Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: accountability

  • Listen In -> Fake Goals #5: Goals That Are Double Standards

    Probably the most subtly evil of the fake goals are the ones which are double standards.

    The goals that you hold everyone to account except yourself.

    As attractive as the option might be to those who think their position entitles them to certain flexibility as regards their own accountability, it is a credibility-destroyer.

    First, double standards undermine any positive motivation your team may have been able to derive out of having a set of ambitious goals.

    Once you remove yourself from the accountable team, the motivation shifts from achievement to measurement; and the focus shifts from working hard to avoiding judgment.

    Secondly, you just fired yourself from the team. You put yourself on a different team. Instead of you being accountable for ensuring the team’s success, you make the team accountable for your success.

    I promise you, they won’t embrace that responsibility enthusiastically. Instead of getting 110% from a highly motivated team, you will barely get 51% (or whatever you passing grade is).

    Listen in.

    Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.

  • Listen In -> Bridging the Work-Faith Divide #4: Collaboration, Empowerment and Accountability

    We don’t work alone.

    Some of may wish we worked alone, but reality returns each morning and we find ourselves face to face with another task on which to collaborate, another meeting to schedule, or another disagreement to work through.

    Bridging the Work-Faith DivideWe need ways to share information, combine efforts, enhance motivation, and be accountable to achieve results.

    In this week’s show, Claudia and I discuss how our faith informs how we work with other people.

    But, true to our the workplace perspective of this series, we are not going to ask how to be a good Christian at work. We are going to discuss the workplace realities of collaboration, empowerment and accountability.

    We have to share tasks and pool our skills; we have to tap into people’s core motivations and working styles; and we need to be able to confront problems and achieve results.

    You’ll be amazed at how relevant and helpful being a person of faith is to effectively navigating these common workplace issues.

    Listen in.

    Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.
    Interested in how we can resource your church or organization? Get more information here.

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #22


    Substituting musical chairs for dismissal… again.


    Karl Edwards

  • Listen In -> Why We Hate Meetings #5: Not Acted On through Follow-Up

    After your meeting is over does everyone simply go back to what they were doing before the meeting as if nothing had just taken place?

    We are busy people, and new ideas, initiatives, changes and decisions that come out of a meeting often fail to get implemented.

    One of the reasons we hate meetings is because nothing changes. All that time. All that energy. The many discussions. The haggling. The compromises.

    And then…

    Nothing happens.

    The unspoken message is that the effort was a waste of time.

    Find out what follow-up can do for your meeting.

    Listen in.

    Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.

  • Question of the Week #21

    How would it affect your leadership style if you considered yourself accountable to your staff instead of your supervisors?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Question of the Week #17

    How do you affirm and encourage risk-taking without reducing your demand for results?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Question of the Week

    How often do you find yourself asking employees in retrospect, “How did that happen?” How often do you find yourself asking them during the process, “How is it going?”

    If you discover that you ask the first question more often than the second, how might you become more proactive about finding out what’s going on?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Listen In -> Tangible Accountability #5: Criteria That Builds In Measurement

    Did anything bad happen?

    Sometimes the question of accountability gets reduced to just such vague speculation.

    Unclear about what results we intended in the first place, no outcome seems good enough. With no agreed upon markers for measuring progress, many of us plug along until disaster strikes.

    In this week’s show, Claudia and I discuss the importance of having criteria for measuring success. Criteria markers provide agreed upon discussion points for evaluating communication, production efforts, schedules, budgets as well as other outcomes.

    How specific, straightforward, and measurable are your accountability targets?

    Listen in.

  • Listen In -> Tangible Accountability #4: Motivators That Build In Lifelong Learning

    Tangible accountability transforms failures into learning opportunities.

    Now that you have structures that build in results and relationships that build in support, you are aware of missed deadlines, errors in judgment, miscalculated budgets, etc. right when they happen.

    For accountability to serve a positive purpose (ensure that your stated intentions are accomplished), these problems need to become possibilities. Instead of failures being the end of the story, they need to be the beginning of a new story from which your team emerges smarter, quicker, and more skilled than they were before.

    In this week’s show, Claudia and I discuss the third component of tangible accountability: Intentionally using problems to create learning opportunities.

    Imagine entire teams and processes improving in real time simply because your accountability structure provided a mechanism for learning.

    Listen in.

  • Listen In -> Tangible Accountability #3: Relationships That Build In Support

    What if accountability were a means of support instead of a means of blame?

    What if leadership meant ensuring the success of your team instead of punishing the failures of your team?

    This week Claudia and I discuss how accountability can be a powerful means to build in the support relationships that check in occasionally, provide needed resources, are available for questions, and are committed to the project’s success.

    Isolation can be a real danger when a lot is going on and people are busy with multiple priorities. Situations can change in ways that affect others or have implications to the schedule or budget. The sooner such changes are communicated, the sooner appropriate and timely adjustments can be made.

    That’s when we’d be better off if those relationships were already in place and built right into the system.

    Listen in.

    If you are joining the conversation mid-topic, you can find the entire series on Tangible Accountability here.