Overview
“A result is defined as the consequence, effect, or outcome of something or some action expressed qualitatively or quantitatively. Accountability means you are answerable for actions and decisions. To hold someone accountable means the person is being asked to explain why they did or didn’t do something they were accountable for doing.
In the purest form you can only hold people accountable for their actions or inactions you can’t hold them accountable for a result. The logic behind being accountable for an action versus a result is the fact there are oftentimes multiple variables outside of an individual’s control through an action that can impact the result. While this is true for people who work for you it isn’t true for the business owner.
Why results matter more than actions to a business owner is because it is the results of the business profitability model that pay for actions of you and your employees.
Being accountable for results begins with disciplined follow-through on your commitments
Being accountable for your results is easier when you understand the essential principles, practices, and processes that create effective managers and management teams. The management techniques used to make an organization work efficiently are not rare, unique, or even new. What makes them “work” is your commitment to seeing them through until you achieve your desired result.
Mastering these principles comes down to how much control you want over your business. Profit, in a word, is action; management, in a word, is control. The truth is that the best way for a company to make more money is for each person in a business to hold themselves and each other accountable for achieving the planned- results. This comes down to being accountable for agreed-upon actions as individuals, as a team, and as a company within a specific time frame.
Being accountable for results starts with knowing what to act on to achieve planned results, as identified through each of the first four steps of the B-CPR management system. An accountable owner will use what they learn as an opportunity to start, change, or stop something that costs more than it should to produce superior profits and protect cash flow.
Accountable follow-through on an identified action to completion will not only give you a heightened sense of accomplishment, it will put more money in your pocket.”
Primary Implication
“In business, failing to be accountable for results means you are failing to produce the planned outcome meant to improve sales, profits, or cash flow. Fail to improve any of these three standing business results is either the consequence of an action or a sequence of actions not generating the expected result or it’s a failure to complete an action, so no result gets created. Either way, you are likely to make less money.
The best way to be accountable for results is to know what result your decision and subsequent actions are intended to produce before you decide and act.”
Search Topics
Related Topics
- Action Follow-Through
- Action Not Completed
- Action, Knowing What to Act On
- Business Profit Model
- Gross Profit
- Operating Income
- Net Income
- Key Results Indicators
- Management Accountability
- Profit Plan
Resource Links
- (M-1) Generating superior business results comes down to accountable follow-through.
- (M-2) Qualities most often seen in people who hold themselves accountable for results
- (M-3) Managers who hold themselves accountable for results do ten things consistently.
- (M-6) Managers must have the authority and responsibility to be accountable for results.