Chapter 7: Tasks, Accountabilities and Competencies

Continuing with the chapters of the“10 foundations of business success”, an excellent very practical book by my friend and colleague Guy Hamilton.

If you missed any of the articles in the topic, see links below.

Series Intro – 10 Foundations of Business Success

Chapter 1: Market Segmentation Part 1

Chapter 1: Market Segmentation Part 2 – The Steps

Chapter 2: Customer Needs – You only have a business if a customer wants to buy your products.

Chapter 3: Value Propositions – What a customer perceives as good value is all that matters. A business view of value does not count.

Chapter 4: Customer Experiences – When a customer really engages with a product or service they become a passionate advocate for it. This is at the heart of repeat or referred business.

Chapter 5: Metrics and Performance Management – What gets measured gets done. It is as simple as that!

Chapter 6: Dealing with “the Competition” – If managed well, competition is fuel for a vibrant business with a continuing right to win.

 Today, I bring to you, the 7th Chapter: Tasks, Accountabilities and Competencies – Good leadership often is no more than making sure everyone clearly understands their role, their tasks and where they fit in the big picture.

Strategic plans or business plans at some stage have to evolve into clear practical execution plans with defined and measurable actions. Good ideas are worth nothing if they are not implemented in a logical and robust manner that delivers the required commercial outcomes.

This requires a clear set of prioritised tasks or actions, which progressively build on each other to deliver the new business model and financial targets. The best execution plans are those where the order of events, priorities, key tasks, key deliverables and key dates are well defined, and tracked by management in a disciplined way.

There are two parts here. Setting out tasks in a clear and structured manner is obviously helpful. However, if tasks are not underpinned by measures, performance accountabilities and decision-making responsibilities, it can turn out to be almost valueless. No significant task will seamlessly roll out of its own accord in perfect harmony with a business plan. Inevitably, problems arise and changing opportunities or market issues appear. Allocating responsibilities to people with the right skills is only one part of the challenge. The second, and arguably the more important element, is making sure they have been allocated sufficient authority to be able to complete the task.

To check understanding of a complex task you are assigning, just ask the team member to restate the task that has just been set, and its key deliverables. I have used this easy method frequently, and 90% of the time found that additional clarification was required to achieve good mutual understanding. It’s as simple as that: check back with your staff and partners to ensure you have a common understanding. The extra time it takes at the point of delegation is always time well-spent.

RULE 1. Set clear tasks, accountabilities and responsibilities.

RULE 2. Clearly specify point of alignment across individuals’ accountability.

RULE 3. Check that individuals understand their tasks and can achieve them.

RULE 4. Directly link accountabilities to tangible outcomes and financial targets.

RULE 5. Figure out what to stop doing to create capacity for what you need to start doing.

The Steps:

A manageable set of steps smaller businesses can take to effectively set accountability and responsibilities might look like the following:

1.   Use the key performance and success indicators we have identified to positively identify the Top 5 performance metrics that will either drive revenue growth or deliver a more sustainable cost base.

2.   Identify which elements of the business have a key role to play in successfully delivering each of the Top 5. If the business has the management capacity, do the same for the five sub-set metrics for each of the Top 5.

3.   Apply the RACI process (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to each of the Top 5, with the clear intent of appropriately defining accountable and responsible parties and communicating this across the business.

4.   Make sure accountable and responsible parties have a balanced mix of tasks and financial targets. Clearly communicate the overview of how an initiative will improve market position and/or profit margin.

5.   Make sure everyone fully understands their tasks and accountabilities. Is what they think they are required to do the same as what you think you have asked them to do?

6.   Link accountabilities and responsibilities to agreed measurement and performance tracking initiatives. Measures for a key project or task should align with overall business targets.

7.   Set up a simple quarterly review process with accountable and responsible parties to check progress against agreed targets. Use it to prompt healthy discussion as needed regarding sufficiency of resources and whether the right skills and competencies are in place. For priority tasks, make it a monthly review.

The extension of “What gets measured gets done”, is: “What gets measured gets done when those who are accountable take ownership of the task”.