Page 20 - NBIZ June2021

YOU GET TOLERATE
WHAT YOU

By Rusty Smith
A or an individual Rock, must be Specific, ■ The To-Dos from the prior meeting
ccountability is a loaded word
Measurable, and Attainable. There must
– and it probably doesn’t mean
are reviewed, and the responsible party
what one thinks. Account-
is complete or not. If not, the team
ability is making a commitment and fol- also be one owner (Responsible party) is asked to report whether their To-Do
and a due date (Time). Having all these
lowing through on that commitment. attributes makes the Rocks SMART. decides what action should be taken.
The commitment can be to a manager,
the team, another team member, a ■ Scorecard: The leadership team If an employee fails to deliver on
subordinate, a customer, a supplier, a determines which metrics should their commitments the manager is
partner, and/or anyone else inside or be tracked on a weekly basis, along accountable to take appropriate action.
outside the organization. with a goal for each. Each member Failure to deliver on commitments
We all make commitments both big of the leadership team agrees to take can be related to completion of Rocks,
and small every day. When an employee responsibility for one or more of these completion of To-Dos, failure to meet
accepts a job, he or she is committing metrics. goals on the scorecard, or simply any
to perform that job in exchange for personal commitments the employee
appropriate compensation. When an ■ To-dos: Issues are Identified, makes. The action one takes should
employee tells their manager they will Discussed, and Solved in the weekly be determined by the situation, but
do something, they commit to doing it. Leadership Team Meeting. This usually action must be taken. Failure to deliver
When a member of a team accepts an results in one or more “To-Dos”, and on small commitments may result in a
action item or takes on a project, they the members of the leadership team small action such a verbal reprimand
are making a commitment to the team. agree to take responsibility for each. or something similar. Failure to deliver
How we deliver on those commitments, on larger, more important commit-
demonstrates our level of accountability. Personal accountability also comes ments, may result in a big action
How does one hold others account- into play at the weekly Leadership such as a demotion, removal from the
able to delivering on the commitment Team meeting: leadership team, or withholding a
they have made? The short answer is promotion, raise, bonus, or something
one can’t. They either are or are not ■ Rocks are reviewed and the respon- similar. Habitual failure to deliver on
accountable. “Holding someone ac- sible party is asked to report whether commitments must result in a drastic
countable” isn’t telling them what to do their Rocks are “on-track” or “off- consequence, such as losing the
and then nagging them until they get it track”. If they are on-track, they are, privilege to work for the company. If
done. A manager/leadership team must in effect, recommitting to completing one fails to take appropriate action, it
provide the opportunity for the employ- the Rock. If they report that the Rock could signal to employees that it is OK
ee to make the commitment and then is “off-track”, they are alerting the to renege on commitments.
get regular updates on his/her progress. team that the Rock is in jeopardy of not In summary, each employee is
being completed. From this point, the accountable for fulfilling the commit-
The EOS program is hard-wired to gain leadership team can then determine ments they make to a manager and the
commitments from the members of the the appropriate course of action – pro- leadership team. By implementing a
leadership team and provide a fool-proof viding additional resources, reassign- program like EOS in one’s company,
process for tracking those commitments: ing it, allocating additional time, etc. one can formalize the process of
getting commitments from employees,
■ Rocks: Each quarter, the leadership ■ The Scorecard is reviewed and if tracking those commitments, and
team decides on the most important any of the metrics on the Scorecard taking action if the commitments
things to accomplish in the next 90 are off track relative to the goal, it is aren’t honored. N
days (Rocks). Each member of the flagged. If the team determines action
leadership team then agrees to take should be taken, the issue is Identified, Rusty Smith is a Houston-based EOS
responsibility for one or more of these Discussed, and Solved and To-Dos are Implementer, The Alternative Board
quarterly Rocks. Each member of the generated as a result. Leadership team (TAB) facilitator, and Business
leadership team may also commit to members, usually the one who “owns” Coach. He can be reached at
individual goals (Individual Rocks). that particular metric, agree to take rsmith@tab-houstonsc.com or
Each Rock, whether a company Rock responsibility for each To-Do. www.thecenter4growth.com.

20 NBIZ ■ June 2021