Building Accountability and Commitment

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Creating accountability for the well being of the institution is a fundamental task of management. Too often, we reduce accountability through our efforts to increase it. The conventional wisdom is that we should hold others accountable. As a result, individuals spend their days being held accountable for their performance in the organization, as if someone else has to make sure they deliver on their commitments.

There is another way to think about accountability. One that does not leave us clouded by questions of, "Why doesn't that other person do what I think is in the best interest of the organization? Why doesn't my boss understand that the demands are unrealistic and unattainable?" To overcome this seemingly unending cycle of blame and defense, we need to stop holding people accountable, and start believing in people's capacity to choose accountability. Creating organizations where the choice to be personally accountable in service to the larger whole, is the purpose of the Building Accountability and Commitment workshop.

It is not easy or a quick fix. It takes time, patience and courage.

This workshop is based on the concepts in Peter Block's best-selling The Empowered Manager, Stewardship and the recently released Freedom and Accountability at Work written with Peter Koestenbaum. It provides participants with the tools to change each and every conversation they have to one where accountability is chosen, not enforced. This is not a safe or predictable path, for no one can promise safety. Believing that a handful of great leaders at the top can ensure the performance of those in the middle and the bottom is an inefficient strategy for managing all the complex issues that organizations currently face. If trying harder is not enough, this workshop will help you create a culture where accountability is chosen, and everyone acts and feels as an "owner" of the organization.

This workshop is frequently offered onsite as a series of in person or virtual 3 hour sessions. The Six Conversations that Matter helps participants open themselves and their organizations or communities to the possibility of a different future. A future of their own creation based on the strengths and capacities of the status quo. A future where accountability is chosen, ownership is co-created and individuals are committed to the success of the organization with no promise of personal rewards. The workshop provides an opportunity for participants to experience the conversation in real time and allows them to understand how these conversations might transform their organization.

Target Outcomes:

• Commit to the success of an organization without a promise of return
• Define possibilities with the faith that we can live out our personal intentions and also serve the organization
• Have new conversations – from complaining and waiting for others to change to ones where we realize we have helped create the very place we thought was owned by others
• Focus on strength and capacities rather than problem-solving our deficiencies
• Hold a stance wholeheartedly with an acceptance that our new way of thinking and working will not always be embraced by others.