Are You Afraid of Accountability?

We talk to operations teams and often hear about how they have been afraid to hold people accountable for their performance. Some go as far as to say, “having someone is better than having no one”. 

In the supply chain operations world, it seems as though accountability and performance management have become synonymous. They aren’t. 

No matter what accountabilities are given to an employee, the process of accountability should include: 

•  Training on the role/task
•  Talking with the employee about the job
• Observing how the employee does the job
• Coaching on what the employee could do differently

Throughout the entire process, open and honest feedback on how the employee is performing is required. 

And yes, if someone fails to change the behavior, mistakes that lead to poor performance, then yes – using the performance process becomes necessary. It’s the last step though, not the first. 

The Precision Supply Chain Operations process is built on the premise that, “Everybody Wants to Win”, and our role as leaders is to help them.