Our impact

Creating an accountability culture – one conversation at a time

Conversations that bring clarity and accountability for performance and behaviours.

The Challenge

Having grown through acquisition and evolved the business from the manufacture of iconic Australian domestic products, to supplying high-tech products and services, our client had a need to create a culture in which everyone had absolute clarity as to what was expected of them and could be held accountable for meeting those expectations.

The challenge was to create a solution that was not a formulaic performance management cycle but that would achieve similar – in fact, much better - outcomes. Key to this was that their front-line leaders would see something of value to them, something that was practical to use, that they could fully own and that would not become a bureaucratic process, dictated by senior management.

In addition, our client wanted a solution that could be adapted by each manager to suit their individual style and personality without losing consistency or results. The client’s particular drive was to improve sales performance, but they were clear that the solution was to be implemented across all areas of the business and to be of practical value to managers in any function.

The Approach

We designed a set of three conversational tools that guided managers in setting expectations, planning activities, and reviewing and adjusting according to actual results over time.

While this sounds simple enough (and it was meant to), the beauty was that the conversations were just that – conversations; but with intellectual rigour behind them that provided managers with information, structure (adaptable to their own needs and styles), questions to ask and actions to take that would logically lead to better, more consistent performance.

There was no expectation that Managers would have these conversations at nominated points in time (as in a performance cycle); in fact, the expectation was that they would incorporate them into their own regular individual and team conversations. The conversations would blend in to the organisation’s normal ways of working.

Following the client’s annual off-site conference, managers were trained in the use of the conversation toolkit, and given a chance to practice without any dreaded role-plays, during a time-efficient half day workshop.

Over the following two months, they were asked to have the conversations with their teams and share their experiences at each of three group coaching sessions, facilitated by us.

The Outcome

The response of the managers was positive and enthusiastic. There was no off-putting jargon and HR-speak in the tools, which they appreciated. They could adapt them as they saw fit – some had each conversation in turn, while others combined conversations. Several managers had extended, detailed conversations, while others had shorter, narrower conversations.

It will take time to truly evaluate the impact of the conversation tools on results and on culture but everyone agreed that they’re off to a very good start.