Servant Leadership Book Link
Team Accountability = Ownership - a sample of what is in my leadership book.
Without a doubt, leadership comes with a set of core values that you
must learn in order to accept your own fate and destiny as a leader. One
such core value is accountability – of acts, words, and decisions. At
the same time, this core value applies equally to those who are under
the command of such a leader.
There are few exceptions to this rule
and it must never be forgotten that every action has a reaction – good
or bad. As a leader, he or she must provide things e.g. resources to
allow their expectations or directions to become a reality of being
capable or able to do the job. When such resources are denied or
insufficiently provided, the leader bears the burden of failures and
must be held accountable for such lack of quality or untimely work
habits.
Without a doubt, accountability makes any team stronger and
more focused on success. Therefore, we should welcome such actions and
encourage others to bring forward those areas that need improvement.
If this is not done, then what does it say about the team’s commitment
to being the best they can be. If this did not happen then how are we to
assess what worked and what didn’t work as well as answering the why it
failed. This is not what team leaders or members sign up for when being
a professional at their jobs.
So in order to uphold these
standards, a team leader must first look at themselves before holding
others accountable. This ‘mirror test’ is an instrumental part of
pointing out your own faults before pointing out the faults of the team.
Putting our own behavior in check is holding yourself to a higher
standard. It is also a major element of trust building within the team
and at the same time, when you monitor your own behavior, the team will
more readily accept their responsibility to change themselves as well.
Secondly, this creates a conscious attempt or lucid awareness to match
your credibility and your authority to maintain oversight and input on
all projects making all work off the same sheet of instructions or
directions.
So if you feel that trust, credibility and setting
yourself to a higher standard than the team is an element for positive
growth, it is reasonable to believe that each team member will feel the
same way and charge the entire team with positive energy to get the job
done.
If something needs to be discussed with a team member, it is
the team leader’s responsibility, not that of human resources, or anyone
else designated to address the issue with the team member. So often
mid-level supervisors and managers don’t want to do the hard part of
their job and instead want an someone else to deliver the corrective
message to the team member. In this team concept, we are all responsible
for those who work directly and indirectly for us. Let’s not pass the
buck to a designated “hitman” or person who is not part the team leader.
If you truly believe this is an “Alice in wonderland” feature of
management, then you are not a servant leader for it is plain to see you
depend on others outside your team concept to hand out corrective
action or discipline that is well worth taking notice of that if this is
the style used, the team will become suspicious, less trusting,
determine their leader is not actually in charge of them and submit to
rumors and gossip rather that facts that a credible team leader can
provide when things go bad.
