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From Paul Spencer of Second Nature Solutions, a conversation about the complexities and nuances of building resilient family enterprises, especially in the face of economic and political uncertainties that loom on the horizon. See more at secondnature.solutions.
Welcome to Resilience Talk hosted by
Paul Spencer of Second Nature Solutions.
Let's dive in.
Paul Spencer: When I first started
working with family owned businesses
almost not quite 10 years ago now,
which seems like a ton of time ago.
Um, but they, one, one thing that
I would learn from them is they
wanted to, and they use this word,
they wanted to hold some of the
people around them more accountable.
And they would use the, the accountable
word, Paul, how do I hold my
operations person more accountable?
How do I hold my delivery
team more accountable?
How can I be more accountable for
the salespeople of, uh, delivering
what they say they're gonna deliver?
And so what that meant for me
listening and, and kind of interpreting
that is they didn't always trust
that the people doing the work.
Or whatever role they were, they were,
um, describing, uh, that they were doing
what they should be doing about that.
Um, and so I always thought it was
a strange question and didn't quite
resonate with how I thought about leading
people and moving teams and getting.
Teams to be more productive.
Uh, very rarely, if at all,
use the word accountable.
Um, and so that's what I wanna talk
about today is what is accountability
and what are we really after?
What, when we say we wanna hold somebody
accountable, what are we really after?
What is our aim?
And I would say that
our aim is really about.
Productivity or being efficient
or getting things done, um, right.
It's really mostly about execution.
And so what does it mean to
hold somebody to execute, right?
Um, whether I'm delegating that
meaning I have a team below me,
or I'm responsible for, uh, let's
call it a department or a group of.
20 people, a hundred people below me,
I'm not gonna be doing all of that work
and I'm not executing all of that work,
but I'm still held accountable for the
outcomes of that team or that department.
And really in the end,
it's all about execution.
And so how do we execute?
That's the question, Paul.
How can we get better at executing?
And the distinction there, it's
very subtle, but I think it's really
important because the shift is how
do we execute, meaning how, what is,
if we think about demming, by what
method, by when, by who that is.
That is, those are some of the
questions, uh, that will be asked
in order to how to better execute.
Well, what method are you using?
What processes are in place?
How are those processes
working well with each other?
How are they not working
well with each other?
Who's involved?
What roles are in play?
What's the timing between
processes, between roles?
What's the expectations between those
timings and what is necessary, uh, for
the information from one process to
another, from a timing perspective,
in order for those things to flow
well, that is how you execute.
Um, the other one, the original question
is, how do I hold you accountable?
How do I hold so and so accountable
is a personal person question.
Meaning how do I get Paul to buy in?
How do I get Paul to actually do
the work that I'm paying him for?
Right?
How do I get Paul to make sure
that he's doing, um, everything
that I've asked him to do because
he's dropping a lot of things.
Right.
Those are, those are two different
problems and they're actually
two different mindsets on how you
solve the aim, which is efficiency.
It's, uh, being productive.
It's executing.
And so if, if you start with the
accountability, if you start with
the person, how do I fix Paul?
How do I get Paul more motivated?
Paul's not motivated.
How do you know that?
How do you know Paul's not motivated?
Well.
I don't think he's very accountable
for the things that I tell him to do.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Right?
That's an interesting observation.
So, uh, the point of the conversation
here is shift your mindset to process
over people and you will get closer
to your aim, which is executing, which
is productivity, which is outcomes.
And with those outcomes we can get
to places where we start to learn.
And so this is the other, the other
part of the accountability part is, uh,
from my perspective, interacting with
you, the owner, you're saying, I want
to better hold so and so accountable.
Okay, so now maybe I will get some better
understanding of what that means from you.
And ultimately, I would say 10 times
outta 10, that means execution.
So what is it that you
want to be executing on?
What are those outcomes
that you're looking for?
And then I can go and talk with
so and so, whoever that is.
And what I will find 10 times outta 10 is
that, uh, from their perspective, they're
being pulled in multiple directions.
The owner has actually told them to go
do this thing, and then it doesn't take,
uh, 24 hours or less that the owner has
told them to go do this other thing.
And, uh, and then before you know
it, but before the week is even
over, the owner has tampered.
With the work, the execution of that
particular person multiple times.
And so that person is being pulled
in multiple directions, doesn't quite
understand the different priorities
given to him by the owner and
therefore is not very accountable.
Right.
And uh, so then the other
part of it too is on.
From the, um, from the, let's just call
'em the executive's perspective, dealing
with the owner, is there aren't any, um,
clear expectations on, um, how things
should work, how things should operate.
It's just go do it.
And so what happens is, um, I
may be a good ex executor, but.
I may be inconsistent in executing
because of the dynamic of, say, our
customers have high variation or the
dynamic of how we deliver or maybe just
the dynamic of our industry in general.
Um, and so what the owner is
observing is that Paul's just
not very good at executing.
He's not accountable.
And what I would say is that Paul, as
the executive is not very consistent.
In his execution because of the variation
of everything that I just described.
And so therefore, that is a process issue.
It's not a paw issue, it's not a
person issue, it's a process issue
anyway, so that is where you start.
If you're, if any, if this leaks
out of your mouth, how do I
hold somebody accountable, then
uh, you should stop, reflect.
Why am I asking this?
And then ask it a different way, which
is, how do we get better execution?
And I guarantee you, you will end
up with a different outcome, right?
I'm not talking about the execution
outcome, I'm talking about the interaction
you will have with that other executive.
The interaction that you will
have on how can we better execute
will be way different than I
need to hold you accountable.
Alright.
One other topic on this too is, um, when
we, when we go into how do we execute
and the executive is now thinking, excuse
me, the executive is now thinking about
processes over the people and trying to
get more consistent in his work, meaning.
In order to do that, I have to come
up with guidelines about how we do our
work, how I do my work, how my team
executes, how we deliver, how my sales
team goes out and finds new prospects.
Now we need to be more
consistent with how that occurs.
That doesn't mean we have to be
more rigid processes, not rigidity.
Process is consistency and so
that I can be more predictable.
In the outcomes, right?
If I'm more consistent, then I
can better predict the outcomes
of whatever process that is.
And so when I'm doing that, I
have to be willing to experiment.
And I know we've talked about this a
million times about the word experiment,
but, and how scary that can be.
Um, but it's meant to
be a way of learning.
So that we can find the optimal process.
So if I am to take an idea and write down,
um, I could be even, uh, an expert, right?
I've done lots of sales processes and
I can write that down and I can say, I
give you that piece of paper and say,
here you go, execute on this process.
Now that's probably, um, 50%.
Maybe 80% of the way there, just
based on my experience and my
knowledge about how things go.
But it's not gonna be 100% there because
you and your team and your business
and your customers are different.
And so you have to take that process
and then you have to go execute
it, but then you also have to be
willing to experiment with it.
Says, Hey, we're going to approach
our customers with this messaging on
this timeframe through this channel.
Um, we're gonna offer at this price,
uh, during this timeframe and be
willing to do that so that, because
what happens when you do that, you
learn and the customer will not.
Buy your product at that price point
will not offer, um, an opportunity to
extend the service beyond the quarter
or beyond the year or beyond the month.
Right?
And so what does that do?
That's not a failure.
That is an opportunity for
us to ask questions on why.
And gather feedback.
And then for us to be able to adjust
either our, the way we sell, the way
we message either our channels or the
way we deliver or our product, right?
And so you can see that in order for us
to solve the problem of being accountable,
we have to ask how are we executing?
And then when we get into the
execution, it's not a one and
done thing and it never will be.
Even when I figure it out, it's always
gonna change because there's always chance
to, um, opportunity for improvement.
That's only if everything stays
static around me, and we know that
that's not true and it's impossible.
So even if I get to optimal.
Um, I know that the, my customers are
gonna change, the economy's gonna change.
My industry is going to change,
and so therefore, I'm constantly
experimenting and adjusting and
finding optimal within my execution.
That my friends, is how you
hold somebody accountable.