Accountability is a familiar term and is most commonly utilized in our life. A home maker, a street vendor or an office employee, all are responsible for their specific tasks they need to perform to live life in a better and desired way. When we think about ourselves, we can quickly manage what we have and what we want and how we will get there. But when it comes to other people around us who are some how related to us, it becomes either a shared or additional responsibility.
Accountability is overused and understudied word today. Organizations hold their strategies on this 14 letter word and they keep rotating it from one quarter to another. Problem statement is there but solution is unknown. They begin with many strategic programs and spent luxurious hours in titling them. Post this begins the so called execution for which they need ad hoc workers who are the Program Managers, Champions, Leads, Specialists, Chairperson, Senior consultant and many more.
Then those people spend another less luxurious hours in dumping (popularly known information cascading) that to their teams. In all this process, those who are burdened with this work are supposed to be highly qualified and high potentials. Self acknowledgement and certification often goes hand in hand.
In reality, the something which is called as work is done by some one else who are the aspiring growth seekers for promotion or the most trustworthy of their managers. Then on top of it lies a governance person who will track who is doing what and when and what not and when not. Most of the times, he ends up in filling an additional column in his excel or PowerPoint — “Remarks”. There are many such roles created during the process of this program management and its expansion to take it to next level. Innovation is a continuous process !
But the big question is who is Accountable? Then a next year strategy is laid with a much more advanced foundation (additional roles) to learn from past failures and design new program to work on the major issue — Accountability.
The more we want to get closer to accountability the farthest it appears. In search of it we keep creating layers and layers around. The complexity is created to make things appear challenging. This perhaps provides the sustainability to stay in an organization. The more issues, the more mess, the more pretence the greater survival. Survival of the fittest is best described in the organizations. And the fit is one who is smart enough to complicate things. Advanced level Design Thinking !
So the question is do we really want accountability or we are trying to be as far from it as possible, with mutual consent?
