Since the beginning of time, humans have found meaning from work. Why is it then that so many workplaces treat people as if they can’t be trusted?
Self-accountable people who can get along with other people make everything easier!
For anyone who supervises, manages or coaches a team of people, you may find yourself agreeing with the sentence above. These are characteristics that most hiring managers yearn for their team, but not everyone has these characteristics!
The competition to attract and retain these self-accountable people who can get along with others (let’s call these people, adults) will continue to be fierce, and will only increase in the future.
If these characteristics are important to your company, what’s your strategy to attract and retain them? Here’s a few things to keep in mind:
- Self-accountable people tend not to like being micro-managed.
- Self-accountable people tend to like working with other self-accountable people.
- Self-accountable people don’t appreciate being treated like a child.
- Self-accountable people will always be able to secure other employment opportunities.
- Self-accountable people still need the right coaching, mentoring and development.
The problem for many companies is that they say they want self-accountable people, but then introduce processes and systems that scream, “we actually don’t trust you to do the right thing”. And herein lies the problem.
Sure, some people can’t be trusted. But if you are hiring people on the basis that they will be trusted, but they then experience something different, the employment relationship can sour rapidly.
Hire the right people, give them the guidelines, let them decide.
How often should people meet to discuss performance?
What should be discussed during scheduled conversations?
When should goals be created and how often should progress updates come through?
These are all decisions that tend to be made centrally (by HR or Senior Leaders). The thing is, it is part of human nature to want to feel in control of their choices. In fact, people will often be far more motivated to do something if they had a say in the decision-making process.
My Employee Life supports what we like to call a PERFORMANCE DRUMBEAT. This is really just a fancy description for a continuous cycle of important conversations (real conversations using voices!) to ensure everyone is clear about expectations, and that progress is happening.
A growing number of our customers are adopting the view that the Senior Leadership Team is there to provide the appropriate guidelines “why”, and then let the people who are closest to the action decide on the final ‘how’. As long as the right people are in the team (and yes, recruitment is one of the most important competencies an organisation can have), this is something worth considering.
If you would like to learn more about how to create a culture of self-accountability, please contact us using the chat box or you may also click here to request a free demo of My Employee Life today.
- Date - April 9, 2019
