DEVELOPING
ACCOUNTABILITY
INTRODUCTION
Why
develop a specific accountability program? Because
accountability must be inherent in any organization
that hires and fires people, gives them raises,
bonuses and promotions.
An
example may help explain the importance and
purpose of accountability. Imagine a sports
organization with an owner, manager, coach and
team players. Each person has specific tasks
and responsibilities that are critical to the
overall success of the team.
A
system of accountability ensures that each person
on the team fulfills his or her responsibilities.
When players fail to show up for practice with
no reasonable cause they are fined. If they
perform poorly, for whatever reason, they fail
to make the starting lineup. Players' contracts
reflect trends in poor performance or relative
value to the team, thus creating a form of personal
accountability for performance. We have all
heard of coaches and managers fired at the end
-- sometimes even in the middle -- of a season.
The potential for dismissal creates a very real
sense of personal accountability between coaches
and managers. For owners, consideration of profit
and loss is a powerful motivator to do the job
well. Reputation and public approval is a strong
motivator for all team members.
One
can readily see how important an accountability
system is for a sports club and the purpose
the system serves. Business also involves owners,
managers, coaches (or supervisors) and players
(the general staff). Each person on the team
has his or her area of responsibility. Unfortunately,
these areas are not always clearly defined,
particularly in a small business. The organization's
members may not understand that each person
must perform at top efficiency to create a successful
team.
Often
the owner also functions as manager and supervisor.
Supervisors are sometimes asked to double as
managers or production workers as the need arises.
This kind of flexible and undefined (yet often
necessary) organizational structure in a small
business can lead to breakdown in accountability.
New responsibilities and business initiatives
are not always accompanied by additional personnel
and existing programs may suffer.
In
large businesses, responsibilities frequently
are so complex that some get neglected. Accountability
also breaks down when responsibilities are assigned
but the needed authority or resources are not
provided.
The
purpose of an accountability program is to help
all team members understand how critical their
performance is and to teach them to take personal
responsibility for their performance. Accountability
ensures that your safety and health program
is not just a "paper tiger" with no
real power to win its objectives. The following
steps will help you ensure safety and health
accountability.
SET
A CLEAR GOALS AND ASSIGN RESPONSIBILITIES
Before
you can hold people accountable for their actions
you must be sure they know what is expected
of them. They must have goals set for their
personal performance.
Individual
goals for safety and health stem from the overall
company goal. The method for setting your company
goal was explained in Chapters 2 and 5. By working
with these guides you will have established
your company's broad safety and health goal,
the objectives leading to that goal, and a set
of job descriptions with clearly delineated
safety and health responsibilities.
The
next step is to set individual performance objectives
for employees with assigned safety and health
responsibilities. These objectives must be understandable,
measurable and achievable. It is your job to
clearly establish who is responsible for performing
specific tasks. Check your assignment of responsibilities
to make sure that they specify who does what
and that they are reasonably attainable. When
objectives are unclear, the ball can easily
get dropped, and it will be hard to figure out
whose performance is lacking.
When
you assign responsibilities to individuals,
it is essential that you also delegate the necessary
authority and/or commit sufficient resources.
Few things can be more demoralizing to a conscientious
employee than being given an assignment without
the means necessary to carry it out. By providing
the means you will be helping to ensure the
accomplishing of objectives.
SET
INDIVIDUAL OBJECTIVES FOR ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS
Objectives
for individuals should be based upon performance
measures. These are indicators that tell you
whether the person did or did not perform as
expected. The following considerations will
help you set reasonable objectives:
- Aim
your objectives at specific areas of performance
that can be measured or verified. "Improve
safety and health performance in my department
next month," is too general an objective
to be useful. A better objective would be,
"Reduce first aid injuries by 10 percent
over the next month." Even more measurable
are those objectives over which the manager
or supervisor has complete control, such as,
"Hold 30 minute safety meetings for all
employees in my division every Monday morning."
- Objectives
should be realistic and attainable but also
should represent a significant challenge.
- Appropriate
authority is necessary. Example: A safety
director's objective to improve the safety
and health record in the Press Department
is not directly attainable, because achievement
is dependent on the performance of the Press
Department supervisor and the workers supervised.
An objective to determine specific classroom
safety and health training needs, locate
or develop the training, and notify managers
of its availability is within the bounds
of the safety director's authority and,
therefore, is achievable.
- Adequate
training is necessary. Example: A supervisor's
objective is to investigate all accidents
and near misses that occur in his/her area
and ensure future prevention. This objective
may be unattainable if the supervisor has
not received training in accident/incident
investigation techniques and hazard recognition.
The supervisor also may need training in
the access to appropriate hazard correction
technology.
- Appropriate
resources must be available. Example: A
maintenance manager's objective is, "Ensure
that all machinery is safe to operate."
That objective will be unattainable without
an appropriate budget for replacement parts
and capital improvements. Similarly, if
the manager is held accountable for a clean
area at the end of each shift, but is not
given enough staff to complete all tasks
and finish the clean-up, an objective of
clear aisles and work areas at shifts' end
will be unattainable.
- Objectives
need to be understood by all concerned parties.
Use clear, understandable language that leaves
no doubt what someone is required to do. Example:
An objective is, "Investigate accidents
to determine multiple causation." This
may be unclear to a supervisor. "Investigate
accidents to determine all causes and take
corrective action within 24 hours of the accident,"
is a clearer, more specific objective.
- Objectives
should be agreed to by those with responsibility
for achieving them. Even when you and your
supervisors agree on most issues, you should
also discuss with them their safety and health
performance objectives and secure their agreement
or cooperation.
WRITE
OBJECTIVES
Write
each objective. State in specific terms what
is to be achieved and to what degree. Include
a deadline for accomplishing the objective.
Try to keep the objective concrete and measurable.
Later you will have to determine whether the
objective has been achieved.
The
very act of writing will help you clarify your
meaning and intent. When questions arise there
will be a document to which you and others can
refer. The existence of this document will signal
that you are serious about meeting the objective.
Examples:
- Conduct
weekly inspections in the department with
emphasis on housekeeping, personal protective
equipment, preventive maintenance and the
wear of critical machine parts.
- Determine
the causes of any accident occurring in the
department, and take corrective action within
24 hours.
- Track
to elimination all hazards identified through
employee reports of hazards, accident/incident
investigations and weekly planned inspections.
- Complete
one job safety analysis each month for the
department.
Give
a copy of the performance objectives to the
employee for whom they were written. Refer to
these objectives in future performance discussions
with this employee.
REVIEW
OBJECTIVES
Periodically
review the performance objectives to make sure
you are getting the desired performance and
results. For instance, if a supervisor meets
the objectives but the department continues
to have too many accidents, too many close calls
or no improvement in conditions, then the objectives
need to be revised.
Performance
evaluation can be verbal, written or both. An
effective evaluation will include the following
critical elements:
- It
should be performed at specified intervals.
If performance evaluation is new to your business,
short intervals will be helpful at first.
Unacceptable performance can be spotted and
changed quickly. As your employees become
accustomed to working toward defined performance
objectives the intervals between evaluations
can be lengthened. The evaluation can become
an opportunity to provide encouragement and
refresher training.
- The
evaluation always should be performed against
a backdrop of previously defined objectives
(as discussed above). There should be no surprises
to the person being evaluated regarding what
was expected. Should problems develop, it
may be necessary to modify the objectives
to ensure that they are understandable, measurable
and achievable. You may decide that your employee
needs a more careful explanation of what is
expected and possibly some additional training.
- Ideally
the evaluation can be an opportunity for the
evaluator and the person being evaluated to
explore ways of improving both the system
and the performance of the individual. Negative
attitudes, such as refusal to listen to one
another, animosity, blaming one another, or
fear and intimidation serve only to limit
the evaluation's usefulness.
- The
goal of the evaluation session should be to
encourage personal responsibility and the
individual's efforts toward improving the
performance of the team. Give positive reinforcement
for a job well done. This commendation may,
if possible, lead to more tangible rewards
such as bonuses, awards, raises, etc.
- Both
parties must be able to come to some agreement
on needed changes in objectives or performance.
If the evaluation determines that performance
did not meet expectations some changes must
be made. Sometimes the required changes will
be obvious. In other cases, you may need to
carefully explore the reasons for the objective
not being met and discuss possible solutions.
- Perhaps
the wrong person was assigned a particular
responsibility. A simple change in assignments
may alleviate the problem. Perhaps the level
of authority of the assigned person needs
to be increased. The objectives themselves
may need to be modified and employees helped
to develop capabilities that they do not presently
possess (and for which they should not, therefore,
be held accountable).
- The
agreed upon changes must be incorporated into
the already existing performance objectives.
Many evaluation systems break down when managers
fail to incorporate and implement changes.
- There
must be a point where some predetermined consequences
for poor performance begins.
Some
task monitoring may be necessary to support
the performance evaluation. For example, you
may need to monitor a supervisor's accident
investigations after each accident until it
is clear that the supervisor has developed the
necessary skills. This task monitoring can form
the substance of later performance evaluations.
Keep
in mind that the complexity and formality of
your evaluations should be in keeping with the
rest of your safety and health program.
SET
CONSEQUENCES FOR FAILURE TO PERFORM ADEQUATELY
At
first, as the employee learns new skills and
changes behavior patterns, consequences for
poor performance should be nil or minimal. Instead,
use positive reinforcement during this initial
phase of performance evaluation to encourage
your employee's natural desire to do well and
to be recognized.
Although
the goal of any accountability program should
be to develop a sense of personal accountability
for actions, individuals often need to know
there are negative consequences for poor performance.
Consequences reinforce the importance of meeting
objectives. Be sure that supervisors and managers
understand when the consequence will occur.
There should be no surprises.
Consequences
need to be appropriate to the situation. Firing
a supervisor for the first poorly conducted
accident investigation is an obvious example
of overreacting to a problem. Gradually, though,
the consequences of poor performance should
be increased to some specified maximum severity.
One common disciplinary system consists of 1)
verbal warning, 2) written warning, 3) fines
or suspensions, and as a last resort, 4) determination.
You may find, however, that other consequences
produce the desired results. You can experiment
with a variety of consequences as long as your
employees are fully informed of your intentions.
See Chapter 8 for a further discussion of discipline
in the workplace.
You
may eventually conclude that the individual
is not capable of handling the assigned responsibilities.
Sufficient training and support through the
accountability system have been documented,
and poor performance continues. At this point
the reason for the problem (inadequate capabilities,
improper attitudes, etc.) should not be the
issue. The maximum degree of consequence must
be enforced. Otherwise other employees will
conclude that consequences are not to be taken
seriously or do not apply equally to everyone.
This belief among employees will destroy any
chance for an effective accountability program.
SUMMARY
An
accountability system is essential if all the
hard work and effort you spent in developing
a safety and health program is not to be lost.
However, there is more to an accountability
program than enforcing punishment for "bad"
employees (including managers and supervisors).
The accountability program aims to methodically
teach your managers and supervisors to take
personal responsibility for their actions and
the subsequent effect of these actions on the
team.
This
is achieved by:
- Clearly
defining expected performance in written performance
objectives;
- Periodically
evaluating this performance jointly with individual
employees;
- Allowing
your employees the freedom to learn and develop
in a positive, non-threatening atmosphere.
Your
employees deserve to have a clear understanding
of the nature, severity and timetable of consequences.
The interaction between employer and employees
provided by an effective accountability program
allows your employees to choose for themselves:
they can change their performance, they can
attempt to change but ultimately acknowledge
an inability to perform adequately, or they
can choose to ignore your expectations and endure
the consequences.
Previous
Section: Assigning Safety and Health Responsibilities
Next Section: Establishing
Complete Hazard Inventories
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