Publisher's Synopsis
Remember this one? In an effort to hire the best talent and unleash the innovation in your workforce, put these creative people in an open and flexible work environment, set them up with the latest technology, and encourage them to think outside the box - the next-generation company would emerge. Well, guess what? This idea, that magazines like Fast Company and Industry Standard drooled over, turned out to be complete bunk. In company after company, managers learned that taking a hands-off approach to their workers doesn't work. Managers don't know what their people are doing all day; they can't trust internal schedules and forecasts, and when it's time to belt-tighten, their teams cannot give them a good accounting of whether projects are adequately staffed, on track, or on time. Getting Back to Accountability offers a solution: you want profitability? Get the suits out from storage and hold your employees accountable for the work they do. The Dibachis show you how to create a professional, businesslike work environment where knowledge is democratic, but lines of authority are clear. It is the manual for building value by putting your employees back to work.;The book will help managers improve productivity with a four-step approach to organizing their efforts: setting priorities, aligning projects with those priorities, setting and enforcing processes, and progres-tracking. The authors are founders of Niku Corporation, a company that used the system in this book to thrive in Silicon Valley, while many of their peers have failed. Farzad Dibachi is frequently quoted in The New York Times, WSJ, Fortune and appears frequently on CNN and CNBC. Joan Dibachi is Executive VP of Planning and Strategy at Niku, and previously worked at Ernst & Young and GE.