Productivity is directly tied to leadership
Do you recognize these informal norms of accountability?
2-min read
You’ve probably read a thousand books on leadership so I’m not going to summarize any authored works in this post. I’m going to talk about what I repeatedly see as an impediment to actioning great leadership: informal norms of accountability.
Following from last week – increased productivity in food + ag can come in the form of greater yield, throughput, or sales. However you measure it, you can be more productive by getting the most out of your people.
If you know you can be doing better but feel stuck, it might be due to the modes of behavior and interactions that are working against accountability. This is different than company culture. Culture affects the way people act in critical situations. It is your values. Informal norms of accountability are the way people act on the daily. Some problem examples of accountability are:
● Mistakes reoccur, everyone is sorry, but no one acknowledges that the same thing keeps happening
● Missed opportunities are discounted as no big deal
● People have different accounts of the same story
● People feel overwhelmed yet at the same time not sure what they should be doing
Your org might be super fun and inclusive, and you don’t want to change that. You can maintain your culture while imposing accountability. First you have to understand the driving forces behind informal norms of accountability:
Fear
Generally speaking people want to be liked. Owners and founders are no different. Leaders that form tight bonds with teams have a fear that they will not be liked if they begin imposing accountability. In actuality nothing could be further from the truth. People work more effectively when they know what to expect and have rules that govern their work. As simple as expecting meeting agendas and sticking to the points on the agenda can be a small but effective step towards accountability.
Conflict
Trusting people to do their jobs but not regularly checking in on the big picture can delay productivity. I see this happen with leaders who are conflict avoiders. Regular (like weekly) strategy meetings are an intentional practice. Just because you work closely with someone every day does not excuse you as a leader from elevating to the strategy.
Micromanaging
No one intends on being a micromanager. But if you don’t provide your people with how you want to be communicated to, they will bombard you with every detail and you will be perceived as a micromanager. Consequently, they will feel overwhelmed and not know what you expect from them. Stop this cycle by leading by example. Bring your team a well synthesized recommendation on a business decision and the rationale for the recommendation. Start with what the objective is and how it ties into the strategy.
Model the behavior you are seeking. You will see more productivity flow through to your measured outcomes.
All my best,
Jennifer