Dear Bob ... I think that you go this one right on. It is inevitable that when you put a metric in place that places blame, a.k.a. Holds People Accountable, then the goal of the manager is to manipulate the metric. I noticed the same thing with departmental budgets. Find a way to manipulate the accounting system so that it gets charged to somebody else's budget. In the larger scheme of things, it does Dear Bob …I think that you go this one right on. It is inevitable that when you put a metric in place that places blame, a.k.a. Holds People Accountable, then the goal of the manager is to manipulate the metric.I noticed the same thing with departmental budgets. Find a way to manipulate the accounting system so that it gets charged to somebody else’s budget. In the larger scheme of things, it doesn’t matter, since the company is paying regardless of which bucket it comes from. But in the Hold People Accountable approach, we all scurry from the light like cockroaches. Alas, I believe that it is human nature, to place blame instead of solving the problem. Or maybe I am just getting – Old and cynical?Dear Cynical … Oh, I wouldn’t say old.I don’t think it’s human nature. I think the human nature part is that people do what they’re rewarded for doing, and avoid doing what they’re punished for doing.Placing blame is a personal survival strategy. It takes leadership to make sure everyone focuses on solving the problem instead, and a big part of that is creating a situation in which it’s safe to have the right discussion. And this is tricky. After all, not holding people accountable isn’t much of a winner, either. So here’s the plan.When the subject is dashboard measures we have it covered. Each manager establishes goals for his or her part of the organization, with oversight review to make sure the goals mesh to achieve the larger organization’s purpose, and for reinforcing rather than conflicting with the goals of the other managers. By all means hold each manager accountable for achieving those goals.When the subject is an event, first fix the problem, then debrief with everyone involved in fixing it to determine the root cause and whether steps are necessary to either prevent a recurrence or to respond more effectively next time. In the debriefing session it will become apparent whether the root cause is an employee who’s a chronic problem.– Bob ——– Technology Industry