Tag: Accountability

Trust- A bulwark of relationships


Trust is a foundational element of relationships and interactions. My decades of working   in organisations and relating to people have made me realise that Trust flows out from three aspects of how we relate to people and how we interact with team members and others.

First and foremost is the Integrity of our word. We need to be clear to our own selves that the way others see us is how we ‘honour our word.’ Do we keep it and if we cannot, do we inform about that at the earliest opportunity and be willing to clear up any mess caused?

Second is the aspect of accountability. When we can own up to our own errors of judgement and take responsibility, we start creating an environment where others ‘feel safe’ to do the same.

And finally, is the aspect of transparency which builds credibility and shows others that we are willing to share information honestly, even when it is difficult.

What trust leads to is open communication and ‘risk taking’ initiatives with the potential to transform workplaces to becoming more supportive and innovative.

To showcase, how Trust works, I wish to relate the case of Johnson & Johnson and its Tylenol product crisis of 1982. The company faced a severe crisis when people in Chicago died after taking cyanide-laced capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, a top-selling, trusted pain reliever.

While Johnson & Johnson was not responsible for the tampering, it faced intense scrutiny and an immediate threat to the overall J & J brand.

The company made a series of bold decisions, guided by its corporate philosophy, which prioritized customers over all else. It immediately recalled over thirty million bottles of the product costing the company over $100 million. The company maintained open and honest communication with the public, issuing warnings and engaging with the media. This transparency helped rebuild public trust and showed they were prioritizing customer well-being.

 By placing consumer trust above profit and acting with integrity, Johnson & Johnson was able to rebuild and even strengthen their brand. In a matter of months, Tylenol regained a significant share of the pain-reliever market, and Johnson & Johnson became known as a company that values trust and ethics.

In a recent ‘Mindset Matters’ podcast, Executive Coach Frank Marinko and I deep dived into the fundamentals of what constitutes Trust and how what constitutes our word becomes so crucial in the matter.

In learning……….                                                Shakti Ghosal

A recipe to develop humility in Leadership


It was an economic downturn period with the attendant business concerns. In a management strategy meeting, team members were called upon to offer suggestions about how they would wish to ring fence one’s customer accounts, sustain revenues and margins, bring down expenses and so on. I got the sense that the participants were merely sticking to the safety of what we had been doing in the past; no creative suggestions were forthcoming. It seemed to me that in a perceived environment of insecurity, no one was willing to stick his / her neck out. All were hesitating, waiting to do what they would be told.

This set me thinking. Could it be that my seeking suggestions of what each team member plans to do in an adverse situation was being viewed as appraising and judgmental? Could it be that my stance smacked of arrogance, that I was putting others in a spot but was not willing to commit myself?

In a follow-up meeting, I decided to orient the conversation differently. Prior to the meeting, I sent a note to all participants inviting them to come into the meeting with an answer to a simple statement and a question:

  • You would like to ask me about  _______________
  • What suggestion do you have about what I need to do?

The response was surprisingly overwhelming this time. Everyone chipped in with their frank assessment and the feedback I received were ‘I needed to be more of a team player, needed to be more accountable for team efforts’ and so on. Moreover, one could sense a renewed level of energy and vigour in the team’s declarations.

I thanked all for their frank inputs and avoided giving any explanations.

When later I thought about what had happened, I sensed that it all came down to my practicing humility in the meeting with vulnerability and the willingness to listen and learn. Without knowing it, I had shown up as a ‘Servant Leader’.

In ‘What Is Servant Leadership? A Philosophy for People-First Leadership’, author Sarah K. White, CIO says, ‘Servant leadership is a leadership style that prioritizes the growth, well-being, and empowerment of employees. It aims to foster an inclusive environment that enables everyone in the organization to thrive as their authentic self. it helps create a “psychological ethical climate” that allows employees to be authentic and not fear judgment from leadership for being themselves.’

Humility begins with authenticity. And the pathway to the practice of authenticity begins with ‘being authentic to your own self about your own inauthenticities’. This pathway has no end, it is the journey that we need to enjoy.

If we are not careful, a leadership role has this nasty tendency of making us arrogant. “I am a leader because I am better. I know what is good for the team, so it needs to be my way or highway” is the kind of thought that can sometimes circle inside us. And such thoughts manifest in our conversations and actions.

Arrogance blocks growth, humility drives growth. Humble leaders always strive to develop themselves.

What humble practices might you adopt to develop your team?

In Learning…….  Shakti Ghosal

Acknowledgement: ‘What Is Servant Leadership? A Philosophy for People-First Leadership’ by  Sarah K. White, SHRM Labs, Feb. 28th 2022

The Millennial Leadership Series: Freedom versus Accountability


freedom_birdcage

I hear the following words often.

“if you wish to see creativity at work, cut the bureaucratic red tape dammit!”

“Hierarchies no longer serve.  We need networks of free individuals”

Red tapes and Hierarchies are all designed to drive accountability. To ensure that in a work situation, where you have been given freedom to act, you become accountable for delivering something in return. Red tape dictates that one submits to certain checks and balances as part of a process to drive an initiative. And to hold onto a work position within an organisation, one needs to accept the command and control hierarchy there.

So what is that which has created this belief that Red tape and Hierarchies which drive accountability somehow negate Freedom and the creativity that might flow out of it?

As I think of the above question, I sense the concerns are really about the perceived loss of Power. Power that comes from a freedom to take decisions and explore creative possibilities. But there is also a flip-side to this. In my own work-life I have seen innumerable instances of people not able to handle the freedom allowed them and actually floundering and not sure of how to proceed.

The Millennial Leader, faced that he is with relentless changes and disruptive influences, can ill afford to get overly involved with sorting out red tapes and hierarchies. He needs to instead  focus on creating a culture that  drives both Freedom and Accountability.

Freedom not about unburdening people and allowing them to do what they want. Rather the kind of freedom that allows people to envision new possibilities.

Accountability not of imposing something and devising reward and punishment schemes to do that.  Rather the kind of accountability that would lead people to take ownership and hold passion for the possibility they envisioned.

What practices does the Millennial Leader needs to adopt to shift from ‘Or’ to ‘And’ between Freedom and Accountability?

In Learning………

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