This article is based on
following book: The Oz Principle : Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability By Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman Published by Penguin Group, 2004 ISBN 1-59184-024-4 234 pagesIn The Oz Principle, Connors, Smith, and Hickman brilliantly use analogy of “The Wizard of Oz” to discuss a business philosophy aimed in propelling individuals and organizations to overcome unfavorable circumstances and achieve desired results. This philosophy can be encompassed in one word: ACCOUNTABILITY.
The eponymous principle builds upon ethos of personal and organizational accountability. It explores root cause of an organization’s impediments to exceptional performance and productivity, and provides great insight on how to re-establish a business from bottom up, emphasizing on thin line that separates success from failure. The Above The Line, Below The Line methodology is driving force behind The Oz Principle.
The Oz Principle: Getting Results through Accountability
Just like Dorothy’s search for Wizard of Oz for enlightenment, individuals and organizations also seek out wizard that will save them from maladies that afflict their workplace. However, wizard is just a distraction, bearing new-fangled business philosophies and management fads that will only create a layer atop ugly truth that needs to be revealed. When core problem is not addressed, ills will eventually resurface and business is back to its sorry state.
Victim Thinking or Failed Accountability
When a company suffers from poor performance or unsatisfactory results, individuals from top management all way to front line begin finger-pointing, forming excuses, rationalizing, and justifying, instead of doing something to alleviate situation. They foolishly profess that circumstances have made victims of them, that events are completely out of their control, and that they shouldn’t be blamed for company’s current problems. It’s always something or someone else, never themselves.
Above The Line, Below The Line
A thin line separates failure and success, greatness and mediocrity.
Above The Line, you’ll find Steps to Accountability which include in chronological order: See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It. The first step, See It, means acknowledging problem; to Own It is to assume responsibility for problem and results; Solve It means to formulate solutions to remedy situation; and, as a culminating step, Do It commands practical application of solutions identified.
Below The Line is where self-professed victims play
The Blame Game. Here, crippling attitudes such as Wait and See, Confusion/Tell Me What To Do, It’s Not My Job, Ignore/Deny, Finger Pointing, and Cover Your Tail are rampant. Though majority of people found in this dimension are weak in accountability, this does not mean that very accountable individuals are exempt from falling Below The Line. They, too, slip every now and then. The only difference is that they know how to get out of rut.
