Creative Accountability

by Don Harkey

"But you haven't had to work with MY people!"

We have talked about how holding someone else accountable to do something uses a lower form of motivation. Getting people to hold themselves accountable by allowing them to relate to the task utilizes a much higher form of motivation. The problem that arises is how you can get someone to hold themselves accountable.

Anyone with children knows the challenge of trying to "guide" the behavior of another human being. If my 2 year old sticks her finger in a light socket, my reaction is probably not going to be working to create an environment where she feels related, competent, and autonomous. I would probably use my "alpha male" voice to command her to stop.

Any person who has worked in an environment that ran strictly off command and control will likely struggle in an environment full of autonomy. This is especially true in jobs where people are traditionally treated like a commodity. Its a viscous cycle. The person who works in an environment where they aren't trusted to do the right things eventually gets to the point where they truly can't be trusted to do the right things. Saying that you are going "hold the person accountable" is hardly effective.

So what do you do? This is never an easy situation to deal with and there is no cookie cutter way of bringing a person from being motivated by fear and threats to being internally motivated. All you can do as a leader is focus on the 3 needs that drive motivation: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Start small. Give the person a little bit of control in a small task that they understand. Allow them to feel small successes and build off that. Show them how their small successes contribute to the whole. Show them a little trust in that area. Don't look over their shoulder constantly. Find a mentor for that person who can show them that doing the right things is really the right thing to do.

The most important factor that will keep your people moving in the right direction is a clear vision. I was told recently of a study in hospitals that looked at medical errors. The study determined that the right procedures are usually in place to prevent these errors, but the procedures aren't being followed. The problem is the person who is following the procedure doesn't understand the important of each step.

If I were to write a procedure for an operator to work on a machine, I would instruct them to first shut off and lock down the power to the machine (making it extremely difficult for someone else to energize the equipment while they were working on it). Some people have no idea how many people get hurt in equipment that was supposed to be "off" while they were working on it, but the equipment suddenly turned on. I could train on the procedure over and over again and still have people who don't follow it. However, if I show the operator some statistics on how many people get hurt not following the procedure, or if I can share real case studies, or if I can even show some gory pictures of someone who had a hand smashed in equipment, the message will stick.

Understanding the importance of our work is a key to motivation. Communicate a common vision. Allow your people to feel success. This is why the "thank you" mug can truly be effective. As a reward, a mug isn't something that drives most people. However, understanding that your work is part of a greater good is very motivating. As Dr. Levesque says, the external "reward" drove internal motivation. Its when the reward becomes the driver that we decrease motivation (ex: replace the mug with a check for $1000). Its nice to receive a great reward, but we lose our focus on why we truly do what we do.

My final advice is to keep at it. Keep working with your people. Most people want to do the right things. Once you have your people working with you and not for you, you will discover a whole new resource... the talents and passions of your people!