The concept of accountability is vital in business. A few of the more significant problem areas of the economy lack accountability, which may be their problem.
Bank CEO’s
We are seeing the Canadian Bank CEOs attempting to appear to be “tightening their belts” and “taking one for the team” by eschewing some bonus money. While my opinion is this isn’t enough, at least the optics of the acts show at least some repentance for their actions and thus some perceived accountability.
High Tech
Nortel’s CEOs did not show any remorse or accountability in their actions, which makes a lot of folk wonder did they feel accountable for the companies bankruptcy?
John Chambers from Cisco, on the other hand, for a while (and might still now, I can’t find any corroboration), took a salary of $1 per year (he got other compensation), but that alone has excellent optics for employees. Is he still wealthy? I guess it is not likely that he is trying to create extra income for his family by taking a part-time job at Home Depot.
Overall Accountability
Accountability of the folks in power and of anyone you deal with directly (especially when it comes to your money) is a vital thing to look for.
If you have a financial advisor, how are they accountable to you? If they give you bad investment advice, what happens? Ask that if you are talking to your advisor. If their answer is, “… well, I’ll try to do better next time”, you might want to think about not hiring them. How can you make this person accountable for their decisions with your money?
How do we make CEOs of large firms accountable? If you are a stockholder, make sure you vote for your Board of Directors since they are supposed to represent your best interests (whether they do or not is another question). Go to the yearly stockholder’s meetings, ask questions and read the company prospectus (no matter how painful it might be).
You can’t hold someone accountable for anything if you aren’t sure of what they are doing, and you can’t ask pointed questions about what is being done if you don’t know “what is being done.”
Make yourself accountable for your decisions, but also make the folks you deal with directly (and those that work for you) responsible for their actions and decisions. It will make the whole system work that much better.
Based on the performance of the last two coaches, I’d rather pay them to not work than let them work for free. 😉
🙂 Maybe, maybe, but still it always seems strange to hear someone is paid for 2 years not to work, but I guess that is kind of where I am right now too 😉