. They can contribute more time towards study when they have the time to do so and can contribute less time when they are busy. All students tend to be in full time employment while studying and the Team Accountability program is purposely designed to accommodate this, so there is plenty of flexibility in terms of time management. It makes no difference to us at Appleton Greene, whether individuals take 12-18 months to complete this program. What matters is that in all cases the same standard of quality will have been achieved with the standard and bespoke programs that have been developed.
Distance Learning Guide
The distance learning guide should be your first port of call when starting your training program. It will help you when you are planning how and when to study, how to create the right environment and how to establish the right frame of mind. If you can lay the foundations properly during the planning stage, then it will contribute to your enjoyment and productivity while training later. The guide helps to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate time for study and to cultivate good study habits. It helps you to chart your progress so that you can measure your performance and achieve your goals. It explains the tools that you will need for study and how to make them work. It also explains how to translate academic theory into practical reality. Spend some time now working through your distance learning guide and make sure that you have firm foundations in place so that you can make the most of your distance learning program. There is no requirement for you to attend training workshops or classes at Appleton Greene offices. The entire program is undertaken online, program course manuals and project studies are administered via the Appleton Greene web site and via email, so you are able to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office as long as you have a computer and access to the internet.
How To Study
The how to study guide provides students with a clear understanding of the Appleton Greene facilitation via distance learning training methods and enables students to obtain a clear overview of the training program content. It enables students to understand the step-by-step training methods used by Appleton Greene and how course manuals are integrated with project studies. It explains the research and development that is required and the need to provide evidence and references to support your statements. It also enables students to understand precisely what will be required of them in order to achieve a pass with merit and a pass with distinction for individual project studies and provides useful guidance on how to be innovative and creative when developing your Unique Program Proposition (UPP).
Tutorial Support
Tutorial support for the Appleton Greene Team Accountability corporate training program is provided online either through the Appleton Greene Client Support Portal (CSP), or via email. All tutorial support requests are facilitated by a designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). They are responsible for deciding which professor or tutor is the most appropriate option relating to the support required and then the tutorial support request is forwarded onto them. Once the professor or tutor has completed the tutorial support request and answered any questions that have been asked, this communication is then returned to the student via email by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). This enables all tutorial support, between students, professors and tutors, to be facilitated by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM) efficiently and securely through the email account. You will therefore need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general support queries and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because all tutorial support requests are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Consequently you need to put some thought into the management of your tutorial support procedure in order to ensure that your study plan is feasible and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from tutorial support during your period of study. Please retain copies of your tutorial support emails for future reference. Please ensure that ALL of your tutorial support emails are set out using the format as suggested within your guide to tutorial support. Your tutorial support emails need to be referenced clearly to the specific part of the course manual or project study which you are working on at any given time. You also need to list and number any questions that you would like to ask, up to a maximum of five questions within each tutorial support email. Remember the more specific you can be with your questions the more specific your answers will be too and this will help you to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or duplication. The guide to tutorial support is intended to help you to understand how and when to use support in order to ensure that you get the most out of your training program. Appleton Greene training programs are designed to enable you to do things for yourself. They provide you with a structure or a framework and we use tutorial support to facilitate students while they practically implement what they learn. In other words, we are enabling students to do things for themselves. The benefits of distance learning via facilitation are considerable and are much more sustainable in the long-term than traditional short-term knowledge sharing programs. Consequently you should learn how and when to use tutorial support so that you can maximize the benefits from your learning experience with Appleton Greene. This guide describes the purpose of each training function and how to use them and how to use tutorial support in relation to each aspect of the training program. It also provides useful tips and guidance with regard to best practice.
Tutorial Support Tips
Students are often unsure about how and when to use tutorial support with Appleton Greene. This Tip List will help you to understand more about how to achieve the most from using tutorial support. Refer to it regularly to ensure that you are continuing to use the service properly. Tutorial support is critical to the success of your training experience, but it is important to understand when and how to use it in order to maximize the benefit that you receive. It is no coincidence that those students who succeed are those that learn how to be positive, proactive and productive when using tutorial support.
Be positive and friendly with your tutorial support emails
Remember that if you forward an email to the tutorial support unit, you are dealing with real people. “Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you”. If you are positive, complimentary and generally friendly in your emails, you will generate a similar response in return. This will be more enjoyable, productive and rewarding for you in the long-term.
Think about the impression that you want to create
Every time that you communicate, you create an impression, which can be either positive or negative, so put some thought into the impression that you want to create. Remember that copies of all tutorial support emails are stored electronically and tutors will always refer to prior correspondence before responding to any current emails. Over a period of time, a general opinion will be arrived at in relation to your character, attitude and ability. Try to manage your own frustrations, mood swings and temperament professionally, without involving the tutorial support team. Demonstrating frustration or a lack of patience is a weakness and will be interpreted as such. The good thing about communicating in writing, is that you will have the time to consider your content carefully, you can review it and proof-read it before sending your email to Appleton Greene and this should help you to communicate more professionally, consistently and to avoid any unnecessary knee-jerk reactions to individual situations as and when they may arise. Please also remember that the CLP Tutorial Support Unit will not just be responsible for evaluating and assessing the quality of your work, they will also be responsible for providing recommendations to other learning providers and to client contacts within the Appleton Greene global client network, so do be in control of your own emotions and try to create a good impression.
Remember that quality is preferred to quantity
Please remember that when you send an email to the tutorial support team, you are not using Twitter or Text Messaging. Try not to forward an email every time that you have a thought. This will not prove to be productive either for you or for the tutorial support team. Take time to prepare your communications properly, as if you were writing a professional letter to a business colleague and make a list of queries that you are likely to have and then incorporate them within one email, say once every month, so that the tutorial support team can understand more about context, application and your methodology for study. Get yourself into a consistent routine with your tutorial support requests and use the tutorial support template provided with ALL of your emails. The (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit will not spoon-feed you with information. They need to be able to evaluate and assess your tutorial support requests carefully and professionally.
Be specific about your questions in order to receive specific answers
Try not to write essays by thinking as you are writing tutorial support emails. The tutorial support unit can be unclear about what in fact you are asking, or what you are looking to achieve. Be specific about asking questions that you want answers to. Number your questions. You will then receive specific answers to each and every question. This is the main purpose of tutorial support via email.
Keep a record of your tutorial support emails
It is important that you keep a record of all tutorial support emails that are forwarded to you. You can then refer to them when necessary and it avoids any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Individual training workshops or telephone support
Please be advised that Appleton Greene does not provide separate or individual tutorial support meetings, workshops, or provide telephone support for individual students. Appleton Greene is an equal opportunities learning and service provider and we are therefore understandably bound to treat all students equally. We cannot therefore broker special financial or study arrangements with individual students regardless of the circumstances. All tutorial support is provided online and this enables Appleton Greene to keep a record of all communications between students, professors and tutors on file for future reference, in accordance with our quality management procedure and your terms and conditions of enrolment. All tutorial support is provided online via email because it enables us to have time to consider support content carefully, it ensures that you receive a considered and detailed response to your queries. You can number questions that you would like to ask, which relate to things that you do not understand or where clarification may be required. You can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each individual query. You will also then have a record of these communications and of all tutorial support, which has been provided to you. This makes tutorial support administration more productive by avoiding any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Tutorial Support Email Format
You should use this tutorial support format if you need to request clarification or assistance while studying with your training program. Please note that ALL of your tutorial support request emails should use the same format. You should therefore set up a standard email template, which you can then use as and when you need to. Emails that are forwarded to Appleton Greene, which do not use the following format, may be rejected and returned to you by the (CLP) Program Administration Manager. A detailed response will then be forwarded to you via email usually within 20 business days of receipt for general support queries and 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Your tutorial support request, together with the corresponding TSU reply, will then be saved and stored within your electronic TSU file at Appleton Greene for future reference.
Subject line of your email
Please insert: Appleton Greene (CLP) Tutorial Support Request: (Your Full Name) (Date), within the subject line of your email.
Main body of your email
Please insert:
1. Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) Tutorial Support Request
2. Your Full Name
3. Date of TS request
4. Preferred email address
5. Backup email address
6. Course manual page name or number (reference)
7. Project study page name or number (reference)
Subject of enquiry
Please insert a maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Briefly outline the subject matter of your inquiry, or what your questions relate to.
Question 1
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 3
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 4
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 5
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Please note that a maximum of 5 questions is permitted with each individual tutorial support request email.
Procedure
* List the questions that you want to ask first, then re-arrange them in order of priority. Make sure that you reference them, where necessary, to the course manuals or project studies.
* Make sure that you are specific about your questions and number them. Try to plan the content within your emails to make sure that it is relevant.
* Make sure that your tutorial support emails are set out correctly, using the Tutorial Support Email Format provided here.
* Save a copy of your email and incorporate the date sent after the subject title. Keep your tutorial support emails within the same file and in date order for easy reference.
* Allow up to 20 business days for a response to general tutorial support emails and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because detailed individual responses will be made in all cases and tutorial support emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received.
* Emails can and do get lost. So if you have not received a reply within the appropriate time, forward another copy or a reminder to the tutorial support unit to be sure that it has been received but do not forward reminders unless the appropriate time has elapsed.
* When you receive a reply, save it immediately featuring the date of receipt after the subject heading for easy reference. In most cases the tutorial support unit replies to your questions individually, so you will have a record of the questions that you asked as well as the answers offered. With project studies however, separate emails are usually forwarded by the tutorial support unit, so do keep a record of your own original emails as well.
* Remember to be positive and friendly in your emails. You are dealing with real people who will respond to the same things that you respond to.
* Try not to repeat questions that have already been asked in previous emails. If this happens the tutorial support unit will probably just refer you to the appropriate answers that have already been provided within previous emails.
* If you lose your tutorial support email records you can write to Appleton Greene to receive a copy of your tutorial support file, but a separate administration charge may be levied for this service.
How To Study
Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can help you to plan a task list for getting started so that you can be clear about your direction and your priorities in relation to your training program. It is also a good way to introduce yourself to the tutorial support team.
Planning your study environment
Your study conditions are of great importance and will have a direct effect on how much you enjoy your training program. Consider how much space you will have, whether it is comfortable and private and whether you are likely to be disturbed. The study tools and facilities at your disposal are also important to the success of your distance-learning experience. Your tutorial support unit can help with useful tips and guidance, regardless of your starting position. It is important to get this right before you start working on your training program.
Planning your program objectives
It is important that you have a clear list of study objectives, in order of priority, before you start working on your training program. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance here to ensure that your study objectives have been afforded due consideration and priority.
Planning how and when to study
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. This approach is designed to let you study efficiently away from the traditional classroom environment. It is important however, that you plan how and when to study, so that you are making the most of your natural attributes, strengths and opportunities. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance and useful tips to ensure that you are playing to your strengths.
Planning your study tasks
You should have a clear understanding of the study tasks that you should be undertaking and the priority associated with each task. These tasks should also be integrated with your program objectives. The distance learning guide and the guide to tutorial support for students should help you here, but if you need any clarification or assistance, please contact your tutorial support unit.
Planning your time
You will need to allocate specific times during your calendar when you intend to study if you are to have a realistic chance of completing your program on time. You are responsible for planning and managing your own study time, so it is important that you are successful with this. Your tutorial support unit can help you with this if your time plan is not working.
Keeping in touch
Consistency is the key here. If you communicate too frequently in short bursts, or too infrequently with no pattern, then your management ability with your studies will be questioned, both by you and by your tutorial support unit. It is obvious when a student is in control and when one is not and this will depend how able you are at sticking with your study plan. Inconsistency invariably leads to in-completion.
Charting your progress
Your tutorial support team can help you to chart your own study progress. Refer to your distance learning guide for further details.
Making it work
To succeed, all that you will need to do is apply yourself to undertaking your training program and interpreting it correctly. Success or failure lies in your hands and your hands alone, so be sure that you have a strategy for making it work. Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can guide you through the process of program planning, development and implementation.
Reading methods
Interpretation is often unique to the individual but it can be improved and even quantified by implementing consistent interpretation methods. Interpretation can be affected by outside interference such as family members, TV, or the Internet, or simply by other thoughts which are demanding priority in our minds. One thing that can improve our productivity is using recognized reading methods. This helps us to focus and to be more structured when reading information for reasons of importance, rather than relaxation.
Speed reading
When reading through course manuals for the first time, subconsciously set your reading speed to be just fast enough that you cannot dwell on individual words or tables. With practice, you should be able to read an A4 sheet of paper in one minute. You will not achieve much in the way of a detailed understanding, but your brain will retain a useful overview. This overview will be important later on and will enable you to keep individual issues in perspective with a more generic picture because speed reading appeals to the memory part of the brain. Do not worry about what you do or do not remember at this stage.
Content reading
Once you have speed read everything, you can then start work in earnest. You now need to read a particular section of your course manual thoroughly, by making detailed notes while you read. This process is called Content Reading and it will help to consolidate your understanding and interpretation of the information that has been provided.
Making structured notes on the course manuals
When you are content reading, you should be making detailed notes, which are both structured and informative. Make these notes in a MS Word document on your computer, because you can then amend and update these as and when you deem it to be necessary. List your notes under three headings: 1. Interpretation – 2. Questions – 3. Tasks. The purpose of the 1st section is to clarify your interpretation by writing it down. The purpose of the 2nd section is to list any questions that the issue raises for you. The purpose of the 3rd section is to list any tasks that you should undertake as a result. Anyone who has graduated with a business-related degree should already be familiar with this process.
Organizing structured notes separately
You should then transfer your notes to a separate study notebook, preferably one that enables easy referencing, such as a MS Word Document, a MS Excel Spreadsheet, a MS Access Database, or a personal organizer on your cell phone. Transferring your notes allows you to have the opportunity of cross-checking and verifying them, which assists considerably with understanding and interpretation. You will also find that the better you are at doing this, the more chance you will have of ensuring that you achieve your study objectives.
Question your understanding
Do challenge your understanding. Explain things to yourself in your own words by writing things down.
Clarifying your understanding
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your understanding.
Question your interpretation
Do challenge your interpretation. Qualify your interpretation by writing it down.
Clarifying your interpretation
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your interpretation.
Qualification Requirements
The student will need to successfully complete the project study and all of the exercises relating to the Team Accountability corporate training program, achieving a pass with merit or distinction in each case, in order to qualify as an Accredited Team Accountability Specialist (APTS). All monthly workshops need to be tried and tested within your company. These project studies can be completed in your own time and at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office. There are no formal examinations, assessment is based upon the successful completion of the project studies. They are called project studies because, unlike case studies, these projects are not theoretical, they incorporate real program processes that need to be properly researched and developed. The project studies assist us in measuring your understanding and interpretation of the training program and enable us to assess qualification merits. All of the project studies are based entirely upon the content within the training program and they enable you to integrate what you have learnt into your corporate training practice.
Team Accountability – Grading Contribution
Project Study – Grading Contribution
Customer Service – 10%
E-business – 05%
Finance – 10%
Globalization – 10%
Human Resources – 10%
Information Technology – 10%
Legal – 05%
Management – 10%
Marketing – 10%
Production – 10%
Education – 05%
Logistics – 05%
TOTAL GRADING – 100%
Qualification grades
A mark of 90% = Pass with Distinction.
A mark of 75% = Pass with Merit.
A mark of less than 75% = Fail.
If you fail to achieve a mark of 75% with a project study, you will receive detailed feedback from the Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and/or Accredited Consultant, together with a list of tasks which you will need to complete, in order to ensure that your project study meets with the minimum quality standard that is required by Appleton Greene. You can then re-submit your project study for further evaluation and assessment. Indeed you can re-submit as many drafts of your project studies as you need to, until such a time as they eventually meet with the required standard by Appleton Greene, so you need not worry about this, it is all part of the learning process.
When marking project studies, Appleton Greene is looking for sufficient evidence of the following:
Pass with merit
A satisfactory level of program understanding
A satisfactory level of program interpretation
A satisfactory level of project study content presentation
A satisfactory level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
A satisfactory level of the practical integration of academic theory
Pass with distinction
An exceptional level of program understanding
An exceptional level of program interpretation
An exceptional level of project study content presentation
An exceptional level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
An exceptional level of the practical integration of academic theory
Preliminary Analysis
Online Article
By S. C. Hayne, L. J. Troup and K. Li,
46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
2013
”Commander’s Intent and Distributed Collaborating Teams
Abstract:
The concept of Effects-Based Operations (EBO) in distributed environments exemplify the challenges being faced by teams of today’s war fighters in interpreting and understanding Commander’s Intent (CI) in the face of often competing requirements and emerging operational events. Theory suggests that delivery of Commander’s Intent with an authoritative expression goal statement will facilitate encoding of explicit memory which will in turn impact the development of shared mental models. When the team’s shared mental model is improved and aligned, we expect greater self-synchronization and performance. We conduct an experiment to study team behavior in a gaming environment with two different CI statements. We find significant improvement in team process measures when teams are presented with a CI statement containing an authoritative expression
Introduction
The military (and business) need to identify and train leaders who are well founded in doctrinal principals, in both traditional and irregular settings. Not every must be a leader – some must follow. But all must be agile! Today, leaders and followers have to have comfort with and a high degree of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, and are expected to operate with initiative and agility in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments. Military doctrine believes that “a team can only be fully interoperable when each member understands the purpose of the activity and have applied themselves with a unity of effort” (U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2007). Central to this unity is the concept of Commanders’ Intent, where combat leaders impart their vision of the mission to subordinates [11]. Brigadier General Stan Cherie reports that too many leaders attempt to micro-manage in pursuit of perfection and that his preferred approach is to “frame the issue and set certain parameters; then once the mission is launched, let the subordinates handle it”; (ibid, page 19). This concept of self-synchronization of teams (and teams of teams), is the foundation of Network-Centric Warfare [9], and possibly the holy grail of teamwork.
Commander’s intent is decomposed by Pigeau and McCann [41] into two elements, explicit intent and implicit intent. The written or verbal statement is the explicit intent. Implicit intent is the interpretation of explicit intent, which is understood as a result of training, tradition, cultural values and personal expectations. This aligns well with explicit and implicit memory [13],[43]. But, it is well known that humans have limited cognitive resources of memory [57], and cognitive load of these resources directly impacts our task performance. Our basic question is: How can we enhance the remembering of a commander’s intent during a high cognitive load task and will this improve teamwork? We believe that providing an emphasized goal statement in the CI will facilitate encoding of explicit memory in the individual. Subsequently, teams will have a greater shared mental model of the CI, which should lead to increased performance.
We take a socio-technical approach to distributed team research so that we can explicate both the cognitive consequences of a lack of co-location as well as the social consequences affecting interaction and team performance when the work is technology mediated [19].”
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Online Article
By M.Losada,
Science Direct,
Nov 1999.
”The complex dynamics of high performance teams
Abstract
The connectivity of a team is highly correlated with its performance. Connectivity is measured by the strength and number of cross-correlations among time series of the coded speech acts of meeting participants. Connectivity is used as a control parameter in a nonlinear dynamical model derived from the observed time series. Different types of attractors occur in phase space depending on the team’s connectivity and performance level: low performance teams show point attractors, medium performance teams show limit cycles, and high performance teams show low-dimensional chaotic attractors.
Introduction
For several years I had been the director of the Center for Advanced Research (CFAR), built by EDS in Ann Arbor and Cambridge, near the University of Michigan and MIT campuses. CFAR had a laboratory known as the Capture Lab. This lab had an observation room with a one-way mirror, computers, videotaping equipment, and other devices that allowed several observers to code speech acts of participants in a meeting using a specialized software [ 1,2]. As a speech act was coded, the computer put a time stamp indicating at what moment during the meeting the speech act occurred. By the end of the session, a protocol of the meeting was created from where time series were generated for each of the dimensions used in the coding of speech acts.
At the Capture Lab, I observed and analyzed the interaction patterns of many business teams from several corporations doing typical business tasks like strategic planning, brainstorming, and others. One of my principal findings was that the degree of connectivity of the team, measured by the number and strength of cross-correlations among time series of the participants, was an excellent predictor of team performance.”
If you would like to know more, Click Here
Online Article
By Manfred F.R.KetsDe Vries,
Science Direct,
1999
”High-Performance Teams: Lessons from the Pygmies
Pygmy society is a good example of what trust can do to simplify and expedite decision-making processes and offers a number of lessons for creating successful work teams.
Although life in a pygmy community may seem striking in its simplicity and apparent lack of organization to outsiders, it is undergirded by a complex though informal system based on trust; the informal rules that make up this system help the community function effectively. While an excess of rules and regulations is a good indicator of a trust disorder and paranoid thinking, a high degree of trust allows the informal organization to dominate the formal one. In other words, implicit rules become more important than explicit rules. Pygmy society provides corporate society with an example of a cohesive team structure combined with effective leadership. The one drawback-a lack of adaptability in the face of outside forces-should not deflect our attention from the many positive lessons we can draw from this society.
Most readers are probably familiar with the label pygmy, an anthropological term referring to various populations inhabiting central Africa, whose adult males average less than 1.5 meters. The word pygme, in Greek, means the length between a person’s elbow and knuckles, a measurement applied descriptively to this group of unusually small people. The pygmies are thought to be among the earliest inhabitants on the African continent and are probably the oldest human dwellers of the rainforest. The pygmy culture has existed since prehistoric times, and there is a great deal we can learn from it. It is a window on our pasta primary model of human behavior-giving us an idea of the way people behaved before the rise of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Already in ancient Egyptian history, some twenty-three hundred years before Christ, the existence of the pygmies was noted in the record of an expedition looking for the source of the Nile. A message sent to Pharaoh Phiops II of the 6th Dynasty by Prince Herkhuf of Elephantine, the commander of this expedition, described the discovery of “dancing dwarfs from the land of the spirits.”
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Online Article
By Jeremy Brees,B. Parker Ellen III,
Organizational Behaviour,
2021
”Unaccounted for no more: Explicating managers’ role in accountability enactment
Summary
Accountability research has focused primarily on how subordinates perceive or react to workplace accountabilities and largely ignored how managers choose to enact it. This omission has occurred despite repeated claims that managers hold subordinates accountable to different degrees and in different ways. We conducted a systematic review of accountability research for insights into managers’ role in, and differential application of, workplace accountability. Through this review, we inductively developed a model of managerial accountability enactment, which highlights how managers choose to enact accountability in reaction to relevant subordinate events. Research suggests that variations in managers’ enactment of accountability depend upon a myriad of individual, organizational, and situational characteristics. We discuss implications and suggest new directions for future accountability research that consider managers’ role in the accountability process.
Introduction
Accountability is a fundamental and pervasive influence on organizational behavior, as employees are naturally disposed to ask for and give accounts in the workplace. Defined as the “expectation that one’s decisions or actions will be evaluated by a salient audience and that rewards or sanctions are believed to be contingent on this expected evaluation” (Hall & Ferris, 2011, p. 134), accountability frames employee behavior as a social concept (Cummings & Anton, 1990). It exemplifies a true interpersonal phenomenon, through which managers directly, and indirectly, communicate behavioral expectations to employees (Frink & Klimoski, 1998). Given this, it is not surprising that accountability continues to be a popular concept both in research and in practice.
From a practical perspective, accountability is routinely discussed by news outlets, government leaders, and executives, as individuals and organizations struggle to meet unprecedented challenges and are called to account for a variety of behaviors, decisions, and outcomes. From a scholarly perspective, there have been several recent reviews that synthesize different areas of accountability research, including works on felt accountability (Hall et al., 2017), group accountability (Kou & Stewart, 2018), and experimental and behavioral research on accountability (Aleksovska et al., 2019). Additionally, several recent studies have sought to expand the accountability domain, including research on its antecedents (Pearson & Sutherland, 2017), an internalized sense of accountability (Wang et al., 2019), and whether employees perceive workplace accountabilities as either challenges or threats (Brees et al., 2020).
However, despite managers’ noted importance in the accountability process (Bergsteiner & Avery, 2010; Cummings & Anton, 1990; Frink et al., 2008; Frink & Klimoski, 1998; Schlenker et al., 1994), research largely has ignored how managers view, influence, or enact accountability, focusing instead on employee reactions to being held accountable (i.e., felt accountability; Hall et al., 2017). The result is a theoretical asymmetry, where there is a substantial and growing body of information about how subordinates subjectively perceive and respond to accountability, yet little knowledge about the process through which managers hold employees accountable. This is unfortunate because managers comprise half of the accountability interaction and hold most of the power in dyadic supervisor–subordinate relationships (Bergsteiner & Avery, 2010). Consequently, managers have been noted as having a profound effect on accountability (Pearson & Sutherland, 2017; Wikhamn & Hall, 2014). Thus, to fully understand accountability dynamics, researchers must consider the perspective and role of the managers who possess the power and authority to enact it.”
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Course Manuals 1-12
Course Manual 1: Understanding Accountability
Why Your Company Needs Accountability
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already dealt with the fallout from not accepting responsibility when you were younger. We’ve heard tales of parents becoming upset because their child didn’t pick up their favorite toy and throwing it away. Others who neglected to ask their parents to sign the permission sheet were grounded or had to miss a field trip. Others who neglected their responsibilities were unable to get an allowance or partake in enjoyable activities like sleepovers at friends’ homes.
Some of these situations might have appeared horrific at the time, but I’m sure there were many children who stepped over the line and afterwards regretted it. But now that I’m an adult, I can see that the main focus was on emphasizing the value of accountability.
Accountability is something you should strive for oneself and also instill in your staff. Think about how disorderly your house or place of employment would be if people weren’t held accountable for their activities.
Organizations still struggle with accountability in spite of this. According to author and transformational leader Anne Loehr, 93% of employees don’t even comprehend the objectives of their company, making it difficult for them to connect their own interests with those objectives. In addition, 85% of leaders don’t specify what their team members should be focusing on. Additionally, 84 percent admit to “trying but failing” or “avoiding” accountability, even when workers are aware of the problem.
The Value of Holding Individuals Accountable
Any leader would be troubled by those numbers. After all, accountability is crucial to the success of your business.
1. Accountability strengthens the culture of your business
According to MCGB Properties Ltd.’s director and vice president of marketing, John Wright, “a lack of accountability can have a snowball effect throughout the team.” “When an organization’s culture is embedded in honesty and integrity, it enables people to acknowledge mistakes without fear of blame and to work with the team to reflect, learn, and move forward in a positively.” author Pete Lowe continues.
It’s true: When everyone, from the top to the bottom, keeps their word, doesn’t point the finger at others when things go wrong, and helps others reach their goals, an effective workplace culture is fostered. Because of this, productivity is increased and trust is fostered.
How do you accomplish this? By making accountability everyone’s responsibility, according to Wright, you can ingrain it. Before continuing, set relevant goals and gain support from the team. Establish trust by offering assistance and encouragement while exhibiting the conduct you expect from your coworkers. This will enable the team to celebrate victories as a whole while also empowering individual team members.
2. It raises each individual employee’s performance.
Making the most of your employees should be one of your top priorities as a business owner. What connection does this have to accountability?
First of all, accountability encourages ownership and involvement since everyone is crystal aware about their roles and obligations. This not only teaches your staff to value and be proud of their work, but it also clarifies how that job fits into a larger context. It demonstrates your trust in them by allowing them to operate how they desire. Additionally, because everyone on your team is aware of what they are expected to do each day, less time is spent deciding what to work on first and in what sequence.
All of this adds up to a staff that is more productive, engaged, and driven to produce higher-quality work. The best part is that you have a high-performing workforce that holds itself accountable without your help; when people are forced to face standards and accept them, there is minimal need for outside interference. They want to feel good about themselves.
3. Accountability promotes greater compliance with regulations.
Employee compliance with both existing and new firm policies, rules, regulations, and standards depends on accountability. People are more inclined to follow instructions if they are aware of the repercussions of not doing so, and groups that are aware of the importance of the standards will cooperate to uphold them.
When individuals within an organization are held accountable for their conduct, a healthier, happier, and safer workplace is produced where everyone can concentrate on their work instead of having to cope with the inappropriate activities or behavior of coworkers. This may also lessen the number of potential lawsuits or fines that your business may incur.
4. Your bottom line will benefit from accountability.
Accountability can also boost your financial performance. You and your team may focus more of your attention on the tasks driving your business forward when you aren’t wasting time looking for issues and making judgments. Additionally, everyone is motivated by accountability to surpass their objectives and enhance their performance since they are aware that they cannot let up.
And since they’re engaged, you’ll outperform your rivals – according to Gallup, highly engaged workforces outperform rivals and generate 21% more profit. Adding a healthy dose of accountability may keep “the ideas flowing and the execution happening,” as business consultant Jason Blumer puts it. That, in my opinion, is the simplest and most efficient way to expand your business.
Accountability is important, but it can be intimidating to think about. Determining what accountability means to you and your business, though, should be the first step. If people are not held accountable, what will happen? Where does creative and innovative freedom need to be allowed? Set specific objectives, criteria, and rules for everyone to abide by after that.
Most importantly, give your staff the keys. Let them work as they wish and figure out ways to handle issues. Of course, you have to lay out the rules for them, such expectations and deadlines. But having ownership won’t simply make employees more accountable; it will also make them happier and more productive, which will reduce expenses and increase your cash flow. And when they do make a mistake—not if—they will learn from it and advance.
Enforcing good habits can be challenging, but if you ignore accountability, everything else will become much more challenging. Holding yourself and your coworkers accountable for your actions is an investment. Your business will gain, as well as your relationships.
Case Study
In an interview with the RBL Group, Matt Holland, the president of Utah Valley University, speaks about how “individual and organizational accountability has brought sustainable results to the organization.”
10 instances of accountability at work
There are many ways to demonstrate accountability at work, such as these 10 instances:
1. Observe the small details
You may guarantee accurate and high-quality work by paying close attention to the specifics in your work. By paying attention, one assumes responsibility for locating the crucial components that guarantee a project’s success. Additionally, paying attention to the details makes it less likely that you will make crucial errors.
2. Recognize your errors and make the necessary corrections.
Accountability entails owning up to your faults and putting them right. While it may be simple to place the blame elsewhere, accountability requires that you own up to your mistakes and take the necessary corrective steps. Making mistakes is a crucial component of learning. You can go from responsibility to blame when you can look at your mistakes as a chance for improvement.
3. assist your coworkers
Being accountable in the workplace entails adopting a team-oriented perspective. Giving your colleagues a hand with their work makes the team as a whole more productive and successful. For instance, you may offer to stay late with a coworker to assist them finish a last-minute project or step in to cover for a coworker who is absent from work due to illness. Giving assistance after finishing your own tasks demonstrates cooperation, empathy, and responsibility for the group’s success.
4. Create a proactive strategy
You can take either a proactive or a reactive strategy when working. Being reactive is making decisions based on what has already occurred. For instance, a client has a grievance against a product you sell. You respond in a particular way based on the information you learn from the consumer because this is the first time you’ve heard about the problem. Although it’s a typical aspect of employment, this reactive behavior puts you in danger.
Being proactive means planning ahead to identify potential problems. You can develop workable ways to reduce or get rid of foreseeable issues by thinking forward. Being proactive is crucial to being held accountable. You can come up with approaches to enhance the system to lessen potential threats and difficulties.
5. Come across as a leader
No of your position, leadership is about being present and taking accountability for your group and organization. Since anyone can be a leader, management and supervision of others are different from leadership. As a leader, you provide an example for others to follow in order to fulfill tasks. In the workplace, leadership also entails encouraging initiative. Taking the recycling out by oneself, as opposed to passing by an overflowing pile of paper recycling, is an example of initiative.
6. Take a stand for what’s right.
Accountability can be demonstrated in the workplace by standing up for what is right. Sharing your thoughts and seeking a solution when something isn’t right are both part of being accountable to yourself and the people you work with. For instance, this can entail combating workplace bullying, promoting inclusion and diversity, or spotting unethical behavior. When there is an injustice or misconduct that is hurtful to others, saying nothing or doing nothing demonstrates a lack of accountability.
7. Gain better attendance
Being responsible entails being present at work each day. While personal time off, holidays, and sick days may occur, being dependable in your attendance demonstrates your commitment to your achievement and the success of your team. Make it a habit to get to work on time or a little early. Continue honing this skill by respecting other people’s time and showing up prepared to work at meetings and talks at the scheduled time. Increasing your punctuality and attendance demonstrates respect for the time of those around you.
8. Be open to receiving feedback.
Being responsible entails being prepared to accept encouraging feedback. Managers, colleagues, customers, or others who are under your supervision may offer criticism or feedback. In order to be responsible, you must be coachable and own your limitations. Accepting criticism might assist you in concentrating on personality traits or technical skills you can develop. Being coachable also entails listening to those around you and respecting their perspectives.
9. Present remedies as opposed to complaints
Offering solutions as opposed to complaints is a terrific method to promote accountability at work. When you anticipate negativity in meetings or conversations, this tactic is very useful. You become proactive when you handle issues by coming up with a solution rather than whining about them. You might begin to formulate ideas for a strategy.
Consider a situation when your team is dealing with a demanding client. Instead of venting to the other team members during the weekly staff meeting, present numerous options. Offer suggestions for how the team may better assist the client and anticipate that their demands will supply the necessary knowledge.
10. Apologize sincerely
Accountability entails making an honest apologies when you make a mistake at work. By expressing regret, you demonstrate that you are aware of your error and are accepting responsibility for your actions. The best type of apology is one that is sincere and heartfelt. Saying you’re sorry, for instance, demonstrates your responsibility to both yourself and those around you, whether you’re sad you neglected to finish a task or feel horrible about how a conversation ended.
Exercise 1.1: Accountability (Goyette, 2016)
Source: Course Hero
Course Manual 2: Accountability Roadmap
The goal of this study is to assist your teams in determining how well they are prepared to engage in effective accountability, a crucial element of becoming a powerful team. The assessment’s questions are focused on the elements that support positive, future-oriented accountability, the kind utilized by high-performance groups like fighter squadrons and Navy SEALs. The more fundamental goal is to support your teams in making progress in these areas so they may reach their full potential and thrive in the face of disruption. to perform at their highest level despite the difficulties. In Debrief to Win: How America’s Top Guns Practice Accountable Leadership…and How You Can, Too! the important insights that guide this evaluation are briefly summarized in the pages that follow. Understanding the fundamental ideas will make it easier for you to comprehend the results presented on these pages and to act accordingly.
How We Have Been Configured To Adopt Positive, Forward-Focused Accountability
A team is a unique group of individuals. A team is defined as a “small group of people with complementary abilities who share commitment to a common purpose, performance goals, and a strategy for which they are accountable,” according to researchers Katzenbach and Smith. These six elements are supplemented by the following by VMax Group: alignment of values and beliefs, and submitting oneself to the needs of the team. Teams work by adhering to a standardized, ritualized lifecycle. For each tactical task they carry out, high-performance teams specifically follow the following lifecycle: They co-plan, communicate the plan before execution, carry out the plan, and, following the successful completion of the tactical mission, debrief the planning and execution phases. Plan – Brief – Execute – Debrief is how to wrap it up. Since World War I, fighter squadrons have followed this lifecycle.
The team utilizes each member’s unique skills to do its work. In turn, each team member supports the group by speaking up and resisting the propensity to “group-think.” The finest planning is done by teams that include individuals with a variety of perspectives. Execution involves changing course when necessary and acting in accordance with the current situation’s realities. Team members must be given the authority to act in order to execute. The most effective teams favor doing.
The team’s team accountability exercises take place during the debrief. Accountability is described by VMax Group as “taking absolute ownership for the results the team achieves.” In addition, the Debrief is described by VMax Group as “…the process of constructively evaluating the quality of the decisions taken by everyone on the team made from planning through execution, in relation to the objectives the team set out to achieve.”
Debriefings are crucial to understand because they never result in assigning blame. Shame is not among them. Debriefs are actually constructive, future-oriented activities intended to strengthen teams, support team members’ resilience, and foster trust. especially when the mood is intense. particularly after a team failure.
Unfortunately, most corporate teams don’t actually exercise accountability in this way. In a debrief situation, it’s natural for us as humans to look for errors, point out shortcomings, and criticize subpar performance. Even while the intentions are good, it rarely results in a positive end that serves the team as a whole.
The following elements of the Debrief to Win strategy are listed in the following section in order to develop positive, future-focused accountability.
Case Studies
Idea-Driven Meeting Culture
This style of meeting culture puts ideas first and encourages innovation and teamwork.
Not every meeting has to be a brainstorm just because the culture of the group is idea-driven. It’s about fostering an atmosphere where the best concept prevails, regardless of where it comes from.
Hugo has a concept he calls “Absolute Honesty” that combines meritocracy with culture. Employees engage in frequent back-and-forth exchanges of thoughtful disagreement in an effort to advance thinking and produce better conclusions. Conflict can be handled respectfully when there are clear rules for disagreeing.
Weighted voting are used at Hugo to shield ideas from democratic procedures that typically lower the bar. The final decision-maker is given three times as much weight as those who will be impacted by it, while the remainder are only given one.
Ideas are also served by Pixar gatherings. Senior managers might enter a meeting unprepared since moving projects forward is more important than power struggles.
“Dailies” are held by Pixar teams to discuss current projects. Its renowned Braintrusts enable teams to receive helpful criticism about their films from people working on other films, and the reverse. Pixar’s post-mortems, which include five things they would do again and five things they won’t, help the creative process.
Case Studies
Idea-Driven Meeting Culture
This style of meeting culture puts ideas first and encourages innovation and teamwork.
Not every meeting has to be a brainstorm just because the culture of the group is idea-driven. It’s about fostering an atmosphere where the best concept prevails, regardless of where it comes from.
Hugo has a concept he calls “Absolute Honesty” that combines meritocracy with culture. Employees engage in frequent back-and-forth exchanges of thoughtful disagreement in an effort to advance thinking and produce better conclusions. Conflict can be handled respectfully when there are clear rules for disagreeing.
Weighted voting are used at Hugo to shield ideas from democratic procedures that typically lower the bar. The final decision-maker is given three times as much weight as those who will be impacted by it, while the remainder are only given one.
Ideas are also served by Pixar gatherings. Senior managers might enter a meeting unprepared since moving projects forward is more important than power struggles.
“Dailies” are held by Pixar teams to discuss current projects. Its renowned Braintrusts enable teams to receive helpful criticism about their films from people working on other films, and the reverse. Pixar’s post-mortems, which include five things they would do again and five things they won’t, help the creative process.
We Do It Because…
The top teams everywhere aim to continuously learn. Both the causes of their achievement and the factors that led to their failure are something they want to comprehend. The greatest teams understand that the only way to learn is to thoroughly examine what occurred and why, so that the positive aspects can be reinforced and the problematic aspects can be avoided. The top teams are aware that debriefing to win is the most efficient approach to handle all of this.
Not only do military teams engage in debriefing. Debriefs are actually an integral element of the team lifecycle for a huge number of business teams across a huge range of industries. Retrospectives, After-Action Reviews, Lessons Learned, or Post-Mortems—whatever you want to call them—are how teams improve retention, ensure engagement, and drive performance.
And as if that weren’t enough, in 2013 two researchers—Tannenbaum and Cerasoli—published the findings of their meta-analysis on the efficacy of debriefs. “Organizations can improve individual and team performance by approximately 20% to 25% by using properly conducted debriefs,” they said in their conclusion.
Since learning occurs during debriefing, the greatest teams do it. Performance is driven from there. They receive the greatest benefit from and return on their time investment there.
How to Establish Roadmap Accountability with Your Team in 6 Steps
You’ve decided to buy your team a standardized roadmapping tool. That’s a fantastic beginning, but how can you make sure they actually update their roadmaps? The suggestions below will ensure roadmap accountability as you develop your roadmapping strategy with your team.
1. Designate a process champion.
Designating one or more people as accountable for the result is a crucial component of achieving accountability. This individual may be a process champion chosen by the team or an executive sponsor. The road mapping process needs to be successful, so the champion must establish the standards, objectives, and rules.
Early on in the process, expectations must be set. They will be ineffectual, though, without a champion to hold the squad accountable. The roadmapping process’s objectives can be regularly assessed by the champion to see if they are being met. If this is the case, champions have material to keep the squad motivated. Having a champion to spearhead a change in the process is essential if the team is not accomplishing its objectives.
2. Identify your “Why” first.
In actuality, few people enjoy being told to follow orders blindly. Communicating the motivation behind the roadmapping process is a crucial step in getting any team invested in it. Why does your team need to implement a new procedure, to begin with? What problems are you hoping to find solutions for the group? Next, go into the details. Why did you pick the tool that you’re asking the team to use? It could be useful to describe the standards your team was looking for and how the tool you chose stacked up if your team assessed several tools. Understanding the rationale behind introducing a new procedure or switching to a new technology is crucial to encouraging users to put in the necessary work.
I need to know a team’s “why” in order to manage a customer’s success, so to speak. Each team uses its road mapping method to try to accomplish a particular set of objectives. Setting these objectives early on in the process offers the team something to strive for and gives you and your customer success manager benchmarks to aim toward. How can I assist you achieve your goals if I don’t know what success looks like for you? Likewise, how can your team know that the effort they are exerting is worthwhile if they have no notion what success looks like?
3. Shared teamwide blueprint
Maintaining collaboration throughout the process is one of the most crucial techniques to guarantee the success of roadmapping. Encourage users to share their roadmaps immediately is one simple method to accomplish this. A user’s first instinct is frequently to keep the product plan secret until the final version. This might work for a PowerPoint slide that is static, but a living roadmap will never be finished. Since roadmaps are constantly changing, publishing yours early on will help your audience understand how it developed. Editors will be more likely to update their roadmap frequently rather than just before a large presentation if they are aware that it may be viewed at any time.
Working with a group that was completely new to roadmapping made the value of publishing roadmaps early on