An example of how the Means, Ability and Accountability model helped a Shift Supervisor at Lonmin achieve his performance bonus:
At a coaching meeting, a Lonmin Mine Overseer by the name of Tony Boucher revealed how his application of the Means, Ability and Accountability model to one of his Shift Supervisors has not only improved performance in the supervisors section but also earned the supervisor his maximum performance bonus.
Tony Boucher attended Care & Growth training earlier this year and has also received an assessment of his leadership against the Care & Growth criteria recently. Although his scores were generally good, there were some areas identified for improvement and he has been working at these methodically with his team.
Our recent conversation demonstrated how easy it is to take the Means, Ability and Accountability model and make it work for you – Tony met with his supervisor who had been struggling to make his call due to a number of reasons and asked him what he needed from his Mine Overseer in order to right the situation. Tony systematically worked through each aspect of the model and listed all the means and issues required to do the job and then they discussed who would be accountable for providing each item on the list.
Once this was complete, Tony set about providing what the Shift Supervisor had asked for or if he could not do it himself, he liaised directly with the people who could assist and ensured that they delivered. This was his way of setting up the supervisor to succeed.
Within a week or two daily figures were improving and by the end of the month, everyone was smiling, especially the Shift Supervisor who earned a sizeable bonus on his excellent performance figures.
Due to this mini-success story, Tony has decided to dedicate a white board in his office to regular discussions with his entire team around what Means and Ability issues are required for each of them to succeed and achieve their team targets. All outstanding items will be recorded in red and other notes will be made in blue. As each item is provided, they will be removed from the list.
Tony’s white board will be a regular reminder to him of the job that he needs to do in order to care for and grow his team and the removal of items, thus shortening the list, will be a visual demonstration of the success that he is achieving with his people.
May this lead to happier people receiving just rewards for work well done!