Mark C. Winters argues that a large share of organizational issues (he estimates “maybe 80%”) originate in a company’s accountability chart because ownership is unclear or the chart is outdated. He introduces the issue tree metaphor (branches of issues leading to a trunk that represents the accountability chart) and lists common failure modes: multiple people thinking they own the same issue, end-runs/shadow structures, and charts that haven’t kept pace with the business. His recommended fix is a five-step process — iterate with the leadership team, communicate the new structure, migrate toward the picture, operate in alignment, and update the chart as a living document — and three completion tests: leadership agreement that the structure is right; 100% right people in the right seats (GWC: get it, want it, capacity); and everyone having enough time to do their seat’s work. He closes with a CTA to rocketfueluniversity.com and the Rocket Fuel community.
Chapters
Hey, everybody, it's Mark C. Winters. One of the things I'm seeing across clients is that maybe 80% of their issues have roots back to their accountability chart. And the problem is it's unclear who owns a specific issue. So I want to discuss the concept of the issue tree. On the tree, there's lots of issues, but if you follow the smaller issues on the branches down to the trunk, you see a larger system. If you flip it, you actually see it's a representation of the accountability chart. So my question for you today is, how many of your issues are really rooted in your accountability chart? Maybe your teams haven't mapped out their issues yet. Maybe you have too many people thinking they own the issue. Or maybe there are several different places on the accountability chart where people think the issue should live. It's also possible people aren't playing by the rules because of the way the accountability chart is structured. Do you have end runs going on where people skip the usual accountability process? Is there some sort of shadow structure going on? If people are actually operating in a way that's inconsistent with your accountability chart structure, maybe you need to update it. Maybe things have moved along in your business and the accountability chart hasn't kept up. In this case, it's causing more confusion and not allowing you the clarity you need to run your business effectively. So how do you solve this? I want you to be really intentional about making sure your accountability chart is right, that it's the right structure for where you are right now and where you're headed. You've got to design a structure that is appropriate to get you to the next level in your business. And you're going to have to move through several phases to make sure that you're there. First, you need to iterate with your leadership team, really pull it apart, and try putting things in a different order to. To really get it right. You're not done until you can all agree that, yes, this is the right structure to get us to the next place that we want to go. Everyone has to stack hands and say, we are all in on this. Second, you need to communicate this new structure to the organization. You don't want to surprise folks. Nobody likes to get blindsided like that. So you and your leadership team need to make it crystal clear what each seat looks like on the accountability chart. If someone owns a seat, they need to know what they'll be accountable for. Third, you need to migrate toward that picture. Your accountability chart shows the plan for how you're going to transition your structure over time. The new Intentional accountability chart lays out your plan and collectively everyone needs to get there as quickly as possible. They need to live it and operate in a way consistent with that new structure. This helps the new accountability chart have integrity. Things are going to change, they always do. So treat the accountability chart like a living document. You're going to need to update it so that it comes along with you and is always accurate. It's meant to be a reference for how the business structure is supposed to look and behave. There are three tests ultimately that you must pass for you to be able to check that the accountability chart is done. First, you have to agree that you've got the right structure. Remember I talked about the leadership team saying, yep, this is the right structure that's going to get us to that next level. That's test one, two. When you've got it all filled out, you should feel that you have everyone as a right person, right seat across the entire organization. Everybody needs to be the right person so they fit your core values and they have to GWC the that seat. That means that they have to get it, want it and have the capacity to do it. Third, you must be able to confidently say that everyone has enough time to do the things you're asking them to do. For most clients, they move through the process and fill gaps with the right people in the right seats. And later they can see they created tons of capacity and got closer and closer to everyone having enough time. But every once in a while someone will discover, you know what, we have a seat here that's just too big for any one human to fill and we need to change the structure, maybe divide it up. They need to modify it to make it possible, ultimately getting to everyone having enough time. So to wrap up one, recognize that many of your issues on your issues tree stem from problems in the accountability chart. Fixing the accountability chart is the solution. It's the root cause. So go to the root and fix it. Two, follow the five, eight iterate, communicate, migrate, operate and update. And three, before you can call your accountability chart update done, it has to pass three tests. The leadership team must agree it's the right structure. It has to have 100% right people in the right seats. And those people have to have enough time to do everything required of their seat. If you found this video helpful, head over to rocketfueluniversity.com and there you'll find more videos like this one. You can also join the free Rocket Fuel community to engage with other leaders like yourself. So head over and check it out. Thanks for watching today. And until next time, go, Rocket.
