Accountability and Clarity
We are engaged in an industry that has many moving parts. No matter whether we are involved with timeshare, fractional ownership, whole ownership or any combination of these we deal with many complexities. On one hand we may look, smell and feel like a typical resort, but we clearly are not. Our moving parts go well beyond those of a typical resort, although we have all of those issues as well. One4 of the major drivers of this complexity is the way our resorts are owned, with all kinds of different owners with different expectations. Those that have been around the shared ownership side of the hospitality business as well as the standard resort side of the business know that accommodating owners and renters in one property provides unique opportunities. This last statement takes me finally to the topic in the headline, Accountability and Clarity
Because of the complexity of many moving parts requiring different treatments the first step toward accountability is to clearly understand what we need to be accountable for. This critical first step is often times completely missed or overlooked. Or many times whoever the leader or the leadership team is may understand what they are accountable for but have failed to communicate the message to the dozens or hundreds of other team members clarifying what it is that they may be accountable for. How can people be held accountable for things that they are not clear about. The answer is they can’t. But we think we told them so why don’t they get it and accept their accountability?
Remember that even if you are not involved in a complex environment with many moving parts, all environments are confusing to people who don’t have a lot of experience dealing with them. How did you feel the first time you went through a strange airport and had to rely on nothing but the signage? You may have felt lost. However the second or third time you went through that same airport, all of the sudden the signage seemed completely logical and well placed. Its not that you weren’t a responsible person on the first trip through or that you weren’t taking accountability, it was just unfamiliar and you had not received good instruction and had no training. To some degree this same circumstance exists with employees in our environment. If we have not provided high clarity about what we are trying to achieve and who is accountable for what it may be impossible for our team members to accept accountability for the experience delivered to our owners and guests.
Although we all run into circumstances that appear to be driven by someone failing to take or accept accountability, perhaps it goes back to lack of clarity. As you struggle with the challenges of making all the moving parts fit together in our complex business look first at what you are trying to do, who has to do what and whether real clarity has been established, first with you and then throughout the organization.
Without Clarity don’t expect Accountability.
