However much we may try to believe differently, however hard we may try to shake it off, we all know that we are on the line for results.
We know we have responsibilities and that we are required to learn them and to perform at expected levels. While its perfectly normal to
have bad days, to be down or to get sick, we all know intuitively that most the work in this world gets done by those who don’t feel well.
Down deep, we know that others are not at fault when we have made mistakes or “dropped the ball.” And we know ever so poignantly that we alone determine the course of our lives and the measure of happi- ness that we derive from them.
We have spent years studying, thinking about, and struggling to improve the ways individuals and organizations get results. Over the years we’ve followed all the major developments in management thought, from the technology of quality control to the art of leader- ship. Although we’ve learned something from each new trend and have even added to them a few twists of our own, we’ve concluded that success in business boils down to one simple principle: you can either get stuck or get results. Period. Case closed.
Accountability for results rests at the very core of the total quality, employee empowerment, customer satisfaction, and continuous im- provement movements so popular today. Interestingly, the essence of these programs boils down to getting people to become personally accountable - rising above their circumstances and doing whatever it takes (within the bounds of ethical behavior) to get the results they want. Creating this individual accountability is the number one managerial and leadership challenge facing organizations today.
However, while many people and organizations recognize the pervas- ive and urgent need for such accountability, few know how to create it or maintain it, as evidenced by the vast number of creative excuses promulgated every day for why affairs have deteriorated to such a sorry state. A debt-burdened economy, drug-plagued and violence- torn inner cities, businesses pounded by European and Japanese competitors, a crumbling health care system, underpaid teachers and overbureaucratized school systems, a record number of personal and corporate bankruptcies? “Hey, it’s not my fault!” Unfortunately, even when well-documented, legally defensible or logically compelling excuses let people “off the hook” for poor results, those “responsibility duckers” do nothing but reinforce a habit of side-stepping problems rather than facing up to and solving them. It’s no wonder why America currently suffers from an unprecedented confidence crisis.
All of us at one time or another succumb to the urge to take ourselves “off the hook” with one excuse or another: “I didn’t have enough time,” “If we only had the resources,” “The schedule is too
tight,” “That’s not my job,” “It’s the boss’s fault,” “I didn’t know,”
“The competition outsmarted us,” “The whole economy’s in trouble,”
“Things will get better tomorrow.” Whatever the wording, all our justifications for failure focus on “why it can’t be done,” rather than on “what else I can do.” To be sure, people really do fall victim every day to manipulating bosses, unscrupulous competitors, conniving colleagues, economic calamities and all manner of liars, cheats and villains. Things do happen to people over which they have little or no control. Sometimes, people do not deserve what happens to them because they did not contribute to it nor are they legitimately account- able for it. But even in the worst of such circumstances, people can’t move forward if they just sit around feeling powerless and blaming others for their misery. Regardless of the situation, you cannot even begin to turn things around until you take charge of your circum- stances and accept your own responsibility for better results in the future. You must get Above The Line that separates success from failure.
When individuals and organizations assume accountability for their own success and results, they naturally rise Above The Line, even when the going gets extremely rough. Former CEO Ken Olsen and his company Digital Equipment Corporation illustrate the point. Digital Equipment’s popular VAX minicomputers, after reaching their zenith in the late 1980s, soon fell prey to powerful desktop microcomputers, called workstations, that began luring away Digital’s prize customers.
DEC faced a serious crisis. Ken Olsen’s now-famous quote, “You can be sure our plan was perfect - it’s just that the assumptions were wrong,” shows that rather than playing the victim, he assumed an accountable attitude, one that’s still helping reshape the beleaguered company. Instead of blaming others, denying responsibility, acting confused, or waiting for things to get better, Olsen took the bull by the horns, and got the company working productively above the line, incorporating the key features of the workstation into his company’s VAX computers in a new product line code-named Alpha. Many obstacles, from technology and design to marketing and finance, arose as Olsen worked to reshape the entire company and culture. As the culture shifted, his can-do, get-results attitude took hold throughout the company, laying the groundwork for a comeback. In the face of tough and even grueling obstacles, Olsen helped the company stay Above The Line and get back on track toward future
success. However, in late 1992, after a $3 billion loss for the year, Olsen was asked to resign. Admirably, Olsen never played “the victim.”
He assumed his accountability for the overall results of the company and rather than leaving the company deeply entrenched in the victim cycle, he left them working diligently Above The Line. In our view, the results of Ken Olsen’s efforts to keep DEC Above The Line will continue to inspire thousands of DEC workers for many years to come, instilling within them a desire to ultimately make the company’s fledgling comeback a success. As DEC continues forward, Ken Olsen, at age 66, finds no shortage of opportunities to apply his vision and commitment elsewhere as he serves on the board of directors of two corporations, three institutions of higher education, and a museum.
The transforming power of accountability is real as illustrated by Ford’s Taurus plant in Atlanta, Georgia, which has become the most productive automobile plant in America, if not the world. A new Ford Taurus rolls off the assembly line every 17.6 worker-hours, compared to the average European mark of 35 worker-hours, General Motors’
standard of 27 worker-hours, and the Japanese 21 worker-hours. How do Ford executives and Taurus plant workers explain this world-class production efficiency? To their minds, it’s not the new plant, young workers, state-of-the-art technology, just-in-time inventories, or teamwork that’s made the difference. According to plant manager Robert Anderson, what has made the difference is an attitude among plant workers that “they can overcome any obstacle that gets in the way.” Exemplifying the value of climbing the Steps To Accountability at work, people in the Atlanta plant welcome individual responsibility for results. First, they strive to see any situation clearly and honestly.
Knowing that Ford faces stiff competition that the automaker cannot meet or beat with its head in the sand, the Taurus people try hard to maintain a strong sense of reality. Second, having come to “own” the situation and the expected results, knowing they will share in the profits, they muster an amazing commitment to get things right, not because Ford wants it that way, but because they do. Third, these workers continuously “solve” problems and remove obstacles. When a small scratch was appearing occasionally on the hood of one Taurus model, the group responsible promised to find the cause and eliminate it, no if’s, and’s, or but’s. Fourth, and finally, Taurus people “do”
whatever it takes to get desired results. When the workers discovered that it was an alcohol wiping machine that was damaging cars during
the paint-stripping process, they took the time and effort to find a better way to get the job done, a better way that ultimately achieved higher quality and lower repair costs. In another instance, workers purchased five diesel generators to supplement their power needs during peak load hours, saving themselves $800,000 a year.
This sort of attitude of accountability lies at the core of any effort to improve quality, satisfy customers, empower people, build teams, maximize effectiveness, and get results. Simple? Yes and no. It’s a simple message, but it takes a tremendous investment of time and courage to make accountability an integral part of an organization.
Whether you confront your own self-diminishing attitudes in your small start-up enterprise or in the management ranks of a Fortune 500 firm, you cannot expect to create a better future unless you begin to take the time and find the courage to get Above The Line.