Beware the NAG

There are three words that are commonly found in a number of articles in the management literature - accountability, authority, and responsibility.  Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines accountability as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.  I like to think of accountability as "walking the talk" (it's really about doing what you are supposed to do, even with no one watching you to make sure that you actually do it).  Accountability and responsibility are closely related and probably not worth distinguishing.  Ideally, accountability and responsibility follow authority.

One of the most common traps for leaders today, particularly in the heavily matrixed organizational structures in most academic health centers, occurs when leaders are held responsible and accountable for a project completion or particular task when they have not been given the proper level of authority.  Unfortunately, it's probably happened at least once to most leaders - including me.  The trap even has a name - the "no authority gauntlet" or NAG Syndrome. 

The NAG syndrome turns highly engaged, talented leaders into bitter, cynical nags that no one likes.  Good leaders become bad leaders, and the organization suffers as a result.  There are three stages to the NAG syndrome:

1.  Jubilation.  A talented and emerging leader within the organization is given a new assignment or position.  At first (of course), the leader is excited, highly motivated, and optimistic of success.

2.  Doubt.  After some early wins, the leader starts to reach the pinnacle of his or her influence.  The leader finds that there is a limit to how he or she can influence and motivate others to rise to the challenge.  The leader starts to meet resistance.  The team has already addressed the low-hanging fruit, and the job is becoming more difficult.  The leader starts to doubt his or her leadership.

3.  Bitterness.  The leader starts to face either half-hearted cooperation (at best) or active resistance (at the worst).  There is a limit on what the leader can accomplish with the team, and the leader and the team starts to become bitter and cynical.

It's difficult to recover from the NAG syndrome once it reaches the late stages of bitterness.  Optimism turns to pessimism.  Engagement turns to cynicism.  Motivation turns to burnout.  Success turns to failure.

The good news is that there is a way to prevent leaders from becoming nags.  As Wendi Peck and William Casey write in their article "Responsibility + No authority = Manager Burnout" in the Denver Business Courier, "downsize their accountability to match their authority, or upsize their authorities to match their accountability."  It's really that simple.  We can't expect leaders to be successful when we hold them accountable for things that are just not under their span of control.