Looking in the Mirror of Accountability (Without Breaking It and Getting Seven Years of Bad Luck)
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter, rkanter@hbs.edu.

"Accountability" is a loaded word and political football in public education. Who should get what data about student and school performance, what should be measured or tested, and what will be done with the data? These questions are still controversial. But regardless of one's position on standards and testing, an emphasis on accountability is here to stay. Strong school system performance is a public mandate, and accountability is critical to monitoring and improving results.

While debates about metrics, tests, and consequences rage outside school buildings, inside the walls accountability poses a different requirement. To ensure that a school as a whole meets standards, leaders must work on accountability for performance day by day, person by person - and do it in a way that motivates higher achievement. They must encourage people to look at themselves in a mirror of accountability.

That's not easy.

Performance reviews are an essential managerial task, yet they are often done poorly if done at all. In businesses in decline, performance appraisals don't discriminate among people (the business equivalent of grade inflation and social promotion), nor do they elicit constructive actions for improvement. In chronically poor-performing schools, recent studies show, principals don't coach teachers about ways to improve performance.

Sometimes leaders are just as afraid to give feedback as teachers and staff are to receive it. Some fear that people can't handle negative information, or that open discussions of performance problems are humiliating. When data are used for blame rather than improvement, turning performance reviews into weapons of persecution, no wonder that people want to hide. But that doesn't help the person or the school improve.

In contrast, high-performing schools, like the best businesses and sports teams, use information to help people do better, by giving people abundant and helpful data about their performance. Effective leaders can hold up the "mirror of accountability" in a positive way that minimizes defensiveness. Here are some of the keys.

1. Ask questions. Leaders can start by agreeing on goals with each of their subordinates, in an inquiry-oriented dialogue. They can guide performance and suggest new possibilities through raising questions rather than making assertions or accusations.

One teacher talked about how a new principal changed the tone of meetings. Under the previous administration, meetings were stilted and formal, consisting of speeches rather than dialogues. School staff didn't know what they were accountable for, and they did not feel helped to achieve goals. The new principal asked questions - did you do this, did you try this, did you do research, did you start projects? "She gives us a chance to figure out how to do something better. The questions get me thinking about what else I might do."

2. Create humiliation-free zones. Performance metrics and reviews should not be intended to "name and shame." Leaders must discuss performance standards and shortfalls without humiliating the people involved. School leaders need to provide safe havens in which dialogue with peers can take place without making anyone feel put on the spot, and where difficult issues can be discussed without assigning blame.

In high-performing organizations, finger-pointing is avoided and excuses not accepted. Attack-and-defend is replaced with problem-solving. Leaders emphasize that the goal is to solve problems, not to hurl accusations or tear people down. Creating such a positive climate calls for a matter-of-fact, objective manner: that people want to do the right thing and that data help them know what the right thing is.

3. Break big goals into specific elements. Every large area is composed of many elements. Analyzing the details that accumulate to produce either failure or success can make it easier to identify steps for improvement - and also make it likely that people can feel proud of the things they already do well. The best athletes and the best teams pay attention to discrete actions - a turn of the shoulder here, a difference in the stance there - and practice to perfect each, so as to provide the margin of success.

4. Model accountability yourself. It builds confidence in leaders when they name problems that everyone knows are there, put facts on the table for everyone to see, and refuse to shift responsibility to some nameless "them." When leaders accept responsibility (e.g., by admitting mistakes), it helps other people get over their fear of exposure and humiliation. Like the effective turnaround leaders in my business studies, outstanding school principals model accountability. One principal asked teachers to review her performance, anonymously.

Accountability is a cornerstone of confidence. Studies show that optimists are more likely than pessimists to pay attention to negative data . Because optimists assume they can do something to improve performance, they are more likely to want to know exactly where they stand. When they do, and start the work to improve, their confidence grows. Clearly, it's possible to view negative information without getting mired in negativity.

The tools of accountability - data, details, metrics, measurement, analyses, charts, tests, assessments, performance evaluations - are neutral. What matters is their interpretation, the manner of their use, and the culture that surrounds them. In declining organizations, they are a sign that people are watched too closely, not trusted, about to be punished. In successful organizations, they are vital tools that high achievers use to understand and improve performance.

--Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds a chaired professorship at Harvard Business School and is author or co-author of 16 books, including her latest bestseller, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, recently published by Crown. Find her frameworks for leadership in public education, developed with Dr. Barry Stein of Goodmeasure Inc., at www.reinventingeducation.org.
© Copyright 2005 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. All rights reserved.