Kerry Patterson - Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior, Second Edition

We dedicate this book to

THE WORLDS BEST LEADERS

Those managers, supervisors, associates,

team members, parents, colleagues, and

technicians who have routinely

stepped up to tough (even hostile)

problems and skillfully held

others accountable.

Thank you for your examples.

Thank you for helping us learn.

As I read this book, my mind kept reverting to a particular image. Namely, J. D. Watson and Francis Crick as they relentlessly pursued the mystery of life and finally struck upon the double-helix structure of DNA. The world has never been the same. Next stop Stockholm in December.

I dont know whether the authors of this book will get the call that confirms a Nobel, but theres a part of me that thinks its their just deserts for this magnificent and groundbreaking masterwork.

An absurd claim?

I think not.

War and peace, wellness and extreme physical and mental malaise, marriage and divorce, abject failure and Olympian success all these profound subjects at their core depend upon functioning or malfunctioning human relationships. Dyads: a couple. Little organizations: a 20-table restaurant or 20-person finance department. Giant organizations an army or a Fortune 50 corporation. Nations on the brink of war and genocide.

Enter our new Watson and Crick and the essential element of the organizational DNA: the DNA of effective accountability discussions.

Some renowned management experts have made careers out of their belief, Get the strategy right and the rest will take care of itself. Others have said, Strategy, smattergy its the core business processes that explain the divergence between winners and losers. And then there are those that claim that leader selection has no peer in explaining various degrees of organizational effectiveness.

Doubtless there is truth in all the above. (Ive held various of these positions over the years each passionately.) But then again, perhaps all such magisterial concepts aimed at explaining differences in organizational outcomes miss the boat. Perhaps the idea of organizational DNA that makes for stellar outcomes is Absent Without Leave.

Until now.

Yes, Im that bullish on Crucial Accountability. (Perhaps because Ive seen so many of my own brilliant strategies evaporate in the space of minutes seconds as I screwed up an accountability discussion with a peer or key employee. Again and again.)

So why did we have to wait until this moment for this book? Perhaps its the times. We used to live in a more tolerant world. Buildups to war could last decades. Smoldering corporate ineffectiveness could take eons to burst into flame. Lousy marriages festered for years and then more years.

No more. The marketplace is unforgiving. One strike whether new-product foul-up or terrorist with dirty bomb and youre (were!) out. Thus continual organizational effectiveness which is, after all, nothing more than human-relations effectiveness is of the utmost urgency, from CIA headquarters to Walmart headquarters.

Crucial Accountability is an original and a bold leap forward. No doubt at all. But like all good science, it is built on a rock-solid base of what has come before. The neat trick here is imaginatively applying the best of psychological and social-psychological research over the last half century to this very particular, precisely defined topic crucial accountability on topics such as performance and trust that promote or destroy relational or organizational effectiveness.

The basic hypothesis is profound. The application of proven research is masterful. The explanations and supporting stories are compelling and lucid. The translation of the research and stories into practical ideas and sound advice that can be implemented by those of us who have floundered on these paths for decades is nothing short of breathtaking.

Hey, if you read only one management book this decade Id insist that it be Crucial Accountability.

Tom Peters

Lenox, MA

This book is a companion to Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. Those who have read this offering or heard about it or bought the action figures are sure to wonder, Whats the difference between crucial conversations and crucial accountability? Were glad you asked.

Crucial conversations deal with high-stakes interactions where emotions run strong and opinions vary. Crucial accountability deals with a subset of these interactions. After parties have come to a common understanding and assignments have been made meaning things are on course someone fails to complete his or her assignment.

All accountability discussions start with the question Why didnt you keep your commitment? And they end, not merely when a solution is reached, but when its done in such a manner that both parties are able to comply and the relationship is strengthened. In short, accountability discussions are the prickly, complicated, and often frightening performance discussions that keep us up nights.

Now, heres how the two books relate. This book draws on the principles found in Crucial Conversationswith an occasional and brief review of those pivotal concepts. With that said, almost all of the material youll find here deals with the challenges associated with violated commitments and, as such, is new and stand-alone. Pick up this book, read it, put the ideas into action, and youll never walk away from another broken promise again.

Here are just a few of our 100+ colleagues on the VitalSmarts team who are as committed to this work as any of the authors:

James Allred, Terry Brown, Mike Carter, Lance Garvin, Jeff Gibbs, Justin Hale, Emily Hoffman, Jeff Johnson, Todd King, Brittney Maxfield, Mary McChesney, John Minert, David Nelson, Stacy Nelson, Rich Rusick, Andy Shimberg, Mindy Waite, Yan Wang, Steve Willis, Mike Wilson, Paul Yoachum, and Rob Youngberg.

Thanks also to our U.S. associates who are gifted teachers and powerful influencers:

Doug Finton

Ilayne Geller

Tamara Kerr

Richard Lee

Simon Lia

Murray Low

Jim Mahan

Margie Mauldin

Paul McMurray

Jim Munoa

Larry Peters

Shirley Poertner

Mike Quinlan

Kurt Southam

Neil Staker

And finally we express gratitude to the partners and friends who have supported our work around the globe:

Australia Geoff Flemming and Grant Donovan

Brazil Josmar Arrais

China Jenny Xu

Egypt Hisham El Bakry

France Cathia Birac and Dagmar Doring

India Yogesh Sood

Indonesia Nugroho Supangat

Italy Giovanni Verrecchia

Malaysia V. Sitham

Netherlands Sander van Eijnsbergen and Willeke Kremer

Poland Marek Choim

Singapore James Chan

South Africa Helene Vermaak and Jay Owens

South Korea Ken Gimm

Switzerland Arturo Nicora

Thailand TP Lim

U.K. Grahame Robb and Richard Pound

One of my problems is that I internalize everything.

I cant express anger; I grow a tumor instead.

WOODY ALLEN

Sooner or later it happens to all of us. Youre politely standing in line and a fellow cuts in front of you. What the ? Well, youll just have to say something.

Just where do you think youre going? you bark. The line ends here. It begins there!

To punctuate your point you aggressively shake your finger in the direction of the beginning of the line. Nobody is going to play you for a fool.