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Terry Murray

Engineering an Accountable Culture

I was going through my archives the other day and came across an interview I did with the Investor’s Business Daily from April 13, 2012.  Sonya Carberry interviewed several former


military people, including myself, that were professionally engaged in leadership development.  The article was entitled, “Look to the Military For Disciplined, Honorary and Can-Do Leadership.”


Ms. Carberry chose to quote me on the subject of accountability.  It’s something that is deeply imparted in us during military training.  In my case, being in the Navy, my fellow shipmates depended on me to do my job in times of crisis (during General Quarters).  Just as I depended on them.  We were accountable to one another as our lives might depend on each of us being there at the right time and the right place, every time (at my Battle Station). You become acutely aware of your interdependency when the closest land is straight down.


That kind of accountability resonated throughout the ranks.  We took the responsibility of

leadership to heart as soon as each of us began to move up the ranks.  Lives depended on us.  The fact of the matter was, each and every one of us was a leader.  It was expected. And we trained, continuously on these skills.


The military was exceptional in training each and every one of us to be a leader.  How much so?  Well, it is strongly and frequently imparted to every service member, regardless of rank, that they are responsible NOT to follow an illegal command.  Think about that for a minute.  At 17 years old, I was trained to discern between legal and illegal commands, and it was my responsibility to refuse illegal commands from my superior officers. That takes character and at times, courage. But again, it was expected of us.


High Performance organizations reflect a similar modality in which you will find leadership emerging at every level throughout the organization.  That’s what moves the needle, especially with Knowledge Workers.  What drives this level of focus, accountability and productivity?  Culture.  Culture is the binding force that ensures accountability.  No one ever wants to let anyone else down. It's shared.


In the military, the culture was crystal clear. We always knew where we stood and what was expected of us. And it was the culture that enforced performance throughout the unit. (Leaders aren't always around, but culture certainly is!).


Back when I was interviewed in 2012, we spoke about culture a lot, but there was no way to actually measure culture in a robust, statistically significant and scientific manner. Thankfully, today, we do.  


Working with the Talent-OS system, we can quickly and efficiently measure your organization’s Cultural Fitness by focusing on the Productivity Drivers we can identify, measure and improve upon through the automated platform. Please feel free to reach out if you'd like more information!


© 2024, Performance Transformation, Inc.

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