“When is John going to get me that report?”

“What is going on in marketing? When are they going to finish that project?”

“I can’t believe Mary is so late in making those phone calls.”

“Okay…who dropped the ball this time?”

“Hey…that’s not MY job.”

Does this sound familiar? If so, your team and company may be faced with a very big challenge with accountability, which results in finger pointing, frustration and broken trust. Personal responsibility and accountability can put an end to the blame game, saving your company thousands if not millions of dollars by increasing productivity, customer service and job satisfaction. This article offers leaders five basic approaches to increasing accountability, which are simple, yet they require actually building a culture of accountability or even going so far to adopting accountability as one of the core values of your company.

Communicate the big picture- Accountability stands a better chance of succeeding if everyone in your company embraces a larger responsibility for the success of the entire organization. Spend time talking individually with team members about how his or her project affects the vision and mission of the company. With this communication, people can make wiser decisions from the context of the “big picture” rather than from the perspective of what may seem to be a detailed and boring task.

State clear expectations- If one person on the team does not meet your expectations, the entire team can fail. It is important from the very beginning of any new project to state the expectations clearly and repeat them over and over again until your team really “gets it.” These expectations need to be crystal clear, including dates, who is responsible for what, the details of the task and how you want the finished product delivered. If your expectations are fuzzy or confusing in any way, your team can break down, and the fine and very important details can fall through the cracks.

Accountability work groups- One of the best ways to achieve accountability is to develop shared accountability among team members. Accountability within the team can be accomplished by what Morris R. Shechtman calls “accountability groups,” groups which give team members the permission to speak and listen in a way which is frank and open. This accountability group can then serve as a small unit of people working together to confide in with struggles, weaknesses and insecurities and they relate to the goals and growth the team intends to achieve.

Move to action- In order for accountability to work, people have to know that failure of completion will come with certain consequences, including written warnings, loss of a bonus or extra hours served on a week-end to complete the project on the table. Without consequences, your employees won’t take you seriously. They will think that your verbal warnings mean nothing, and the cycle of blame will escalate.

Implement an inspiring reward and recognition program- Employees need to know in a tangible way their efforts are indeed driving the company forward, and it is important for them to share in the fruits of their hard work. The offer of increased pay and benefits (vacations, time off and other perks) can keep accountability and morale high and can motivate employees to continue to strive for high levels of performance.

The young bloggers and journalists over at Employee Evolution.com are writing some very poignant blogs about the role Gen Y is playing at work, how they view work and some of the challenges and opportunities which are popping up for organizations around this topic.

A recent post by Raymond A.R. Jarosz (Known as MoJay) on The New Loyalty is a great post, and I have a few comments to make.

I think as senior leaders, we have to be careful about labeling Gen Y as disloyal. Many of the companies who are doing a great job with young talent retention understand that Gen Y does not necessarily leave a company, but they leave a boss who makes life difficult, or they leave a stagnant environment. The Gen Y’s who are sticking with a company are doing so because they continue to be offered multiple opportunities to learn, grow and “build out their career”. Intuit, Google and Sun Microsystems are examples of three West Coast companies who are doing a great job in building loyalty with Gen Y. Why? Because they are offering flexibility, access to top decision makers in the company, the opportunity to grow as leaders and to rotate around the company so that work stays interesting and inspiring.

I think also that it will be important for more experienced leaders to really look closely at their assumptions about their brand and the way work is being done. If you are branding your company based on employee recruitment and retention strategies from the 70’s and 80’s, then it’s time to start looking at how you are branding your company to attract and then keep Gen Y. Are you cool, clean and hip?  Are you offering Gen Y the opportunity to do service work in your community?  Does your brand to your external customers match up with what is going on inside your company? Gen Y is big on transparency, and they want to know that your message to the public is matching up with what is going on inside your organization and they want to know without any fluff or hype what they can expect once they actually walk into the doors of your company.

So, if you are someone who has the word “Chief”, “President” or “Vice President” in your title, and you are losing Gen Y talent, my question to you is “What are you doing or not doing to keep Gen Y talent around?” Sit down and take the time to answer this question, and test your assumptions about what really attracts and keeps Gen Y around. You may just be surprised at what comes up for you.

When it comes to attracting and recruiting Generation Y, I really believe that the companies that begin developing a relationship with young talent in middle school and early high school will have the leg up once these young men and women turn 21-22.

Apple is doing an amazing thing with the Apple Learning Interchange.  ALI, as it is known, is an online social network for educators. The site offers great content from simple lesson plans to a platform which allows educators and students to showcase school projects and research.   Great podcasts, projects and blogs…and of course, loaded with audio and video.  You can join the site (I joined as someone who offers a great deal of continuing education for companies), and it really just drives home again how Apple is able to get young buyers and future employees engaged at an early age.

Great post by Andy Wibbels today: Freaks, Furverts and Fanfic

With the “Anything Goes” mantra being celebrated by our online technology celebrities, with Gen X and Gen Y leading the charge, I expect more of this to be the norm rather than the let’s say “unique”.

Great reading as always…love the way Andy writes…gets you laughing and thinking and looking around.

it is so hard to believe it, but EDGE: A Leadership Story will be available for purchase on May 15, 2008. Advance orders will be available soon.

This project has been such a labor of love. Partnering with Corey style=”margin: 10px; float: left” Blake and Eva Silva-Travers style=”margin: 10px; float: left” and the entire team of Writers of the Round Table has been one of the best experiences of not just my career but my life. Their background in screen and film have truly opened up my mind to a brand new way to coach and live.

I also want to take the time to acknowledge our Joint Venture Partners on this project. Each one of these men and women have supported me not just over the last 18 months of this project but have mentored me in ways I cannot begin to describe. I am forever grateful to each of them for their support and wisdom.

Michael Gerber

Michael Gerber has focused his career on inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs with his unique solutions to small business growth, effectiveness, and efficiency. He has established his revolutionary perspective as the gold standard for small business development, becoming what Inc. Magazine called “the world’s #1 small business guru” and one of Business Week’s bestselling authors of the past decades. Michael is the author of seven E-Myth books, including The E-Myth Revisited, which has sold more than three million copies worldwide, making it the most successful small business guide ever written. In 1977, he founded E-Myth Worldwide®, a business that has coached, trained, and educated over 60,000 small business clients in 145 countries. Now 70 years young, Michael Gerber lives with his wife, Luz Delia, in Petaluma, California, where they are intentionally and joyously pursuing their shared vision for transforming the world one small business owner at a time through their most recent venture, “In the Dreaming Room.”

http://inthedreamingroom.com/

Michael Port

Michael Port Called a “marketing guru” by the Wall Street Journal, Michael Port, has lectured, trained, inspired, and provided coaching and consulting services to over 20,000 business owners in the last two years alone. As a speaker, he has headlined events with leaders like Brian Tracy and Tony Robbins. Michael is the author of the national bestselling Book Yourself Solid, The Fastest, Easiest and Most Reliable System For Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even If You Hate Marketing And Selling and the soon to be released Beyond Booked Solid: Now, Build a Bigger, Better Business By Leveraging the Power of People and Processes to Make More Money While Working Less.

http://www.bookyourselfsolid.com

Andy Wibbels

Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging . He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur and other media as a recognized expert in blogging and related technologies. Andy has helped businesses all over the world leverage new media to build visibility and increase sales. Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging . He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur and other media as a recognized expert in blogging and related technologies. Andy has helped businesses all over the world leverage new media to build visibility and increase sales.

http://andywibbels.com

Dave Buck

Dave Buck MCC, MBA is the CEO of CoachVille, the largest and fastest growing business and personal coaching organization in the world. The CoachVille vision is to unleash the greatness in all people everywhere through coaching. He worked with Thomas Leonard to found CoachVille in 2001 and has delivered coach training programs to thousands of coaches.

Dave’s coaching career is diverse. He began coaching as the assistant coach for the Seton Hall University Men’s Soccer Team in 1995 and coached for 10 seasons. He began life coaching in 1997 and over the last 9 years has coached close to 1,000 individuals. Dave is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coach Federation.

Dave has revolutionized the coaching profession by creating Pattern Language Coaching™ – a coaching method that dramatically reduces the time required to become a masterful coach.

In 2004 Dave was awarded the first annual International Coach Federation (ICF) Peace Maker award for bringing CoachVille and the ICF together.

Dave taught an MBA program for the Seton Hall Stillman School of Business called “The Joy of Business”, based on the 28 Principles of Attraction by Thomas Leonard.

http://www.CoachVille.com

Kim George

Kim George is the author of Coaching Into Greatness: 4 Steps to Success in Business and Life, published by Wiley & Sons.
The book introduces Kim’s groundbreaking work around the concept of AQ, Abundance IntelligenceT, and how people can eliminate the barriers that keep them from doing what they can do.

Kim is the Founder and CEO of The AQ Institute, a coaching, consulting and training community focused on bringing Abundance IntelligenceT to the world.

www.AQInstitute.com

Carol Dickson-Carr

Carol Dickson-Carr is a productivity coach for entrepreneurial spirits and helps them make money using their creativity as she does in her own business. She has taught in community and business colleges, at the university level, and in private consultations to provide both academic knowledge and practical strategies for creating a fulfilling life.

Other areas of her expertise include: productivity, creativity, communication skills, audio production, time management, and self-discovery through personal assessment tools–particularly the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Carol is also the creator of the interview audio series, Master Your Time and Live Your Dreams: Conversations with Coaches and Creatives Who Get It Done! and is also co- author to the book, A Guide to Getting It: Purpose & Passion.

http://power-edsolutionsinc.com
http://www.managingpersonalresources.com

So…here comes Gen Y…just a taste of what they can do.  Very inspiring…reminds me of their parents in the 60s.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvDAiWWuvRg[/youtube]

Check out the comments on Rural Votes blog

Millennial Leaders

So….do you think this ad would attract Gen Y?  I think so!  (In the classified for ThePilot.com today).

“No suit or tie required!  A free-flowing atmosphere where communication is open and work groups shift and morph as required, everyone has a natural sense of urgency and a customer first attitude.  Adaptable and innovative, we work hard and we play hard.  An entrepreneurial company looking for entrepreneurial minds, HirEase is looking for new members of our team.

We give 110% and actively look for opportunities to over deliver. 

Work for a company that values first the employees that make up our team;

read for yourself at:
http://www.hirease.com/workwithus.asp

Let 2008 deliver excellent opportunity for work/life balance in the Sandhills.

Jaclyn Schiff is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is a full-time writer for a Web site that focuses on global health issues. She has published articles (often about issues of interest to Gen. Y) in a variety of print and online publications.  She recently mentioned our work in her Employee Evolution News.

Millennial Leaders

Every time I think that Steve Jobs has done all he can to be innovative, here he comes again with something that makes me drool.

Tis the era of the Mac Book Air.   The ad had me the minute I saw the hand slip the sliver thin computer from a legal sized envelope.  And we all want to know why Apple is Gen Y’s most loyal brand?  Because they’ve got it goin on!

Watch the ad here.

Also…just check out the lyrics to the jingle that speaks EXACTLY to Gen Y:

Lyrics to New Soul

I’m a new soul I can do this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take.
But since I came here felt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

I’m a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit about what is true and faith.
But why don’t please trying to comunnicate finding just in love is not always easy to make.

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

This is a happy end cause’ you don’t understand everything you have done wise everything so wrong

this is a happy end come and give me your hand I’ll take your far away.

[Refrain]:
I’m a new soul I can do this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take but since I came here fellt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la….

I have recently had conversations with Margaret Regan and Sumaya Kazi about how the virtual platform, Second Life, is being used for a variety of training purposes.

When I describe Second Life to my clients, they respond by saying…Oooohhh…sounds odd.  But…as you look more closely at what companies and universities are doing, it really makes sense.  This all reminds me of the Sims Game, and my kids learned a great deal about cause and effect and making life, financial and career choices by playing the game.

So, if you want some ideas on the subject, check out these articles:

Great Article in Wired Mag on Wii and Second Life becoming a Training Simulator

Kapp Notes blog entry

Mauritius: Mauritians pioneer emergency preparedness training in second life