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Volume 3, Number 13 June 28, 2002
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Psychology for Business is a free e-mail newsletter written by
Dr. Lynda Dahlke,
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TRIPLE “A” LEADERSHIP
TOUCHSTONES FROM THE SEA
By Dr. Lynda Dahlke, Business Psychologist and Coach
ACCOUNTABILITY (PART III OF III)
In Parts I and II of Triple “A” Leadership, two “touchstones” were discussed that I believe are important to effectively lead. The first was AWARENESS; the second was ALIGNMENT. This issue of the Psychology for Business newsletter is the last of the series and will discuss ACCOUNTABILITY.
Let’s go back to the sea one last time to gather another example of leadership touchstones using a maritime analogy. Once again you are the captain of a sailing vessel (leader of an organization) embarking on an important voyage. A useful principle to help assure success is the concept of accountability.
If you, as the captain, expect certain tasks to be accomplished by members of the crew (your employees), and they fail to do so, disaster can occur. If it is someone’s job to bring fresh water or desalination equipment along and they forget, or only bring half empty containers, the ship won’t reach its destination; the voyage will be a failure. If it is someone’s job to inspect the sails to assure that they are in good repair and they choose to neglect this task, again the ship could be at risk.
Is it the captain’s job to always check everything to assure a successful voyage? Well, if the ship is very small with no crew, the answer is “yes”. However, if the ship is of any size, the captain needs to develop an effective process of delegation. This leads directly to the issue of trust.
For a captain to be effective, they must be able to delegate some of the tasks required for voyage preparation. For a captain to feel comfortable delegating important tasks, they must trust the crewmember that they are enlisting to accomplish the task. If the task is accomplished in a timely and complete manner, trust is enhanced and more responsibility is given. The captain can effectively mentor future captains by delegating increasingly important, complex responsibilities, enhancing the trust relationship and the commitment level of the crewmember. The inability to ever trust anyone dooms effective leadership. A weak captain resists delegation, fearing the mentee will outshine the mentor. This selfish mentality will undermine both the captain and the ship.
If, however, the crewmember fails to accomplish the task or completes it in a “half-mast” manner, trust is frayed or betrayed, leading to a decreased level of responsibility entrusted by the captain. If poor performance with a delegated responsibility happens often enough, the captain needs to acknowledge that the crew member cannot be trusted with responsibility and in order for the voyage to be successful and in the best interest of the rest of the crew, that person needs to leave the crew and their delegated responsibilities need to be met in another manner.
It is an important part of being an effective captain that after a crewmember is given adequate training, explanations and opportunities to perform and they still fail, the courage to cut the crewmember loose is imperative. As a leader, you are sending important messages to others if you fail to hold your reports accountable for their performance. By keeping non-performers around you are giving important messages to others regarding your tolerance of poor performance and that retained employment is based on things other than performance.
It is also important to note that by holding employees accountable you can enhance their belief in themselves and their capabilities. You can encourage continuous improvement in an employee’s performance by collaboratively setting measurable goals for their performance, holding them accountable for goal achievement in a specified time period and rewarding them for successful completion of the goals. If they fail to achieve a desired goal, revisit it with them in a collaborative, non-judgmental manner to assess why the goal was not met. Many times it is not due to lack of effort; it could be due to a lack of adequate resources; a lack of accessing adequate resources; a lack of training; a lack of clarity; et cetera. The failure is not in missing achievement of the desired goal. It could be a failure, however, to not clearly identify why the goal was missed.
If you notice a consistent lack of effort at goal achievement, it may be due to a misalignment between job responsibilities and the individual’s interests, skills or abilities or some other motivational deficit. This situation, as stated earlier, may warrant letting the employee go. Reasonable developmental enhancements (i.e. training, coaching, therapy, et cetera) can work in some cases, however, “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” and a wise leader needs to know the difference.
THE ACCOUNTABLE LEADER
How does the concept of accountability apply to the captain of the ship?
Ultimately the captain is responsible for all activities related to completing a successful voyage. The captain is accountable to the crew (employees), the ship’s owner (stockholders) and, most importantly, to themselves. On all but the smallest of ships, this is impossible without appropriate delegation of duties. Therefore it is incumbent upon the captain to clear obstacles that may prevent successful performance of delegated duties. If the captain has awareness of the state of his/her ship and crew and has created a culture valuing alignment of crewmembers and their activities, then they will have knowledge of how they can enable the crew to be successful.
As stated above, it is most important that the captains be accountable to themselves. In this series of three articles on “TRIPLE “A” LEADERSHIP” the case has been made for effective leaders to develop personal “touchstones” to guide their performance. When all is said and done, a leader must be accountable to themselves for their own performance. There are many paths to success as a leader. What guides you may be unique to your own circumstance and history. Are you going to leave your voyage up to chance? You may be successful. However, you may miss out on the chance to maximize your potential and lead your organization to currently unimagined success. The difference may rest on basing your leadership activities on principles that reflect the sum of your conscious and unconscious knowledge; your “touchstones” of leadership. I have suggested three that have proven to be important in my work with leaders.
ALIGNMENT
I challenge you to have the courage and to take the time to determine what you know your organization needs to thrive.
WHAT IS YOUR LEADERSHIP LEGACY?
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About the Author
Lynda Dahlke, Ph.D. is a
licensed psychologist and business consultant with over 20 years of practical experience working with individuals
and groups from diverse backgrounds and levels of responsibility. She excels at
delivering concise, actionable guidance and recommendations. Lynda specializes in
pre-employment assessment, professional coaching, conflict
management, assisting organizations to work with difficult individuals and
personalities and organizational diagnostics/consulting.
Based in Waukesha, WI, Dr. Lynda Dahlke is
available for consultation or coaching by phone, e-mail or in person. She may be
reached at (262) 789-2728 (office), by e-mail at
mailto:ldahlke@psychologyforbusiness.com
or:
Lynda Dahlke, Ph.D.
Psychology for Business
200 South Executive Drive, #101
Brookfield, WI 53005-4216
Did you know that executive coaching is
not geographically limited? Coaching by telephone is effective.
It is also an efficient use of time and resources. You never need to leave
your office to travel, nor do you need to pay travel expenses for your coach. We
offer coaching either onsite or by telephone. To
find out if coaching is right for you, contact us to schedule a FREE 1/2 hour
consultation. Or request a price sheet to determine the best value for
your organization. Call us at:
(262) 789-2728 or email us at
mailto:ldahlke@psychologyforbusiness.com.
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Dr. John Weaver of Psychology
for Business and Jeff Percival of
Ben HR will be presenting a seminar titled
The Vitamin C’s for Healthy and Effective Leaders
on Wednesday morning, August 14th from 8:00AM to 11:00AM. It will be held at :
P&H Training Center
2717 South 163rd Street
New Berlin, Wisconsin
More details will follow but mark your
calendar now. If you would like to receive full information by email,
please send an email to
mailto:jweaver@psychologyforbuinsess.com?subject=LEADERS.Please
include your name, email and a daytime telephone number in the body of the
message. We will be happy to send you all the information you need to sign up!
An extra for our readers: Receive your
FREE copy of
9 Ways to Motivate Your Workforce by clicking on the title or visiting
http://www.psychologyforbusiness.com/motivate.htm. This paper was prepared
for a recent talk by Dr. John Weaver (and co-presented by Jeff Percival)
for the Workforce Development Center. If you are interested in having Dr. Weaver
speak for your organization, please contact him at
mailto:jweaver@psychologyforbusiness.com.
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Archives:
All of our previous newsletters are archived
at
http://www.psychologyforbusiness.com/eNewsletter.htm. Check out the series on The Vitamin C’s of an
Emotionally Healthy Workplace, the
series on Dealing with Difficult Employees, links to our Published Articles
and our newest series, Triple "A" Leadership.
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Dr. John Weaver
has a new article, The "Failures" of
Perfect Leaders, published in the electronic version of Executive
Update Magazine.
Many
leaders probably recognize a perfectionism streak within themselves, but what
they may miss is that organizational success could depend on their ability to
simply be "excellent," not perfect. You can read it online:
http://www.gwsae.org/executiveupdate/2002/June/ElectronicIssue/leadership.htm.
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To order your copy of the book, MANAGING DIFFICULT
PERSONALITIES IN THE WORKPLACE: A Manager’s Practical Guide, by
Dr. Paul Kenneth Glass, send your name, address, number of
copies desired and a check made out to Dr. Paul Kenneth Glass for $12 per
book (plus $2 shipping per book). Or order 10 or more copies for
$10 per book and $6.95 for shipping (up to 50 copies). No fluff, this book gets right to
the point. Send orders to:
Dr. Paul Kenneth
Glass
Psychology for Business
2717 N. Grandview Blvd. #303
Waukesha, WI 53188
Email:
mailto:pglass@psychologyforbusiness.com
To order the booklet: 41 WAYS TO IMPROVE THE EMOTIONAL HEALTH OF YOUR WORKPLACE, by Dr. John Weaver send a check for $6 and a self-addressed, double stamped business size envelope to:
Dr. John Weaver
Psychology for Business
2717 N. Grandview Blvd. #303
Waukesha, WI 53188
If you would like to order multiple copies,
send an email to
mailto:jweaver@psychologyforbusiness.com
to request a price sheet. Order in quantity and save.
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If you would like to learn more about Dr. Lynda Dahlke
(mailto:ldahlke@psychologyforbusiness.com), Dr. John Weaver
(mailto:jweaver@psychologyforbusiness.com), and
Dr. Paul Glass
(mailto:pglass@psychologyforbusiness.com) please visit us at our website:
http://www.psychologyforbusiness.com/.
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© Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Lynda Dahlke. Distribution rights: The
above material is copyrighted, but you may retransmit or distribute it to
whomever you wish as long as not a single word is
changed, added or deleted, including the contact information. If you would like
to reprint part of this newsletter please contact me at
mailto:ldahlke@psychologyforbusiness.com
to make arrangements.
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Sharing this newsletter with colleagues and friends, under these conditions, is
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If you have a question or topic you would like to see covered, send your request to
mailto:ldahlke@psychologyforbusiness.com.
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New! Subscriber Corner. In each newsletter, we
will highlight some of our subscribers at the end of each issue. It is an
opportunity for you to learn more about other organizations who are part of the
Psychology for Business family. It is also a
chance for you to highlight your business efforts. To have your organization
listed, please send a brief (4 to 7 lines) description that will tell readers
about who you are, what you do, and how to get in contact with you. This service
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Today’s Subscriber Corner: Jeff Percival,
BenHR (414) 271-7333,
mailto:jpercival@benhr.com
BenHR, Inc. is dedicated to being “your HR
supply room”. While our primary focus is providing management information
through the assessment process, we have selected the best products, tools, and
consultants to meet our clients needs.
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Dr. John Weaver publishes another newsletter, co-authored by
Darlene Weaver, THE
CENTERED PENDULUM. It is our firm belief that lifelong
patterns of “being” (personality, attitudes, emotions) and “doing” (lifestyle,
adaptability, coping skills) interact with our genes and environment to create
conditions of a healthy or a diseased brain. If you would like to read
previous issues of the Centered Pendulum newsletter or to subscribe, please
visit the archives at
http://www.centeredpendulum.org/newsletters.htm.
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