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Taking Personal Responsibility Is a Challenge for Everyone!

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Anxious to continue their earlier topic, Pete noticed that the group was almost finished eating and said, “OK, maybe it’s time to get back to business.” The group laughed as they looked up from their plates.

“Kip,” continued Pete, “we’ve talked about establishing the right conditions and about Shared Values. Is there anything more we need to do to create the right conditions to increase the chances of improving the accountability of our people?”

Kip finished chewing the last bite of his meal and looked at Pete. “Yes, there is,” he said, “and it has to do with getting everyone to be responsible for their actions and behaviors. In order for all people to become accountable, traditional roles must change.”

“What do you mean, ‘traditional roles must change?’” asked Yolanda.

“Let me see if I can explain,” broke in Pete. “Kip’s given me a little more insight into this aspect of the freedom-based philosophy, so let’s see if I’ve learned anything today.” Pete smiled at Kip, and Kip was most pleased to let Pete carry the freedom-based flag.

Pete said, “People at every level must be allowed to assume responsibility for tasks that in control-based management systems have traditionally been reserved for managers.”158

Lucy was very interested in this aspect of the freedom-based approach and jumped in, saying, “You know, that may be one of the missing elements that I was talking about earlier. I’ve observed that when our organization comes into a company with our systems, it’s as though the staff becomes even more passive, and that’s where the breakdown occurs. What we begin seeing exhibited is passive-aggressive behavior instead of volunteerism and proactive actions.”

While Kip nodded his head in agreement, Yolanda said, “I think Lucy makes a good point. We see similar behaviors when we throw a really big incentive program into a company. Sure, some of the people get excited, but others glaze over.”

Pete waited until Yolanda finished her comment and then continued. “Kip suggested that learning to share these responsibilities requires time, patience, and practice as all staff members adjust to their new roles. Now I’m stuck, Kip, so I’m turning this over to you for more embellishment,” said Pete with respect.

“You did a great job,” said Kip, pausing. “Let me see if I can add one or two things about how we get everyone to jump on board. I think the best way to explain how you accomplish this is by giving you an example. Please remember, in the old days, only managers were allowed to be responsible. Now that may seem silly, but it really isn’t.”

“I don’t think that’s silly,” said Yolanda. “My dad worked for General Motors for over thirty years and retired in the late seventies. He was a shop foreman, and he used to tell the story of an incident that supports your comment. Let me see if I can remember it.” She reflected a moment and then said, “OK, in 1971, the union started to place posters in the assembly areas so the workers could read them. One of the posters was particularly disturbing to management.”

“What did it say?” asked Pete.

“Well, it was really pretty nondescript,” said Yolanda, “at least that’s what the workers thought, but management really got angry and called in the union foreman, my dad, and demanded that he take down the poster.”159

“So, what did it say?” asked Pete again.

“It said, ‘Quality is everyone’s job!’” said Yolanda.

“Why would anyone get angry about that?” asked Lucy.

“Well, as my dad tells the story, management felt that quality was their job and only their job. And that it was the role of labor to do what management directed,” said Yolanda.

“Imagine the stupidity of that,” said Pete in disgust. “No wonder we got our brains kicked in by foreign competitors,” he said, shaking his head.

“Pete, don’t be so hard on these managers,” said Kip. “Remember the context of the situation. There are many examples of how American industry has changed since then.”

“Yes, they have—but we have one long way to go!” exclaimed Lucy.

“The key is that now we have a chance to invite workers at every level to become responsible,” pointed out Kip, “responsible to own their jobs and to come up with creative solutions. But before they’ll be able to do all the activities of the manager of old, we have to allow the staff time to embrace skills that will support their new roles in an operation’s everyday activities. And we need to retool the managers’ skills to fit leaders instead of managers, mentors instead of directors, and teachers instead of dictators. The key transitional concept is that we want staff members to drive all the processes, systems, and job functions, and we want the old managers to transform into resources.”

Lucy began to understand where Kip was going with his explanation and strategy.

“Kip, you call these new leaders Wise Counsels, don’t you?” said Pete.

“Yes, Pete, that’s the term—Wise Counsels,” reiterated Kip.

The two ladies recognized that Kip had taken on the role of their Wise Counsel.

Lucy wondered aloud, “OK, so how do I become a Wise Counsel?”

“We’ve found a very elegant approach for starting this transformation, for both labor and management,” said Kip. “First, let me tell you our goal. Our goal is to teach all staff members how to study issues, how to experiment with possible solutions, and how to take on new responsibilities. And our goal at the supervisory level is to transform them into leaders who act as resources, not task-oriented managers. To accomplish this, we ask leaders to hand over responsibility for the completion of tasks to their people. We use a project approach, using a task force to teach these skills to staff and leadership.”160

“This kind of sounds like my experience in officer candidate school when we would go on warfare maneuvers where they’d use live ammunition to simulate a real battle,” said Pete.

“Yes, Pete, there’s no replacing live ammo zooming over his or her head to get the attention of a soldier in training,” said the older man, smiling.

“Here’s how we do it,” continued Kip. “The best way to explain the approach is to tell you about another organization I worked with, a small beer distributor in northern California. After the organization had adopted the eight Shared Values, we split their employees into task forces, each group studying a different business issue. Imagine, every employee being involved in the process of learning to take on new responsibilities!”

Kip handed a copy of the learning objectives of a task force experience to Lucy. As she was looking over the learning objectives, she took note of how excited Kip had become about this issue.



Kip continued, more animated than before. “At the conclusion of their task force, each group wrote a White Paper summarizing the information that they’d gathered and the problems they’d identified. In large operations of several thousand, hundreds of these papers are generated, reviewed, and published for everyone to see. Talk about change from a control-based environment!”

He reflected on what a remarkable transformation this approach had had on the rank-and-file worker. “Twenty year truck drivers had never been asked their opinion on anything. Now they were being asked to analyze and develop comprehensive strategies, something they would never have been involved in before.

“Picture this scenario if you will: Joe, who’s driven a truck for two decades, comes home to his wife and family a different man after his first task force meeting.

“His wife asks, ‘How was work?’ In the old days, Joe would’ve grunted because driving a truck and delivering beer was all he’d known.”

“That’s enough to make anyone grunt,” said Lucy, laughing.

Kip smiled. “But now, Joe comes home and starts talking about his task force meeting where a new advertising campaign is being planned with four-color collateral material for a point-of-sale display.”

“Talk about a head snap,” said Yolanda. “Joe’s wife must’ve thought her husband had been abducted by aliens!”

“Or sampled too much of the product!” said Pete, laughing.

Everyone laughed, but they also knew that Kip was telling a story that they found fascinating. The radical nature of this approach was significant, and each one of Kip’s colleagues could appreciate how this task force experience would forever change Joe and the entire operation. After this experience there would be no going back to a control-based workplace where men and women were used as beasts of burden and asked to leave their brains at the company’s front door.

“OK,” Kip continued, “now you understand the fundamental goal of this approach, so let’s get more specific.162

“One of the task forces studied the company’s point-of-sale (POS) process. They used POS material in their retail establishments to attract the attention of the consumer and to create greater brand awareness. Their POS included items such as price cards, posters, cardboard displays, and the like.

“There were a number of issues the task force wanted to study, such as how POS material was ordered, received, stored, distributed, and tracked. And for their retail accounts, of course, they wanted to find out which POS items were most effective on their customers.

“The task force leaders started by asking all members to assist in the process of gathering information for the POS study. Some of the task force members were reluctant to participate at first. But after a few meetings, most were fully involved.”

Yolanda asked, “Are you talking about people like Joe, the truck driver?”

“I sure am, Yolanda,” answered Kip. “As they gathered information, people on the task force began to get a clearer picture of the real issues and problems inherent with POS. From the information gathered, they were able to determine a number of issues, which they prioritized.” Kip began ticking off examples from the issues that surfaced:


  1. There is no set budget for annual POS purchases.
  2. The master schedule for themed POS, like Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Superbowl, is not working well.
  3. There is no set staging area for receiving POS.
  4. The POS storage area is dirty, disorganized, and poorly lighted.
  5. There is a great deal of wasted POS that’s literally thrown into the trash.
  6. There is no POS orientation procedure for those who handle the material.

“In addition, the salespeople who used the POS had developed the habit of hoarding it so that they would have enough POS when they needed it. Despite hoarding, much of the POS was thrown out without ever being used. It was clear that any proposed solution would have to deal with these issues in a proactive way.163

“Energy and enthusiasm began to flow as individual task force members became comfortable with stepping forward with their own creative ideas. At the same time, the task force leader began to move away from the table, allowing the task force members to share leadership and to take on greater levels of responsibility.”

“What do you mean, he moved away from the table?” asked Yolanda.

“Yolanda, the task force leader literally moved his chair to the corner of the room. He became a resource to the group,” explained Kip.

“Are you telling us the manager abandoned the group in the middle of the project?” asked Lucy.

“That’s a great question,” acknowledged Kip. “Lucy—”

Pete interrupted by asking, “Kip, can I address Lucy on her point?” Kip made a sweeping motion with his hand to indicate to Pete that he was only too happy to have him take over.

“Here’s how I would explain it,” said Pete. “The task force leader’s purpose, or goal, is to become a Wise Counsel, a resource to the group—right, Kip? The key is that you want the group leader to become an adviser and not the primary driver of the task force. That’s the big strategy in transitioning the decision-making power or responsibility to the task force members.”

Pete looked at Kip with deep respect and continued. “You know, the idea is a brilliant metaphor: Move away from the table without abandoning the group. And he didn’t appoint anyone to take his place but encouraged shared leadership.”

“You’re exactly right,” Kip said, as he continued without missing a beat. “As the task force members began to organize their ideas, the outline for what eventually became their White Paper began to emerge. The task force, with the mentoring of its leader, developed new policies and processes for ordering, inventorying, distributing, and placing POS.164

Move away from the table without abandoning the group.

Yolanda said dumbfoundedly, “And we’re still talking about truck drivers and administrative people who in the old days would never have been invited into these kinds of meetings!”

Kip went on: “That’s right, Yolanda. The new approach to who leads puts the responsibility for the whole process in the hands of the salespeople who are responsible for ordering, storing, and placing POS in their own sales territories—not in management’s hands. Each salesperson is also responsible for developing and monitoring his or her own POS budget. By crafting their transformation, managers became Wise Counsels.

“Although several model POS systems were available from their distributors nationally, Joe’s company developed a new system that fit the unique needs of their own local organization.

“Let me give you an overview of the new responsibilities the task force took on during the course of developing their White Paper.” Kip began ticking off the keys to developing responsibility at every level and related each one to the task force’s development:

“Number 1 is planning: All task force members took an active role in gathering information and strategizing future actions in an organized manner. Task force members shared responsibility for planning the task force meetings and for deciding who would gather the needed information.

“Number 2 is priority setting: Setting priorities became possible when everyone on the task force understood the big picture. Task force members began to see how the current system worked and how much was budgeted for POS annually. They also identified and prioritized problems with the current system that needed to be addressed.165

“Three is removing roadblocks: The task force members took on the challenge of figuring out how to remove the roadblocks to an efficient and effective POS system. They uncovered and removed all the red tape, all the turf-building behaviors, and all the hidden agendas inherent in the existing system. Rigid POS policies and procedures were replaced with policies that would allow individuals to gladly accept personal responsibility.

“Four is creativity: The task force worked hard at fostering a can-do attitude, one where inspiration, energy, enthusiasm, fun, loyalty, personal engagement, and commitment to one another became the springboards to creative ideas. They understood that without creativity, the task force’s vitality would quickly vanish.

“Number 5 is task completion: Everyone on the task force understood the importance of allowing individual salespeople the right to manage their own POS without the sales manager monitoring their activity or swooping in to take over the process again. Task force members were provided with open access to the information they needed, and they gained a sense of pride and enhanced self-esteem as they completed the White Paper together.

“Six is risk taking: Task force members learned how to take appropriate risks—that is, risks proportionate to the potential benefits to the organization. Rather than abandoning all controls, which might lead to anarchy, the task force developed flexible policies and processes that would enable each individual involved in handling POS to take appropriate creative risks. They anticipated mistakes in judgment due to lack of experience. However, with practice and experience using the new policies and processes, risk taking became a welcomed activity, supported by Wise Counsels who provided resources when asked.

“The seventh is policy setting: The POS policies became very localized; that is, the people responsible for owning the new POS system became responsible for setting the new policies and accountable to each other for staying on budget. Their motto became ‘Those that own the game create the rules.’ POS policies were transformed from rigid controls to flexible support systems.166

“Eight is self-expression: The task force members learned to make the new POS system an expression of themselves, uniquely designed to fit the needs of their own organization. Believing that there is no one best way of doing things, they remain prepared to modify the system in the future so that the POS policy will continue to meet their needs.”

“Under the new system, the sales supervisors are no longer accountable for the process, and so they no longer monitor the activities. This is an important point, so let me restate this. The salespeople, not the supervisors, are accountable for the entire process!”

“Kip,” remarked Pete incredulously, “in the old days, only guys from the home office would have been allowed to touch this subject!”

“That’s right, Pete,” Kip said, “not in a thousand years would this have happened before the organization’s transformation.”

The salespeople, not the supervisors, are accountable for the entire process!

“One important measure of success,” Kip continued, “was a reduction of waste. By implementing the new system, they were able to reduce waste by over 30 percent!”

“Now that’s bottom-line results!” said Lucy, punctuating her remark with her fork.

Kip smiled. “That’s not all! They also achieved several other important results:


Task Force Accomplishments


  1. Established a system for receiving and storing POS
  2. Set up a clean, well-organized, well-lighted storage area
  3. Developed a POS orientation for new employees167
  4. Set up a semiannual POS budgeting process that directly involved each salesperson
  5. Created a master schedule for themed POS
  6. Eliminated hoarding
  7. Helped improve sales by getting the right kinds of POS into each account
  8. Reduced waste by 30 percent.”

“That’s all unbelievable!” said Yolanda.

The group nodded in concurrence, as Lucy said, “Kip, let me take a crack at the net-net of what you’ve told us while you finish your pie.”

Lucy began, and everyone once again could see why she was such an effective consultant. She was a quick learner and spoke well off the cuff. “Organizations begin the process of transformation to a freedom-based work environment,” reasoned Lucy, “by creating the right conditions for extraordinary performance. They do this by emphasizing Shared Values and by teaching a new approach to taking responsibility. This means that the context and roles must change.”

As Lucy finished expounding on these concepts and the outcome of the task force example Kip had shared with the group, Kip knew that his colleagues were getting the message and personally taking to heart these new ideas. He now recognized that Lucy, Yolanda, and Pete would eventually spread the news that a new way of treating people and reaching higher levels of performance and service was possible.