Synopsis
The best managers follow through on their commitments and do what they say they are going to do. What’s more, they are disciplined in ten critical success factors they consistently follow to keep themselves personally and professionally accountable for their results. Because they do this, they are the business managers that earn higher profits and worry less about cash flow.
Managers who hold themselves accountable for results do ten things consistently
Results-oriented managers ensure that planning, organizing, leading, and controlling their employees and fixed assets combine to deliver cost-effectively on the accountabilities set in their profit plan. Simply put, the best managers hold themselves accountable for their results. The following responsibilities are among the critical success factors common to every accountable manager:
- Be a role model in your observance and practice of company policies and procedures.
- Accept and understand all duties, standards, and responsibilities delegated to you.
- Faithfully attend to all assigned duties, and when necessary, take the initiative within your authority to act on unanticipated matters as they arise.
- Have the confidence to take the initiative in developing recommendations for improvements or modifications within the authority delegated to you without being told.
- Cultivate the ability to establish cooperation, coordination, and discipline among subordinates and peers.
- Develop sufficient knowledge to train subordinates at all levels and the desire to develop select individuals to become leads, then supervisors.
- Simplify all activities to the essential tasks by eliminating marginal work and nonproductive effort.
- Maintain operating records of the quality and quantity of work performed, planning, and rescheduling work to improve workflow and increase production as needed.
- Remain personally accountable for the proper performance of all duties assigned to the position and the organizational unit supervised.
- Be willing to honestly evaluate the performance of all subordinates, particularly those who may need progressive discipline.
Being accountable for results requires personal and professional discipline
The discipline of personal accountability for results comes down to achieving defined goals within an established time frame. Step 3 of B-CPR involves monitoring the actual performance compared with planned performance through both leading and lagging metrics. The difference between actual and planned results is measured, and the causes contributing to these differences are identified. This allows corrective actions to occur sooner rather than later to eliminate or minimize the difference in results.
Neglect or unskilled handling of your profit plan variances will inevitably result in you losing control over your business. Every business will either move forward or regress as results change. Failure to monitor actions and measure results through each day, week, month, quarter, and year results in losing control over your business and your future. Failure to act is the number one cause of business cardiac arrest. Ultimately, this is the purpose of B-CPR Step 5—Be Accountable for Your Results.
Ultimately, any failure to follow through is a discipline problem. When you aren’t practicing the critical success factors of management, your ability to ensure the future success of your company is compromised and you are increasingly likely to suffer profit losses and tight cash flow. The bottom line is that you will never obtain the profits you need to keep your business alive or fund your lifestyle if you and the managers who work for you aren’t accountable for their results.
Where does your business need you to be more disciplined?
If you aren’t clear on where your business needs the most improvement from you and where you need to be more disciplined in managing your business to higher profits and more consistent cash flow, click here for a free review of your business results to learn the three most important areas of improvement from a certified BusinessCPR™ Business Scientist.
Where does your business need you most?
If you aren’t clear on where your business needs the most improvement and where you need to be more disciplined in managing your business to higher profits and more consistent cash flow, click the link below to receive a free review of the three most important areas of improvement for your business.
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