The Oz Principle - Global Institute of Organizational Coaching

1 CON TENT SSea rc hin g for Gr eate rAcc ou nta bilityPage2 Getting Stu ck in th eVictimCyclePage3Mu ste rin g the Coura geto See It Page4 Find in g th e He artto Own It Page5 Exe rc isi ng the Me ansto Do It Page6 Lea din g Fr om Ab oveThe Line Page7 The Unendin g Journ eyPage8by Roger Connors,To m Sm ithand Cr aig Hi ck manThe Oz Pr inciple GettingRes ults Thr oug h In dividualand Or ganizational Ac co unta bilityTH E SUM MA RY IN BRIE FIndi vidu als and or gani zations the wo rld ove r sh ar e th e same feelin gs of anxietyand he lpl essn ess th at bese t the main charact ers in th e stor y how people,use their sen se of vic timiz ation to jus tif y in ac -ti on, ex cu se in ef fec tive ne ss or rat ionalizepoor perfor manc e and unwittingly stiflethe ir own progre ss.

2 The book als o demonstrates how peopl e who ac ce pt ac co un t-abi lity for ma kin g thi ngs be tter move beyondtheir victimization to over co meobs tacl es , de al with se tbac ks and rise to new heights . By the en d of th e jou rney ,re aders will not on ly have learnedhow to becomemore ac co untablefor res ul ts ,the y wil l kno w how to create organizationalcultu res that dev elop and reward thesort of acco unta bility nee ded to rebuild businesscharacterand cultur e in ev ery jobat eve ry lev is summa ry deta ils how people and or ganizations,armed with attitu des ofac counta bility, ca n ov ercomethe obst acles, excusesand biases th at ke ep them fr omgetti ng th e res ults the y want .IN THIS SU MM ARY, YOU WI LL LE ARN : How peo ple and organizations can ov erc ome victim attitudesan d behav iorand step Abov e Th e Line to at tain super ior per fo rmance.

3 How to focu s on the fundam ental caus e of po or leaders hip, lo w produ ctiv ity ,una cce ptable quality , cus tome r dis sat isfacti on, in adequateinno vatio n, wa stedtal ent, dys fu nc tion al te ams or a gener al lack of acc ou ntability. How to mov e beyondexplainingwhy you didn t or can t do better to whatyo u ca n do to ma ke your future br ighter . How to impro ve performancethroughacc ou Summaries :Hands-OnMay 2009 Publishedby SoundviewExecutiveBook Summaries, Box 1053, Concordville,PA 19331 USA 20 08 Soun dvi ew Execu tive Bo ok Su mm aries All rights re ser ved. Re product ion in whole or partis pr ohibi ted. Con cen trate d Kn owle dge fo r th e Busy Exe cut iv e ww umm . MAY 2009 Or der #3 0P TFSThe trade marks re fere nce d he rein as regist ered, are regist ered in the.

4 And/ or other countr GreaterAccountabilityin BusinessLike all powerf ul literature,L. Frank Baum sTheWizardofOzco nt inues to enthrallaudiencesbec ause itspl ot str ikes a nerv e. The book rec ounts a journeytowardawa reness ; and from the begi nning of their journe y, thest ory s main ch ara cters gradual ly learn that they pos se ss thepow er wi th in th emselvesto get the re sult s they wan il the end , th ey think of the ms elve s as victims ofci rcums ta nc es, skipp ing down the yellow brick road tothe Emer ald City where the suppos edly all-powerfulWiz ard will gran t them the courage , heart , wis dom andmea ns to su cceed. The journe y it se lf em powers them, andeven Dor othy , wh o could have clic ke d her red slippersand retur ned home at any time , mus t travel the yellowbr ic k road to gain full aware nes s that only she he rself canac hieve her des ires.

5 Pe ople relat e to the theme of a journe y from ignoranceto knowledge, fro m fe ar to courage,from paralysistopow erfulnes s, fro m victi mizationto acc oun tabilit y,bec aus e every on e has take n this same tuna tely, even the most arde nt admi rers of the storyof ten fai l to lear n it s simp le lesso n: Don t get stuck on theye llow brick roa d; don t blame oth ers for your cir cum -st ances; do n t wai t for wiza rd s to wa ve thei r magi c wands ;an d neve r expe ct all yo ur pro blems to dis appear . Intoda y s comp lex enviro nment, the tem pt ation to feel andac t like vic tims has be co me so perva sive that it has creat eda ve ry real cr is Thin LineA thi n li ne separ at es suc ces s from fa ilure, th e grea tco mpa nies fro m the ordinary on es.

6 Below th at line liesexc us e maki ng, blam ing ot he rs, confus ion an d an at ti -tu de of helples sness, while abov e that line we fin d asen se of reali ty, owner sh ip, com mit ment, solu tio ns topro blem s and det erm ined act ion . While lo sers lan gu ishBelo w The Li ne prepa ri ng stori es that explain wh y pa stef fo rt s we nt awr y, win ners re side Abo ve The Line po w-ere d by com mitm en t and hard ple and org ani zat ions find them selv es th in kin g andbeh av in g Bel ow The Line whenev er th ey co nscio usl y orun co nsci ous ly av oi d account abilit y for individ ua l or co l-lec ti ve res ul ts . St uck in the vic tim cyc le or the bla megam e, the y be gin to los e th eir spirit and res olv e unt il,eve nt ua lly , they feel com plet ely powerless.

7 Only bymo vi ng Abov e The Line and clim bin g the Steps ToAc co un tabi li ty can they bec om e pow erful ag ain .The Oz Pri nci pl eAc co unt abi li ty, empo werm ent and em plo yee en gage-me nt res ult from wo rker s an d team s who con tin ua lly askPART1 THE OZ Principle :GETTINGRESULTSTHROUGHACCOUNTABILITYTH E COMPLETESUMMARY:THE OZ PRINCI PL E by Ro ge r Co nn or s, Tom Smi th an d Cr ai g Hickman2 SoundviewExecutiveBookSummaries mar e auth ors:Rog er Connorsand TomSmithare co- foundersof Partners In Leadership, Inc.,the premierproviderofAc cou ntab ility Train in g Se rviceswi th hun dredsof clientsar oundthe the co-authorsofJourneyto th eEm era ld Ci ty, a seq ue l toThe Oz Prin ciple, and the ir newestbookHowDid ThatHappen?:HoldingPeopleAccountableforR e su lt s th e Positive, Pri nci pledWay, due ou t in Au co-authorof the inter nationalbestsellerCr eatingEx cel lenc eand ot her busi ne ss e Oz Pri ncipleby RogerConnors, TomSmithand 199 4, 2004by RogerConnors,TomSmithandCr ai g Hick ed by arrangementwithPortfolio,a memberof the PenguinGroup(USA) Inc.

8 234 pages,$24. 95, ISBN1-59 184 -024 copyrigh t 2009by Soundview ExecutiveBookSummaries, ,1-800-SUMMARY,1-610-558 -949 r addi tional info rmation on the authors,go to visit ht bli sh ed by Soundview Executive BookSummaries(ISSN 0747-2196), Box 1053, Concordville, PA 19331 USA, adivi sio n of Co nce ntrat ed Know ledge Corp. pti ons: $209 per year in the United State s, CanadaandMex ico , and $2 95 to all ot her count rie s. Periodicalspostagepaid at Concordville,Pa., and additionalof fice mast er :Sen d addres s changesto Soundvi ew, P. O. Box 1053, Concordville,PA 19331. Copyr ight 2008 by SoundviewExecutiveBook Summa ries .Ava il ab le formats:Summ arie s are av ai lable in print, audi o and elec tr onic subscribe,call us at 1-800-SUMMARY(610-558-9495outside the United Statesand Can ada), or orde r on the Inte rne t at ple-subscriptiondiscountsand corporatesite licensesare also cca S.

9 Clement, Publisher;SarahT. Dayt on, Edit or in Chief;AndrewClancy, SeniorEditor;EdwardO Nei ll, GraphicDesigner;ChrisLauer, ContributingEditor1- 800 -SUMMA RYser vice @su mma ry. comthe ac coun ta bili ty quest ion posed byTheOzPrinciple: What else can I do to operateAbov e The Line andac hiev e th e desi red re sults? When people do that, th eylear n the se cre t to ge tting better res ults , faster and mor ecost ef fec tive ly. As the performanceand expectationbar con tin ue s to rise , so doe s the effort it takes to cle arthe atti tude of acco unt abilit y lies at the core of an yeffort to impro ve quality , sat isfy cus tomer s, empow erpe opl e, build tea ms, create ne w pr oduc ts, maxim izeeffectiv en es s and ge t res ult s. Whetheryou confron t yo urow n sel f- dimin ish ing at titudes in your small sta rtu penterprise or in th e manage me nt ranks of a Fortun e 500fi rm, you can not expe ct to cre ate a bett er futur e unles syou beg in to take the tim e and find the courageto getAbov e Th e Lin e.

10 GettingStuc k in the VictimCycleImagi ne a li ne be tween acc ount abilit y and victimiza-ti on that se para te s ris ing abov e your cir cumstances to getthe res ul ts yo u wan t from falling into the victim cyc lewhere yo u can eas ily get stuck. Ne ither indiv iduals noror ganiz atio ns ca n stay on the line bet ween these twore alms beca us e ev ents will ine xor ably work to pu shthe m Bel ow Th e Line. Whi le bot h people and organiza-ti ons can exhi bi t acc ount abi li ty in some situationsyetmani fest victi m be havior in other s, som e issue or cir -cumstance will prom pt the m to think an d act eitherAbov e Th e Lin e or Below The n the stro ng es t com mitmentto acc ountabilitywillnot prev ent yo u fro m falling Below The Li ne at oneti me or ano the e an d orga nizationsoper ating Below Th e Lineconsci ous ly or unc onsci ously avoid ac countabilityforre sults.