William Wong April 2019
L.I.F.T Method
An Accountability Coaching Model by Partners in Leadership
Of all the accountability tools, LIFT is pretty high up on my list and may very well be an all-time favorite. There are many techniques out there, but I find most to be too complex in theory and even harder to execute. The LIFT concept is simple (doesn't require a PhD to understand) and with a little bit of training, it's an extremely powerful ally by our side.
The LIFT method is mainly utilize as a course correction technique. Have an employee that's not performing up to standard? Sure we can utilize this technique for that, but it's so much more. I find myself reaching for LIFT to inspire ideas, remove roadblocks and give someone that extra little push to greatness. The versatility of this tool is limitless and can be harnessed as a self-aid tool.
Accountability Defined
A personal choice to rise above one's circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving Key Results; to "See It", "Own It", "Solve It", and "Do It".
The LIFT Method
Step 1: Clearly define the results/ situation/ roadblocks. Your staff can't initiate the critical thinking that's required to resolve the scenario if they don't understand what the issue is.
Step 2: Ask the question: "Why aren't you making the progress that you really want to make?"
Step 3: Now follow the steps below as a guide. Remember, people are more receptive to ideas that are their own instead of yours. When trying to LIFT someone up from their situation, don't shove your ideas down their throat, but rather provide guidance/ coaching so together we all come up with a solution together. Besides, we can't always know the answer to everything (this definitely won't happen if I succeed in surrounding myself with people that are smarter than me).
Guidelines:
[ 1 ] Listen for obstacles. "What else is getting in the way of making progress?"
[ 2 ] Identify obstacles you can influence. "Which of these obstacles do you most need to overcome, and why?
[ 3 ] Facilitate the Solve It Question. "What else can you do?". When dealing with a lack of movement, use the following checklist:
-
Will you be held accountable for achieving this result?
-
What is the price you will pay if you don't achieve it?
-
If you had to take accountability for overcoming one of these obstacles, which would it be? Why?
-
If your life depended on it, what else would you do?
[ 4 ] Test for movement. "What actions are you going to take?"
Our goal as leaders is to bring out the best in others: this means giving them skills to make decisions - then give them the autonomy to do it for themselves. When a person comes up with the plan, it is now theirs. They believe in it so they have more incentive to see it thru. When confronted with obstacles on their plan, instead of pointing fingers back at you, they will find ways to overcome it. Ownership is a beautiful thing!
Practice Session
Find a peer that has decent understanding of your business line. This person will need to be able to emulate typical responses from your staff. The trick here is to simulate a real life scenario. The more you go thru these, the better you'll be at resolving issues in your business.
LIFT in Action
Partner up! Person A and B
Scenario:
-
Person A is stuck and not accomplishing (xyz).
-
Person B is coaching them using the LIFT model.
Switch roles and problem. Rinse, repeat.
Live Example
A portion of our business is within the Managed Service Provider (MSP) space, and it's become common practice for the MSP to act as the gatekeeper, screening resumes before they are passed on to the actual hiring team. If the MSP does not shortlist the resume, the hiring team will not see it.
One of my managers came to me asking for help. His team keeps submitting candidates with errors (wrong markup, bill rate violations, poor resume formatting, not including program specific requirements like unique IDs, or Right to Represent). He goes over the error with the individual recruiter after every mistake, but errors keep happening across the board with all his recruiters. My manager's fear is all these errors are making the MSP tune out on his team's submission, and as a result, no resumes are being passed on, which leads to no interviews/placements, and ultimately removal from the accounts after several scorecard periods.
1) Problem Identification: The manager actually pointed out two issues. 1st one is his team keeps making mistakes and the second one is how to regain the respect of the MSP. These problems are interconnected, but fixing one issue may not resolve the other. We need to first stop the mistakes, and then come up with a strategy on how to reignite the partnership. This will require two LIFT sessions. Only the LIFT session on how to stop mistakes is depicted below.
2) Ask the "Why aren't you making progress" question. I rephrased this as "So why do you think your team keeps making the same mistakes?
3) Apply LIFT
[ 1 ] Listen for obstacles. My manager provided many possible reasons: They're moving too fast. We have too much work. They don't care. We have too many accounts and it's confusing them on what accounts require what. They don't understand the repercussions of these errors. There's no ownership.
[ 2 ] Identify obstacles you can influence. "Which of these obstacles do you most need to overcome, and why? Out of all the possible reasons, my manager concluded the most important thing is to get his team to understand the repercussions of these errors. Once the team realizes what can happen as a result of these errors, they will have greater care and ownership of the account.
[ 3 ] Facilitate the Solve It Question. "What else can you do?" My manager is already familiar with the LIFT technique and plans on utilizing it on his team. To fix the problem, he will conduct a brainstorming session with his team (this takes longer vs. him just telling them, but it's more effective). His team has to think about the negative effects and by coming up with answers themselves - they become champions of the solution vs my manager making them do it. In a team meeting:
-
Identify the problem: submission errors (mu/br violation, formatting, etc.)
-
Consequences: ask the team what they think the repercussions are. This will allow them to come up with negative impact themselves (ie. onsite passing on resumes, resumes never making it to the HM, onsite team don't partner, loss of trust, loss of account). Key is to let them come up with these consequences.
-
Resolution: Ask the team to brainstorm about how to resolve this and prevent from happening in the future. Come up with the SOP together.
[ 4 ] Test for movement. "What actions are you going to take?"
-
My manager will schedule a team meeting tomorrow morning at 10am and report back to me the results of his meeting. He will track the amount of mistakes his team makes moving forward and compare that with past results. We will meet back in one month to talk about results.
Path to Solution:
** Many of the contents, diagrams and wisdom come from and are trademarked by Partners in Training. I am merely paraphrasing what I've learned from them and retelling as constant reminder of it's teachings. If you wish to learn more about this topic, go directly to them.