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Like the legs of a tripod, all three pillars are important to provide a strong foundation. Although it seems to be common sense, sometimes one of the pillars may be weak, or absent. See if you, or your team have experienced any of the following situations.
Responsibility
As our careers grow, we are usually excited to be given new responsibilities. It provides an opportunity to expand our skills and experience. The responsibility might be for bigger projects, larger geography, managing other people, or financial metrics. If we do well, our managers learn to rely on us, and may add even more responsibility. It may be up to the individual at some point to say, I can’t
take on any more responsibility at this time. Better to speak-up, and know your limits, than get over your head, and let others down.
Accountability
Whether it is an individual, team, or department - someone needs to have ownership, and be held accountable. When accountability isn’t clear, finger-pointing results, and nothing gets resolved to anyone’s satisfaction. In mythology, Janus was a two-faced god, and so it is with accountability; performance provides rewards, and lack of performance - well, you know what happens.
Authority
This third pillar is probably the most challenging. As a manager, I try to be very careful in setting goals for individuals; making sure their authority is commensurate with their responsibility, and accountability.
Authority can be deceptive. I once had carte blanche on a very important engineering program, and was quite pleased with myself. A more experienced friend explained the predicament I was in, and didn't understand. They have taken away any excuse you might have for failure. Ouch. I was lucky, I had a great team, and the project was a huge success.
You may have thought at one time, “I can hardly wait until...”, thinking that when you give the orders everything will be different. There is a Japanese story about two men arguing—the first man to raise his voice has lost. When authority is conveyed it may be moot, but authority earned through respect, trust, and integrity is powerful.
Authority is typical hierarchical; you generally have authority with subordinates, but you may achieve limited authority with peers, or superiors. In those cases, your peers, or superiors may allow limited authority to help assure your success. This reciprocity is an important aspect in cross-functional relationships, and matrix organizations.
Your efficient use of the three pillars, and other organizational aspects can be evaluated with our proprietary Gap Analysis. You can download a FREE mini Gap Analysis here.
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