What would you do differently if you knew you were being watched?

Many of you may have or heard about an “Elf on the Shelf.” This is our family’s "Elf on the Shelf" who was christened "Peter" by our children 10 years ago.

Every year after Thanksgiving, Peter makes his debut and watches the kids to make sure they are in line with what Santa expects for Christmas.

Our oldest two are no longer believers, and I think our third one is skeptical. However, our youngest at 9 is firmly in the believer camp and is VERY motivated by Peter watching her activities to ensure that "nice list" evaluation to Santa.

How does this relate to work?

At both AJC and The Executagility Company, we train and maintain execution processes with customers that utilize full transparency.

Meaning: we write project tasks down, publish tasks and metrics publicly, and share results openly and regularly so anyone can "watch" what is happening with the project.

The other day we had a member of a project team tell us that he did not want us to assign him to specific tasks because "then (he) could be held accountable."

🚩This is a big red flag! 🚩

If people refuse to document their commitments in projects, it's true that it is hard to hold them accountable.

However, is that in the best interest of the team, the department, or the company?

What would you do differently if you knew someone was watching?

Hopefully nothing!

People who are comfortable with being held accountable typically have no problem with writing things down and knowing someone might be watching.

Write it down = Go ahead and watch!