This article first appeared in the November, 2002 edition of the Jacksonville Business Journal
I am writing this article in the heat of the 2002 Florida gubernatorial race. One of the biggest issues in this contest is education. And one of the hottest topics around education is the value of standardized testing and accountability.
Accountability and testing - or measurement - are central to leadership. The primary purpose of measurement is to give us feedback. Measures tell us where we stand so we know where we need to improve. Without feedback we have no way of knowing whether what we are doing is correct, or how we might make it better.
If leaders want to hold employees accountable for results, they must provide three things. First, they must tell people what specific results are expected of them. Second, they must develop measures for those expectations. Third, they must provide employees with the ability to influence those results. Although employees might not have full control over all the variables, they do have enough influence to be able to impact the outcome.
If people are held accountable but receive no feedback about their progress they cannot do much to impact the final result. Then, when they are told that they missed the mark their reaction is likely to be frustration or anger. People need feedback to tell them how they are doing so that they can either continue on their present course or make adjustments.
Good leaders are explicit with employees about what is expected of them. They establish accountability by defining the measures that will be used to determine success. Then they empower their people to take action and assume authority over their work.
Lessons from Giuliani
I just finished reading Rudy Giuliani's recent book: "Leadership." The book combines his personal philosophy, biography and experiences as the Mayor of New York City. Giuliani describes four themes that he implemented to create the significant improvements he made as mayor. First, he demanded that each major organization in City government deeply examine its core purpose and make sure that its actions were consistent with that core purpose. Second, he held each organization accountable through an extensive measurement system. The third and most significant theme was feedback. Key performance measures were developed by each organization and shared every week among the leaders of that organization. Fourth, he drove accountability home by empowering each organization to make changes and take actions that would improve its performance.
Feedback in Daily Life
Let's look at a few common examples. If you are a golfer, odds are you are trying to improve your game. You go to the driving range and hit a few buckets of balls. What use would hitting those balls be if you never saw where the ball went? How could you get any better if you never received any feedback after each shot?
Consider airplanes flying on autopilot. When a plane is on autopilot the system provides feedback every few seconds and the plane makes continuous course corrections - so slight that the passengers don't even notice. But what if that plane only received feedback once every twenty minutes? How far off course would it be and how large a course correction would be required to get the plane back on track? Frequent and specific feedback is essential to provide guidance and improvement.
Commonly used phrases at work reinforce this same concept. "People respect what you inspect." Here's another one. "What gets measured gets done." And finally, "Tell me how you're going to measure me and I'll tell you how I'm going to behave." All three statements have the same message: the power of feedback will guide behavior.
Unfortunately, we often fail to establish clear measurable expectations and do not provide specific, useful feedback. We're especially wary of providing negative feedback for fear of offending, hurting, insulting or angering the other person. So we keep quiet and get the consequences of lack of feedback - mediocre performance from people who want to do a good job but don't know where they're missing the mark.
Good Leaders Provide Feedback
Leadership is about defining a clear purpose, developing measurable expectations, holding people accountable for the results, and providing regular feedback so people know where they stand and how to improve. There are times when feedback is tough to give and the data may be imperfect. And there are times when employees don't have control over all the variables that influence the outcome. But we can be sure about one thing. Without accountability and feedback nothing will improve. And the results will - unhappily - speak for themselves.
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