Unbeknownst to many, the degree to which an organization will succeed
regarding their defined policies and procedures is tied directly to the
measurable accountability of their employees. If employee accountability
can be easily measured, the organization will produce quality policy and
procedure content in an efficient manner and employees will comply.
The following simple, yet powerful analogies can help to clarify the importance of measurable accountability
as it relates to defined policies and procedures.
Have you ever tried to push a stalled car? Trying to get the
motionless car moving without inertia working in your favor means the amount
of required effort is significant, progress is slow, and in many cases it
simply can't be done.
Trying to succeed with a policy and procedure initiative without measurable
accountability of the people responsible for defining the content as well as
those responsible for executing it is like trying push a stalled car without
inertia working in your favor. Without measurable accountability and despite a tremendous amount of effort, you'll
never really get things rolling - progressing to the point where inertia starts
working in your favor instead of against you.
Inevitably, with defined policies and procedures, it's only a matter of
time that senior management will ask a question that some how or another
translates into measurable accountability. Questions such as:
"I want to know exactly when that policy was published."
"I need information that proves that employee actually knew about that policy."
"What are we doing to determine if employees are actually complying?"
"Why is it taking so long for this procedure to be defined?"
"Who approved that policy?"
Using RightProcess these types of questions can be easily
answered since employee accountability is being tracked and measured at all times. However,
using a shared drive or a document management system makes answering these types of
questions similar to searching for a needle in a hay stack. There's no easy way to
find the necessary information and in the end, you might not ever find it!
Geese have a very efficient process for migration. Simple in design, the V formation
used during flight enables the flock to fly up to 70% further and at higher speeds.
Furthermore, the process affords maximum visibility whereby each bird is accounted
for. If one falls behind, a minimum of two others will drop off and join in order to
support and protect one another.
Finally, the geese in the back of the formation actually honk as a form of
encouragement for the geese in the front. The process even includes a rotation
whereby the birds switch positions on a routine basis. As one bird becomes tired,
it slips to the back and another bird advances, assuming the lead position.
The process by which geese migrate is certainly impressive. Perhaps what's
even more impressive, however, is the compliance exercised by each member of
the flock. Instinctively, the geese adhere to the process year after year with
little to no resistance.
But what about human beings? At a time when process engineering is at an
all-time high, organizations are quickly learning that, unlike the geese,
compliance among employees isn't always easily achieved despite the quality
of the process! In fact, there is a direct relationship between employee accountability
and compliance. Unlike geese who instinctively comply, the degree to which an employee complies with
a defined policy or procedure is tied directly to the degree to which his or her accountability is measured.
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