Leading for Innovation: And Organizing for Results

8.1. Deemphasize Individual Accountability

One of the long-standing management principles is that there needs to be individual accountability, that people must be called to account for their individual results and performance. This idea forms the basis for management by objectives and for the annual perfor mance appraisal process, the adult version of what happens in school—you get "graded" on your work. The implicit premise is that if you aren't monitored, scored, and ranked, you won't do anything, or at least anything very useful.

What's wrong with emphasizing individual accountability? First, it leads to finger-pointing when things go wrong rather than learning and problem solving. This result is beautifully illustrated in Jody Hoffer Gittell's ...