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Browse published articles attributed to Alan Dobzinski, with full-archive search.
In my last article, "What's the Difference betwee Empowering and Enabling?" we laid out the story of "Jeff" and the line at his door, everyday. And, everyday, Jeff was working until way into the evening while his people left at 5 or 5:30 and waved goodbye to Jeff. Imagine how that must feel?
I recently came across the phrase, "Leave it, change it or accept it," and I've been using it successfully with my clients ever since. Let me tell you, I really get people's attention when I bring this up. In any situation in life, any situation, you always have three choices: 1. You can leave it. Get out. Walk away. Let it go. 2. You can change it. The catch? You can only change what's in your control. 3. You can accept it. Unconditionally. As it is. It's a simple choice, but not necessarily easy to implement. Each choice will have its own set of consequences.
I don't remember his real name but I do remember that he had a big laugh and a huge passion for baseball and for kids. Maybe he was a house painter, or a plumber, or a bus driver. I don't know what he did when he wasn't with us. All I knew - and all I cared about - was that when someone asked for a volunteer to coach a group of eight year old boys, a big man with a big laugh stepped forward. We called him Mr. G. Mr. G. inspired me. He was the kind of person who would have made a great managing partner or CEO.
As a managing partner or leader in a professional services firm, your role is to encourage, develop and coach people towards reaching the business development goals you've decided on together. A crucial part of that process is scheduling regular accountability meetings and using a system to ensure follow-through between meetings. For maximum effectiveness, these conversations must be both intentional and structured. The following is a step-by-step process you can use to guide these conversations:
When an organization is going through change, its people must be supported, developed and coached through the process. When my client Dan contacted me, big changes were on the way for his company, including his department of 250 people and nine direct reports. There were going to be two big differences for Dan's team: First, many people would be in a managerial role that had never been managers before. Second, many of the current managers' roles and responsibilities would be changing considerably.
As a leader in your business, your job is to help each team member take personal responsibility for his or her behaviors, actions and results. Your responsibility is to guide and assist them in working toward their professional goals, and to help them eliminate the barriers to achieving those goals. You're there to empower them. You're not there to do it for them. The essence of my approach is empowerment. To empower is to give people power and authority, or remind them of their power and authority.
Up until 2007 and 2008, it was raining clients in professional services firms like public accounting and legal firms. Then with the great recession of 2008, everything changed. All of a sudden we were seeing layoffs in law firms - something that was completely unheard of in the past. Law students were suing their universities because they couldn't find work.
People often ask me questions about workplace accountability. I figure if one person asks, more people are wondering, so I’ll be answering the questions on my blog so everyone can benefit. This time I’ll be answering two questions:
Scheduling regular accountability meetings is an important tool for helping your people meet their business development goals and ensuring perpetual results for your firm. To make the most of these meetings, I suggest a step-by-step process called the C.L.E.A.R. Accountability Meeting Model, which is part of the Get More Clients NOW and ForeverTM program. Let's recap the first two elements of the model: C - Clarify goals for the accountability meeting - Key question: "What's on your mind?"
What's the opposite of command and control leadership? Caring. We're talking about simple human caring, and it's something all your people need if they're going to achieve the goals you want them to achieve. In a Fast Company article ("The CEO's New Clothes"), Linda Tischler maintains that Morgan Stanley's Philip Purcell, Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina, and Disney's Michael Eisner all lost their jobs because their management styles tripped them up. But not because of the ostensible reasons of "failed strategies, shareholder lawsuits, and missed earnings."
Too often, in our business lives and our personal lives, people talk of love but do not even show respect. But the fact is that you do not have to love - or even like - someone to show them loving respect and hold them accountable. I wrote recently about how workplace accountability isn't about leaders looking for someone to blame or nailing someone to the wall when they have made a mistake. It is a process based on a foundation of respect and love.
As I was reviewing my clients' progress from 2011, several sayings jumped to mind. Together, they sum up the important mindset shifts my clients had to make in order to move forward, improve their leadership skills and get better results from their people. Along with the essential principles of accountable leadership I identified previously, these mantras will help you snap out of the negative behaviors that get so many leaders into trouble. So find a quiet place, take a deep breath and repeat after me:
Are you blaming the economy for your business's lack of performance? I've got news for you: The economy has only exposed the real problems in your business, i.e., poor business development habits and lack of accountability. Here are the top 10 habits that could be responsible for the business development results you've been blaming on the economy:
Leo was a sales rep for a furniture company. Every day, he would visit different stores to offer his products. He covered a huge geographical distance, but always visited the same places - as regular as clockwork. There was one particular store that always said, "No." They already had a furniture distributor and there was no need to even have a meeting with Leo. The floor staff would always sent him away before he could even meet the buyer to describe how his service and products were different.
If you want your people to be more accountable, start with making changes to your own behavior. When you care for and support the people who report to you, they will thrive and you will see more of results you're looking for. At the end of every quarter, I sit down with my clients for a review. We discuss the benefits they've seen from us working together, and the value they get out of the relationship. We also look at what changes they've made, and the behaviors they still need to change.
If you're not satisfied with how your people are performing, maybe it's time to back up and check whether your expectations are clear. The fact is that even though you may assume your people are clear about their roles and responsibilities, often that's not the case. And if you, as the managing partner or CEO, never raise the issue, your people are likely to stay in the dark fumbling around ineffectively.
Now that it's a New Year, I've been thinking about how managing partners and leaders of organizations are so busy, busy, busy, doing, doing, doing, they don't take the time to think, plan and then act, which is my mantra for overbooked leaders.
Meetings get a bad rap in the workplace these days, and rightfully so. Too often, meetings are unproductive, boring and a general waste of time. What’s the problem? The biggest issue is time. With executives and managers being so overbooked, meetings get cut short when they rush in from the last thing they were trying to get done. As a result, people have all these great ideas but there’s no accountability for follow-up and no carry-over from one meeting to the next. Ground rules for meetings
When you're holding regular accountability meetings with your people, it's natural for personal issues to come up. If you're still stuck in "leave your personal life at the door," thinking, get over it - that's old school, and will keep you stuck where you are now. If you want better results, face the fact that personal and professional issues are bound to intermingle at work, and taking care of the personal stuff WILL take care of the business stuff.
Why is it so difficult to hold people accountable for their results in today's workplace? Because it requires follow-through and tough talk. Confrontation can be challenging, and some leaders avoid it at all costs. And it could be costing you plenty - in lost revenue, high turnover and people problems. With most hard-to-have conversations, it's the anticipation that gets you. You may worry about it all night, maybe even lose some sleep. Your mouth may feel dry as the person approaches. You may need to clear your throat a few times.
I often receive questions about accountability in the workplace. I figure if one person asks, several more are wondering the same thing. So I'll be addressing some of these questions in this and future articles. Question: "Alan, how can leaders hold employees accountable for their mistakes, but promote innovation at the same time (which requires failure to some extent)?"
I was coaching an executive in a $4-billion company. He had read my book and now I was working with him one-on-on to teach him the accountability system. He told me that as a result of our work, he had started scheduling regular accountability meetings with all of his direct reports, but he was having a hard time keeping track of everything they'd talked about. And that made it difficult to follow up on what he had asked people to do.
Have you heard the expression that "life is a journey, not a destination"? Well, when it comes to setting goals for your organization life is a journey on the way to a destination. Destination goals (such as revenue and staffing targets and other specific outcomes) are important, but you're not going to reach them without specific stepping stones. Journey goals (such as improving your leadership skills and relationships) are those steps that will get you there.
Keith was in his mid-50s, and was a managing partner in a large CPA firm. He'd gotten to that level because he was very good at business development - specifically, bringing in brand new clients. His partner group, on the other hand, were mainly in the 40s. They were all highly competent in their technical abilities, but not very good at bringing in new business. Up until then, they hadn't needed to conce themselves with that - it was raining clients. And they also saw plenty of growth just from adding on new services to existing client accounts.
When you're creating an Upfront Agreement to design how you and your team members will work together, one item you may choose to include is "Making Requests." First, make sure you each have the same definition of the word: a request is just a request; it's not an order, dictate or command. There are no request police.
From the minute you come in the door, your workday calendar is filled - there are internal meetings, client meetings, project lists and other commitments. One leads right into the next, with no break in between. Sound familiar? You're overbooked! In today's culture, if you're not doing something at all times, you're perceived - by others as well as yourself - as being unproductive. So you schedule back-to-back-to-back meetings that have you doing, running, running, running, doing, doing, doing, from one activity to the next. Here are three major consequences of being overbooked:
As one year winds down and another lies ahead, it's an excellent time to reflect on where you've been and where you're going. I recently went through this process with two different firms when I facilitated their offsite retreats. They had both asked me to help them create a theme for 2012. For one of the companies, it was a matter of revisiting an older strategic plan they were already happy with, but had put on the back burner when the economic landscape changed. Their theme became "Resetting the Plan in 2012."
People often ask me why regularly scheduled accountability meetings are so important. They struggle with the thought of adding one more thing to their crowded schedules. Although the meetings do take time, it's clear that skipping them costs even more because of the extra time needed to hire, train and retrain new staff, or to do projects yourself because your people are not accountable. "Can't we just chat for a few minutes in the hallway?" is something else I hear quite a bit. And these hallway meetings are a big part of the culture in many organizations. But they don't always work.
A few weeks ago, a friend and I were biking on a trail. Beautiful day, great ride, and then all of a sudde I heard this huge “pop!” - it sounded like a gun going off! Now, I’ve been biking trails for 15 years and I’ve never had a flat tire, never mind a blowout. I had no idea what it would sound like, but that’s exactly what it was. Thankfully, I knew the trail well, and was able to borrow my friend’s bike, ride back to the car, and bring the car back to pick her up. But it got me thinking, what if? What if I’d been alone? What if I’d forgotten my cell phone?r
In my last article, "Have You Uncovered Your Theme for 2013?" I gave you six steps you can take to uncover your theme for the year ahead. You can take these steps as an individual and also as a company or team. Let me tell you about something very powerful that happened to me just a few weeks ago, while creating my own theme for 2013.
Let's say the financial goal of a professional services firm, such as a CPA firm or a law firm, is to bring in $1 million in new business. So the managing partner calls in those responsible for business development and says, "Okay, go get that $1 million!" Occasionally, the managing partner gets everyone together to ask, "Has the $1 million come in yet? No? Why not?" What's wrong with this picture? A few things. While the financial target is the ultimate goal, what's missing are the specific activities that are going to make that goal happen.
Five times a week I go to the trail to walk, hike and bike. It's my "third place" - the place where I go to think, reflect, plan and get my ideas flowing. In all the time I've been doing this, I've passed by a local business and noticed a sign outside announcing how long they've been in business. I've watched the sign change from 23 years to 24 years, 25, 26 and all the way up to 27 years in business. 27 years is pretty impressive, yet in all this time I never even noticed what the business was. Until last month.
The role of a leader or managing partner is often to ask enough questions that people finally begin to listen to themselves and find their own solutions. While it's not technically a question, the phrase "say more about that" is just as evocative. It's an invitation that's almost impossible to decline, and often leads to a deeper and more meaningful discussion. Say more about that... Say more about those plans and next steps... Say more about how that might work...
Do these statements sound familiar? "I tell my people what to do, they don't do it and I don't understand why." "If only my people would be accountable and do what I tell them." I've heard this in conversation after conversation, the problem is "telling" does not help create much of an accountable culture... "asking" does!
Last month was a good month - great clients, fantastic engagements, excellent results. My business is thriving and I feel like I'm on top of the world. I would even say it was my best month ever. You're probably wondering what I did differently. Did I change my brand of coffee? Start a new exercise regime? Or is this twinkle in my eye from spending time with a new love interest? Nope! None of these results happened from what I did last month. They're the culmination of many months of effort and accountability, using three key elements that I'm going to lay out for you today.
When you're sitting down for a regularly scheduled accountability meeting with the people on your team, it helps to have some questions and phrases ready. Most of your questions will be open-ended, giving the other person plenty of time to express their conce s and opinions. Open-ended questions also give YOU plenty of opportunities to practice active listening. (How's your active listening? Test yourself and validate the other person by recapping what you've heard.)
Josh was standing in the middle of a group of people at a networking function, when all of a sudden a light bulb of awareness went off. He saw how he always had to get a word in - his ego was out of control. He knew this was how he was behaving at work, also, where he was a managing partner. He knew that he'd gotten complacent as a leader, and was dropping the ball on developing his people and keeping them accountable to him, themselves and the firm.
One of my executive coaching clients had successfully instituted regularly scheduled accountability meetings, but was struggling to keep track of all the details he discussed with his team members. That's when I introduced him to the Accountability Meeting Binder - one binder (or section of a binder) that you turn into a handy place to store everything from a person's job description to a list of actions that person has committed to take. You each have a copy of this binder.
Should the managing partner, CEO or leader set goals for the people on his or her team? Or should team members set their own goals? Your answer could tell me a lot about your leadership style. I could probably accurately predict how people respond to you, and even how accountable they are.
As we enter into the new year it's an excellent time to reflect on where you've been and where you're going. I recently went through this process with two different firms when I facilitated their offsite retreats. They had both asked me to help them create a theme for this year. For one of the companies, it was a matter of revisiting an older strategic plan they were already happy with, but had put on the back burner when the economic landscape changed. Their theme became "Resetting the Plan in 2013."
Each time I end a stretch of accountability work with a client, I ask what they're taking away. For example, I ask about the most memorable things they learned, and where they saw the most growth. I recently had a final session with a client who's been with me for two years. He easily came up with 10+ things that he'd gained from our work. We went through the list and discussed the ways his life was better and easier.
Question: What's the # 1 reason great people leave organizations? Answer: They don't leave organizations. They leave the managers who aren't showing appreciation for their contributions. That makes the art of acknowledgement one of the most important things you can do to retain and motivate your talented people to stay and do well.
It's amazing how often we let simple things stop or block us from doing what we want to accomplish. But with some basic accountability practices, we can blast those obstacles right out of the way and make things happen. Even though it's been years since I worked with Bill, we had lunch the other week and he told me that he still tells this story about how I helped him get past his stumbling block and stay accountable for his goal.
Have you ever felt like your problems at work were a mountain you'd never be able to climb? What if that mountain was as easy to scale as a flat path? My recent experience on the hiking trail reminded me just how much power there is in the mindset we're in when we approach our challenges.
Accountants sometimes tell me that I know them better than they know themselves. Well, I should! I spent five years working inside the consulting division of a regional accounting firm, experiencing firsthand how accountants handle business development. Many service professionals have at least two jobs. Aside from being accountants or lawyers, partners or managers, they also have the job of bringing new business into the firm. And unless someone happens to be a natural salesperson, that can create a problem.
Many leaders experience an accountability gap between what they want/expect to happen and what their people actually deliver. One way to close this gap is to recognize whether you as a leader are an NG. NG stands for "natural guy/gal" and it's someone who gets things done without knowing exactly how they've done it. You're a natural, drawing on pure instinct and ability. You've never thought much about how you do things, because you've never had to. You rarely or never get stuck or feel confused about what to do next.
Do you ever let yourself daydream about how much better things could be at work? For example, let's look at what's behind Door Number One: Imagine that you come to work one day and there's nothing on your desk. There's nothing in your Inbox. No new emails. No one has made any new demands on your time. All of your employees are in their offices, contentedly doing their jobs. When they see you, they don't avoid you. They smile, deliver the results you're looking for, and return to work. When you check the budget, you notice you're in the black, and well above projections.
Leaders often ask me how to keep people accountable. The first thing we usually need to discuss is what accountability actually means - and it's usually different from what they think. Accountability is not about looking for someone to blame when things go wrong, or nailing that person to the wall. That is a very controlling approach to leadership. When I think of controlling leaders, my client Sally always pops into my mind.
When you're the leader, CEO, managing partner or owner of an organization, I suggest making time in your schedule for regularly scheduled accountability meetings with your people. To really hold people accountable, you need to be in touch with them routinely and frequently. Regular meetings give you the structure to do that. So here you are, sitting across the desk or conference table, and your team member is staring back at you waiting for you to say something brilliant. No pressure there, right?
Instead of focusing only on a task - "When will the ABC project be completed?" - an accountable leader also focuses on the person: "How are you doing with the ABC project? What sort of resources do you need? How can I support you?" Do you see the difference? Can you imagine how it feels to hear a question about a project, versus a question about you? This is a big change for many leaders, who protest: "I don't have time to ask how people are doing, I just need them to get things done!" I understand. Regularly scheduled accountability meetings do take time. But so does: