If it’s everybody’s, it’s nobody’s.
Recently I had two illuminating conversations about improvement.
A local government OD manager, Melanie, was dismayed that a colleague didn’t care that an expensive lawn mower had been stolen; it took days before it came to anyone’s attention. “I’ve only been here a little while, but in my previous job, if that happened, the CEO would rip through the General Manager responsible“. Melanie’s holy grail is this: “How do I get people to become accountable?”
Later that same day, David showed me his organisation’s ‘traffic light’ system. On a single page are displayed this multi-billion dollar organisation’s quarterly results. A nice idea. Except that this one showed a lot of yellow and red, and not that much green. David is frustrated, because when his Director pointed to a red square, one of 80 or more and asked a group of Executives, “Who’s in charge of fixing this one?” all she got was eyes darting around the room and at the floor.
So, whose job is improvement?
Our first case perhaps costs the taxpayer thousands of dollars and some unmown grass at a sports ground; the second probably costs millions and could put people’s lives at risk.
A common answer given to me by my clients is this: “Well, it’s everybody’s job, isn’t it?” That’s really another way of saying, “It’s nobody’s job“. At best it’s lazy – it’s spending money carelessly. At worst, it’s dangerous, possibly putting people’s lives at risk.
What’s the answer?
In both cases, the leaders involved (not the managers I spoke with, but people one or two layers up the hierarchy) haven’t properly answered two, more fundamental, questions:
- What does success look like?
- How do we know?
This means that their activities are based on just that: activity. Not results. If they knew precisely what results they were aiming for, then a missing lawn-mower and red traffic lights would stop them getting there. And, if a missing lawn mower doesn’t stop you reaching your results, then why spend the money on it in the first place?
So improvement isn’t everybody’s job. It’s the job of the most senior person.