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Step 3: Achievement

The Accountability/Alignment process brings immediate results, but lasting achievement is gained through maintaining discipline fostered by process. There are several ways to ensure that Accountability/Alignment brings long term achievement.

Keep Accountability Agreements Visible

Post progress reports in prominent locations. Provide a forum for people to comment on progress.

Put Accountability Agreements Online

A company’s intranet can provide easy access to all Accountability Agreements. Or, use our Align Online tool. Visit www.alignonline.com for more information.

Model Accountability

Leaders must set an example and share Accountability Agreements widely. Also, references should be made to Accountability Agreements in reports and presentations.

Synchronize Process

Link accountability to related processes such as goal setting and performance management. Use accountability to prevent duplication of effort.

Ensure Business Results

Accountability is not about shifting blame; it embraces a process of mutual support and learning to ensure that goals are achieved. Accountability Agreements can be modified according to past lessons and to better adhere to new circumstances.

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The Accountable Workplace

The alignment process legitimizes raising difficult conversations, creates a positive context for resolving disagreements, and builds an environment of mutual support. Improving an organization can be a gamble, yet successful organizational effectiveness initiatives have proven to be invaluable relative to time invested. The Accountability/Alignment process can revitalize a workplace, focus attention on shared goals, and sustain a new way of working across an organization.

User Friendly Groupware

Finally, after costs and usability are taken into account, let me offer some helpful tips on selecting a groupware suite with helpful and user-friendly technology.

First, find groupware with Digital Thread technology. Digital Thread is a technology that works for your business from moment your groupware is installed. Digital Thread tracks documents and their changes across email and hard drives by tagging metadata of document. The document changes are literally threaded together like beads on a necklace, not a single one gets lost.

Second, find groupware that creates a Digital Signature. Digital Signature is a signature that is appended to an e-mail that informs user which draft it is and by whom it was saved. Finding latest version of a document is always very simple to track with a signature like this.

Third, find groupware that enables Version History. Version History displays document genealogy as a flow chart. The who, what, when, where, and how of every document is displayed for simple tracking and record keeping.

American businesses recognize need for document management that works way they do. Often, ideal business process is not realized, and more often than not, ad hoc becomes business process. These tips are designed to help businesses make an informed decision on groupware packages that are flexible to their needs. Affordability, flexibility, usability, and organization are benchmarks by which effective collaboration tool analysis can determine your business groupware.