ACCOUNTABILITY OVER CONTROL IN SUPERVISION

Organizational leaders to be effective in our contemporary cultural context need to be held accountable without being controlled by their supervisors. To disregard this principle is to invite frustration and confusion in supervision.

The accountability process begins with the supervisor, whether that supervisor is the unit manager, department director, team leader, chief executive officer, or any leader who has others reporting to him or her in the organizational structure. But especially the chief executive officer is the key to successful accountability. No other organizational leader can be an effective supervisor of others unless the CEO professes and models positive characteristics in lieu of control and manipulation of others. The CEO sets the pace.

Supervisors must first give up control if they truly desire effective work in their organizations. When one surrenders the roleou reach your goals?y of micro-manager, one begins the journey of successful leadership that enables and empowers to be successful leaders. In contrast, one pf the fatal errors of a leader/manager is to try to control results instead of influencing thinking. An effective leader/manager seeks to instill positive habits in the lives of those he/she supervises rather than demanding obedience to pre-arranged agendas. (13 Fatal Errors Managers Make and How You Can Avoid Them)

Yet, control as a style of leadership has broad appeal. Control gives everyone in the organizational structure clear lines of authority for policy, strategy, and implementation; consistency of management; and predictability of outcomes. But control, as popular as it is, leaves many, if not most, folks in any organization without feelings of empowering partnership. Control breeds de[endence upon a few key leaders for getting the work of the organization accomplished.

True partnership within an organization includes common commitment among all persons concerned to the the purpose of the organization, the right of anyone in the organization to say “no” to demanding or insulting request, joint accountability to the outcomes of the organization’s work, and absolute honesty in communicating facts and feelings to others in the organization. (Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest)

To properly hold an employee accountable the supervisor has the primary responsibility to ask the right questions in a first meeting and subsequent annual meetings, such as-

1.     What are your goals for the coming year?

2.     How do your goals fit with our overall vision?

3.     What strategies will you pursue to reach your goals?

4.     What resources will you need to reach your goals?

5.     What are your standards or metrics for evaluating whether or not you reach you goals?

6.     How can I help you reach your goals?

By carefully listening to the supervisee’s responses to the questions, the supervisor can offer his/her own suggestions and assist the supervisee to craft a performance plan for the coming year. The supervisor will also need to have regular check-ins for consultation and informal evaluations. However, supervisory “nagging” and “over-the-shoulder” micro-managing will not do. As an elementary school principal, I regularly conducted classroom observations with my teachers, often multiple times daily. Not only were these observations for performance checks but also, they gave teachers protection against spurious charges from parents and sometimes from district administrators. When a teacher was charged without evidence for general negligence I was able to document my numerous visits with that teacher and show that charge simply was not real.

The accountability process is obviously more complicated when supervisors are also supervisees. This is generally the case as usually everyone in an organization is accountable to someone else, either individuals or a group. In these situations, the leader must be the model of accountability; what he/she expects from his/her supervisees must also be a personal commitment of hard work, loyalty, dedication to complete the tasks at hand, and long-term thinking and planning.

The supervisor who actively practices accountability over control will probably be frustrated, and perhaps even troubled, by two types of employees- the maverick and the controller. If indeed accountability is preferred over control, as I believe it is, then the process must be effective with all types of employees and not just with the “normal” ones. Let’s take each in turn.

Controllers can either quiet “turf shepherds” jealous of their organizational territory or noisy “crazy makers” who insist on their own way without regard for other persons and the organizational vision. They differ from mavericks in that their issue is one of power and authority. To effectively deal with controllers supervisors must first model positive accountability and then give very clear directions and the desired results. Supervision with controllers must be firm without being domineering.

If a maverick or controller need to be confronted it needs to be primarily through the criteria mutually agreed upon at the first or annual meeting. An open exchange must be conducted focusing these objective performance standards and the supervisor must be prepared to challenge the supervisee if necessary. Failure to do so is an abdication of responsibility for the leader and sets a negative tone for the entire organization.

And the one being supervised also has an active role and responsibility. When supervisees do fail, they tend to do in two areas. First, they are noninvolved, and they exhibit apathy, passivity, and/or cynicism. Submissiveness to the supervisor is not an option. Second, they deceive themselves on what they really need and want. Therefore, they fail to be honest with themselves, their supervisors, and the ones they themselves may be supervising.

In conclusion, the process of accountability has the potential for an organization to have a greater capacity to reach its goals and have a more abundant team spirit among employees.  It is indeed worth the effort.