The Issue Tree

Today, I want to ask you about your Issues.

Actually, I want to introduce you to the Issue Tree. In the Issue Tree, we've got lots of Issues. Imagine the Accountability Chart™ in the root system of this tree.

How many of your Issues are really rooted in the Accountability Chart™? I’ve had clients who had 80% of their Issues rooted there.

Maybe it's unclear who owns an Issue. Maybe there are several places on the Accountability Chart™that people think the Issue lives. Maybe people aren't playing by the rules or the way the Accountability Chart™ is structured and we have End Runs going on. Maybe there's a shadow structure people are operating with that’s totally inconsistent with the structure that you’ve laid out. And maybe your Accountability Chart™ is just not up to date.

Here's what I want you to do. Be intentional about making sure that your Accountability Chart™ is right. Make sure that you've got the structure design that’s really appropriate to get you to the next level. There are several different phases that you're going to move through to get there.

First, iterate with your Leadership Team that you're going to try different things in order to really get it right. We’re going to keep trying until we can stack our hands together and say, "Yes, this is the right structure to get us to the next level.”

The second thing you need to do is communicate that structure to the organization. We don’t want to surprise or blindside the people in our organization. We must make it crystal clear. This is what their seat looks like, this is what they're going to own in that seat, this is who they're going to be accountable to, and this is how the rest of the organization will work together.

Then, we're all going to migrate towards that picture. The Accountability Chart™ lays out where we're going. You’ll be able to get some places quicker because those are easy changes to make. Other things may take longer. That's okay. But we want to migrate from where we are and towards that Accountability Chart™. We need to get there collectively as quickly as we can.

Once we're there, we need to behave consistently within the designed structure. Our behavior must be true to it to help it have integrity. As things change (which they always do), we need to maintain the Accountability Chart™ as a living document. It should always be accurate and up to date. It's a ready reference for how our structure is supposed to look and behave.

Remember, there are three tests your Accountability Chart™ must ultimately pass. The first is that you and your Leadership Team must agree that the structure is right. That’s test one.

Test two is when you look your Accountability Chart™, you should feel that everyone is the right person in the right seat. Across the organization, everybody needs to be the right person who fits your core values.

The third test is that we must be able to confidently say that everyone has enough time to do the things we're asking them to do. Early in the process, clients are not necessarily able to say that. Later on, as you fill those gaps, you can create capacity. You’ll get closer and closer to everyone having enough time.

Three key things to wrap this one up:

1. The Accountability Chart™ is the solution. It's the root, so go down there and fix it.
2. Do the 5 “ate”s. Iterate, communicate, migrate, then operate, and then update.
3. Pass the “3 A/C tests."

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