By Linda Galindo, President, Versera Performance Consulting.

Nothing is more energizing than having great ideas fly around a meeting room and everyone is engaged in solving problems and getting things done. In tough economic times, seeing employees express ideas about how to keep the business booming is especially rewarding. “We should put this on the website!” “We can get advertising to highlight this feature in the next marketing campaign!” “Customers will love the ability to download this information!”

You want to keep these great expectations moving from one meeting to the next and ensure that the best ideas are not allowed to stall. It’s important that the great ideas “we” need to act on are not lost. Those ideas are gold and the miners of that gold are in the room.

The Problem with “We”
To get to the gold, you must eliminate the Nothing Has Been Done with the Great Ideas We Had in the Last Meeting syndrome. And why does nothing get done? Because “we” were going to do it.

To harness the power of every employee you must remember that the pronoun “we” doesn’t do anything or get anything done. When a person says “we” should do something, that’s great! What’s even greater, though, is when everyone is led to move a “we” to an “I”… with an accompanying “by-when”.

Imagine how the results of your team will skyrocket when individuals begin saying things like…“We have come up with some great stuff! I am especially excited about customers downloading this information. I’ll own that, and by the next meeting I will have an outline for you.”

Grab and Go
Full-out brainstorming is fun and productive so long as “we” know that each “I” will have an opportunity to grab onto something they can be enthusiastic about and follow through on. This requires leaders who possess an ownership mindset and take responsibility for a successful end result before the meeting begins. They must encourage employees to listen for things they can “own” and ensure that the best ideas (the ones that generate enthusiasm, energy and a winning set of strategies) are snatched up.

The skill is to recognize the potential in the room and not shut people down with a You Say It, You Own It approach. Employees are much more likely to emerge with their best thinking when they know they’re not going to get stuck doing something they don’t want to do. (And, you can always circle back to address any un-owned “we” or missing “by-when”.) A meeting becomes a gold mine when employees can pick the idea they see the most potential in, grab it and say the three golden words: “I’ll own that!”

Versera offers a top-down consultative approach to building accountability within organizations through a powerful assessment process, one-on-one coaching and facilitated accountability workshops.

Training Solution: Accountability That Works! The accountability model in this video will help you create a workplace where employees take ownership and achieve results.

The Problem: Employees at the corporate headquarters of a premium fashion and home décor company loved to start creative projects, but weren’t the best at finishing them.

The Solution: Build accountability throughout the organization with Accountability That Works! training from CRM Learning.

The Success Story: The Accountability That Works! program was a significant part of a top to bottom, company-wide focus on learning how to get things done. Managers received initial training from Versera Performance Consulting (a sister company to CRM Learning), and later, several internal employees were certified to teach the program. It’s now part of every new employee’s orientation and is also offered on the training calendar twice a year.

At first, trainers used the script directly from the Accountability That Works! Leaders Guide, but later modified training to include company-specific examples. Participant workbooks kept everyone focused, and the format was also broken up into shorter blocks. Leaders reported a significant positive shift in attitudes when it came to making and keeping commitments. Employees who received the Accountability That Works! training were more willing to take ownership of projects, learned how to create clear agreements up front, and were more likely to head off conflicts that could derail their goals.

One of the most well-received outcomes of this training is the “Big A” award, presented at every staff meeting to the employee who best demonstrates accountability behavior. A “language of accountability’’ is now common in the workplace, and rewarding accountability
is a permanent component of the company’s goal-setting, coaching and performance management process.

Review complete program information and Evaluate Accountability That Works! for free