July 25, 2007

Author offers some tips

Breaking the circle of blame at work

By Grant Cameron

managing editor

Does this sound familiar? When the project didn’t get completed on time did you blame the team or the other department?

When the sale fell through did you blame the product’s pricing or the customer?

When the company failed to hit its targets did the CEO blame the senior VP, who blamed the VP, who blamed the director, who blamed the supervisor, who blamed the employees?

Well, John Miller, a leading author and speaker on personal accountability, has a number of tips to break the costly circle of blame at work.

Miller, author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, says the blame game is a hidden problem that’s costing companies big bucks.

“The blame game is never on the balance sheet, but it’s costing companies millions in productivity, sales, customer and job satisfaction.

“Personal accountability is foundational. There isn’t a level or aspect of business it doesn’t impact: service, sales, attitude, teamwork and collaboration, leadership, creativity, and helping employees adapt to change.”

According to Miller, espousing personal accountability is one thing, but getting individuals to put it into practice is another.

That’s where his QBQ method comes in. It has been adopted by thousands of organizations, including top corporations such as American Express, Taco Bell, Fleet Bank, the American Cancer Society, Dell Computer, Wells Fargo, and Sonoco.

The concept helps people discipline day-to-day thinking by taking ownership, replacing “whodunit” questions with better, more accountable questions called QBQ’s.

Miller, a management trainer, developed the method over the course of a decade and some 10,000 hours facilitating sessions where he observed that when faced with challenges and frustrations, professionals often resorted to blaming questions.

“Instead of brainstorming and problem-solving, they blamestormed, creating more problems and inaction.”

Miller offers these three tips for breaking the circle of blame in any organization:

1. Ask the better question: The essence of QBQ is making better choices in the moment by asking better questions, resisting the common urge to counter frustrations and challenges with negative questions that solve little, such as: “Why do we have to go through all this change?” or “Who dropped the ball?”

Instead, the better questions to ask are: “How can I adapt to the changing world?” or “What can I do to make a difference today?”

2. The better answer is always in the better question: Three guidelines for creating effective QBQs are:

— Begin with “What” or “How” (not “Why”, “When” or “Who”);

— Contain an “I” (not “They,” “Them,” “We” or “You.”) ;

— Focus on action.

3. Don’t affix blame: Focus on what you can do to fix the problem. Personal accountability is not about changing others or controlling what you can not. It’s about making a difference by changing yourself, and recognizing the power of one.

Miller is president and founder of Denver-based QBQ Inc., a multi-million dollar organizational development firm focused solely on helping organizations make personal accountability a core value by practicing the QBQ! method.

His book, QBQ, has sold more than 275,000 copies.

For more information, visit www.qbq.com.

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