"Accountability", says Stephen Covey, "breeds response-ability," and it is with this stated objective that every boss goes about asking for accountability from his employees - to improve their response-ability and thereby their performance. However in doing so, each boss brings his own individual leadership traits to bear on the practice. Based on my understanding of the subject, there are three ways bosses practice Accountability, and I shall be illustrating them through the examples of two IPL team owners of and an unnamed military commander. But first, for those who belong to a world different from cricket, a little about the IPL.
The IPL or The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It is currently contested by 10 teams consisting of players from around the world. In 2008, when the IPL first conducted it's auction for players, and even now, it attracted the rich and the famous who bid huge sums for players from all around the world to be part of their teams. Two such bidders were business czar Vijay Mallya and film star Shah Rukh Khan, who owned the Royal Challengers and the Knight Riders teams respectively. In its very first edition in 2008, the two teams ended up being at the bottom of the rankings. The reactions of Mallya and Shah Rukh Khan to their teams failures make for interesting reading. For it was in the way the two went about making their players, managers and coaches accountable for their performance, that they displayed their different personalities as bosses.
The Three Types of Accountability Bosses
1. The Teflon Boss When his team's semi-final hopes went up in smoke, Mallya reacted by blaming his captain Dravid and sacking Charu Sharma, his manager, for selecting a team of their – not his – choice. For good measure, he also blamed the media. He claimed publicly that he was at loggerheads with the captain and the manager, and that he had some players in mind but Dravid and Sharma completely ignored them and went ahead with their own plan. He said Sharma backed Dravid to the hilt and even in the second auction, where the captain was not present, the former CEO discouraged Mallya to buy players of his choice. He then demanded accountability of his team by saying (to the media), "I want from Rahul Dravid to do the best for the team and to produce some good results for us because I don't think Rahul Dravid enjoys being at the bottom of the league tables, and certainly I don't."
Mallya thus absolved himself of all blame by claiming that none of the decisions regarding the team composition were his, and publicly proclaimed that he did not enjoy losing. How were the players reacting to all this song and dance in public? A picture can speak a thousand volumes and the picture below says it all!
Mallya is, in my assessment, a Teflon Boss. One who deflects all blame when things start going wrong for the team. He demands accountability of his people, but when the team fails to perform, he want no part of it. And in the case of Mallya, runs them down publicly. The Teflon Boss demands - not commands accountability.
2. The Cheerleader In contrast with the Royal Challengers, the Kolkata Knight Riders made a good start to the season by winning their first two matches with batsman Brendon McCullum scoring a record 158 runs. Thereafter however, things started going downhill for them and they lost their next four matches. The team did manage a comeback of sorts by winning the next three, but again went into a down slide with the loss of the last three matches. These included one in which they were bowled out for 67 runs, the lowest score by a team that season. Finally, when their match against the Delhi Daredevils was washed out by rain, the Knight Riders lost any chance of making it to the semis.Apart from the losses on the field, team owner Shah Rukh Khan faced various other issues off the field, which could have put off most people. These included questions in the media on his team composition, choice of the team batting order, entertainment tax being imposed on the matches played on the team's home ground in Kolkata and to crown everything, he was banned from entering the dressing room when matches were in progress. And how did Shah Rukh Khan respond to this dismal state of affairs? He declared to the press that he was undaunted by the teams lack of success and that the failures of this season would be the pillars of success for his team next year. He then went on to pep up the spirit of his team by sending each of them an SMS saying, “the beauty of failure is that it brings people together…. So, let’s stick this out together…”
And to reward him, it seems, the Knight Riders ended their season on a winning note by defeating the Kings XI Punjab on their home ground!
Shah Rukh Khan, to me represents the second type of boss, the Cheer leader Boss, who never lets his spirits flag inspite of a spate of adversities. Most important, he never shows his displeasure, but always keeps motivating his people and promising them of better times to come. In doing so he commands - not demands accountability from his people.
3. The Accountability Partner Boss The army officer had failed to complete an important part of a deployment plan assigned to him, and his commander had called him in to his office. Knowing why his officer wanted to talk to him, the subordinate on reporting apologized for the failure. But rather than berate him (as the officer feared he would), the commander said, “I don’t want to hear you say you are sorry for what you failed to do. That is not an excuse for your behavior and that is not why you are standing here in front of me today. You have a job with a lot of responsibilities and you are accountable for your actions in carrying out those responsibilities. And, because you are accountable, I want to hear your plan for correcting the problem. Then, we will discuss the soundness and practicality of your plan, and the results you are going to achieve going forward.”
The commander had confronted his subordinate because he had failed to do what he and the rest of his deployment team were counting on the officer to do. In describing his experiences of the day, the subordinate officer recounted, "I knew the meaning of accountability going into that meeting, but on that day I learned something new: When I accept responsibility for a job I must confront myself in advance. That way I will make sure I am thoroughly prepared to carry out the plan and achieve the expected results. I walked out of that meeting feeling stronger and more confident in my abilities.
By explaining to his officer what he expected of him, the commanding officer had made the rules of accountability clear. In explicit terms, the commanding officer had laid out for his staff a way they could deal with performance issues. With this clarity about on how they would be held accountable, the officer made his staff feel not only stronger, but more confident of their abilities. The commander was an Accountability Partner Boss, he commanded - not demanded accountability from his people.
The IPL or The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It is currently contested by 10 teams consisting of players from around the world. In 2008, when the IPL first conducted it's auction for players, and even now, it attracted the rich and the famous who bid huge sums for players from all around the world to be part of their teams. Two such bidders were business czar Vijay Mallya and film star Shah Rukh Khan, who owned the Royal Challengers and the Knight Riders teams respectively. In its very first edition in 2008, the two teams ended up being at the bottom of the rankings. The reactions of Mallya and Shah Rukh Khan to their teams failures make for interesting reading. For it was in the way the two went about making their players, managers and coaches accountable for their performance, that they displayed their different personalities as bosses.
The Three Types of Accountability Bosses
1. The Teflon Boss When his team's semi-final hopes went up in smoke, Mallya reacted by blaming his captain Dravid and sacking Charu Sharma, his manager, for selecting a team of their – not his – choice. For good measure, he also blamed the media. He claimed publicly that he was at loggerheads with the captain and the manager, and that he had some players in mind but Dravid and Sharma completely ignored them and went ahead with their own plan. He said Sharma backed Dravid to the hilt and even in the second auction, where the captain was not present, the former CEO discouraged Mallya to buy players of his choice. He then demanded accountability of his team by saying (to the media), "I want from Rahul Dravid to do the best for the team and to produce some good results for us because I don't think Rahul Dravid enjoys being at the bottom of the league tables, and certainly I don't."
Mallya thus absolved himself of all blame by claiming that none of the decisions regarding the team composition were his, and publicly proclaimed that he did not enjoy losing. How were the players reacting to all this song and dance in public? A picture can speak a thousand volumes and the picture below says it all!
2. The Cheerleader In contrast with the Royal Challengers, the Kolkata Knight Riders made a good start to the season by winning their first two matches with batsman Brendon McCullum scoring a record 158 runs. Thereafter however, things started going downhill for them and they lost their next four matches. The team did manage a comeback of sorts by winning the next three, but again went into a down slide with the loss of the last three matches. These included one in which they were bowled out for 67 runs, the lowest score by a team that season. Finally, when their match against the Delhi Daredevils was washed out by rain, the Knight Riders lost any chance of making it to the semis.Apart from the losses on the field, team owner Shah Rukh Khan faced various other issues off the field, which could have put off most people. These included questions in the media on his team composition, choice of the team batting order, entertainment tax being imposed on the matches played on the team's home ground in Kolkata and to crown everything, he was banned from entering the dressing room when matches were in progress. And how did Shah Rukh Khan respond to this dismal state of affairs? He declared to the press that he was undaunted by the teams lack of success and that the failures of this season would be the pillars of success for his team next year. He then went on to pep up the spirit of his team by sending each of them an SMS saying, “the beauty of failure is that it brings people together…. So, let’s stick this out together…”
And to reward him, it seems, the Knight Riders ended their season on a winning note by defeating the Kings XI Punjab on their home ground!
Shah Rukh Khan, to me represents the second type of boss, the Cheer leader Boss, who never lets his spirits flag inspite of a spate of adversities. Most important, he never shows his displeasure, but always keeps motivating his people and promising them of better times to come. In doing so he commands - not demands accountability from his people.
3. The Accountability Partner Boss The army officer had failed to complete an important part of a deployment plan assigned to him, and his commander had called him in to his office. Knowing why his officer wanted to talk to him, the subordinate on reporting apologized for the failure. But rather than berate him (as the officer feared he would), the commander said, “I don’t want to hear you say you are sorry for what you failed to do. That is not an excuse for your behavior and that is not why you are standing here in front of me today. You have a job with a lot of responsibilities and you are accountable for your actions in carrying out those responsibilities. And, because you are accountable, I want to hear your plan for correcting the problem. Then, we will discuss the soundness and practicality of your plan, and the results you are going to achieve going forward.”
The commander had confronted his subordinate because he had failed to do what he and the rest of his deployment team were counting on the officer to do. In describing his experiences of the day, the subordinate officer recounted, "I knew the meaning of accountability going into that meeting, but on that day I learned something new: When I accept responsibility for a job I must confront myself in advance. That way I will make sure I am thoroughly prepared to carry out the plan and achieve the expected results. I walked out of that meeting feeling stronger and more confident in my abilities.
By explaining to his officer what he expected of him, the commanding officer had made the rules of accountability clear. In explicit terms, the commanding officer had laid out for his staff a way they could deal with performance issues. With this clarity about on how they would be held accountable, the officer made his staff feel not only stronger, but more confident of their abilities. The commander was an Accountability Partner Boss, he commanded - not demanded accountability from his people.
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