A Top-Down Approach to Accountability
As my company has grown, we’ve changed our approach to mistakes and accountability so that we can get it right. Through our trial and error we were able to develop a 4-Step Process that has worked really well for us. It starts by holding our leaders accountable for having well-developed processes and moves through other phases to the individual.
We’ve found that we almost always find our problem before we reach the individual level and this lets us improve for next time without trying to place blame.
Any time we have a problem or mistake, we go through these levels:
1) Process
Do we have a process in place?
Is the process clear and easy to access?
Was the specific issue covered in the process?
Often, we just need to clarify the process some more, or add a check for something we hadn’t considered when we developed it.
2) Training
Has the employee been trained on the process?
Was training recent enough to expect them to do it correctly?
Have they been given the opportunity to do it repeatedly with checks from their trainer?
If we have it in the process, it’s very frequently a matter of training. This is easy enough to fix with some retraining or adjustments to how we train.
3) Situation
Did something happen that is out of the norm?
Were there factors outside of our control?
Sometimes things go wrong because of something unexpected, and that’s okay. Recognizing this allows us to learn from the mistake and plan for similar situations in the future.
4) Individual
If none of the first three were a problem, then we can look at the employee.
Did they miss part of the process?
Were they rushing or not paying attention?
Did they skip a check?
Once we understand, we can work with the employee to set expectations and offer help to avoid the same issue in the future.
We’re all human, so mistakes happen. This process helps us to learn and not make the same mistake again.
Author: Galo Fraga
Running an award-winning marketing firm with sales growth of more than double the industry standard comes innately for Galo. With over 30 years of experience, he has worked with many notable brands, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Congressional Bank, Alliance Data, Limited Brands, DSW, Merck, New York & Co, Pfizer, and many more.
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