The Accountable Leader

February 26, 2013

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In this month’s blog, we talk about the level of accountability a leader has to “Put the right people in the right seats on the bus” as the oft-quoted line from Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great” professes. I came across a book several years ago that lays out a game plan to do just that and then some. “The Accountable Leader: Developing Effective Leadership Through Managerial Accountability” by Brian Dive spells out 10 Key Management Accountabilities every leader must have. The first 2 of the 10 speak directly to this aspect of having the right people based on:


  1. Deciding who comes onto the team..
  2. Deciding who will work where, in which jobs and when.


Being an acknowledged supporter of business alignment, the book also identifies 7 Elements of the Decision Making Accountability (DMA) Solution Set that helps leaders align their activities to optimize accountability. The idea is these elements help determine the best place for any given task or job to reside within the organization. This can apply to large or small businesses, for-profit or non-profit and in scenarios where the job may be performed by a contractor or through other out-tasking arrangement. The seven are:


  1. Nature of Work - why does a job exist and how is it unique in the organization
  2. Resource Complexity - what is the accountability for: people, technology, knowledge and budgets
  3. Problem-Solving - what type of thinking is required for the job
  4. Change - how does creativity and innovation happen within the organization
  5. Internal Collaboration - how does collaboration with peers happen to complete common tasks
  6. External Interaction - how does collaboration with customers, suppliers and others happen
  7. Task Horizon - how does the organization know the first six dimensions are working


Enjoy the Book!

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