It’s going to be a great year — I can feel it. But only for the companies that have created an accountable organization.
There are five key types of accountability that any organization must master to be on top of its game. I spoke about these, and more, at my client-exclusive event, The Executive Retreat, that we held in January in New Orleans.
Here are some critical takeaways from that talk that you can implement now.
KPI accountability
Greatness starts by knowing your deliverables and being accountable to them. Each leader — and each division — need absolute clarity on which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) they need to achieve.
To stay on top of your KPIs, make them part of your daily, weekly and monthly accountability meeting rhythms. A great example of who does this well is Jerry Schill, owner of Schill Grounds Management in North Ridgeville, Ohio.
He lives and breathes one sheet of KPIs — it drives his weekly activities. For those of you doing quarterly strategic planning, KPI accountability can also include the quarterly rocks each leader has committed to. A quarterly review of each leader will keep them and your company on track.
Schill Grounds Management ranked No. 27 on the 2023 LM150 list with a revenue of $92,500,000.
Peer-to-peer accountability
An accountability agreement between the key managers and leaders will help ensure that everyone is supporting each other to fulfill their roles accurately and timely. Ironically, peer-to-peer accountability is as much about following your systems as it is about how you interact with one another.
A recurring (weekly) team review of your systems (i.e. accountability to your systems) will keep everyone on track.
Team accountability
All for one and one for all. No company has ever achieved greatness without having team gusto. This requires the leader of your company to push teamwork above all else and to keep this value front and center.
Ted Lucia, owner of Lucia Landscaping in Roseville, Mich., does an excellent job of this with his “One Team” value system. Everyone on his team bleeds this core value, but team spirit is not enough by itself.
It takes the company leader to set a compelling vision and stretch goals. Without a meaningful stretch goal of some kind, people get comfortable and become less accountable.
Self-accountability
It’s hard to teach self-accountability but it can be reinforced. I recommend following my “APLOMB” model for hiring, promoting and training employees to be accountable.
- Action-oriented.
- Personal goals.
- Learning mistakes.
- Ownership.
- Management of time.
- Balance.
Build a super leadership team
A super leadership team thrives by staying accountable to each other, their KPIs and their systems.
But they are supercharged with the following secret ingredient: your leadership must commit to candor with total openness and honesty in discussions of your company’s strategy, goals, issues and performance.
If your team can achieve this high level of open dialogue, you are sure to have a stellar year. And remember, be hard on the process and the rest will come easier.
Editor’s Note: Jeffrey Scott is starting a new high-impact Leaders’ Edge peer group for landscape business owners called The Empire Group. For details, visit here.
