Accountability in a metal fabrication company starts at the top

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Too often, people use “accountability” as an excuse for yelling, talking down to an employee, or even just being mean. Accountability is not just about correcting those who fall short. It’s also about recognizing and rewarding those who do what they say they will do and behave in ways the organization values. Having accountability is earning the reward or consequence for doing or not doing what has been agreed on in advance.

Accountability shouldn’t involve finger-pointing, offering opinions about how this or that employee refuses to work or do a job right, and leaders shouldn’t ignore the problems either, or pretend they don’t exist. Accountability issues can fester and, if left unchecked, can hinder company growth and even destroy an otherwise healthy shop culture.

So, how does a metal fabricator build a culture of accountability? Step 1, learn to recognize an often-overlooked truth: Ensuring accountability is a management skill, one that—like any other skill in manufacturing—must be learned, practiced, and perfected.

When Accountability Is Lacking

Let’s begin with a fable about a small fabricator. Acme Fab is about 25 years old and was a small operation until about eight years ago. At that point, the owner (Bill) brought on a general manager (Tom). Bill realized the operation could be five to 10 times bigger and more profitable—he just needed more help to get there.

As Bill took a passive role managing, he focused on sales and maintaining customer relationships. Tom began by evaluating his managerial staff and soon realized things needed to change—starting with Joe.

As production manager, Joe (a good friend of Bill) saw himself as a people-oriented manager valuable to the business. Even so, Joe failed to hold his press brake and welders accountable for quality and on-time completion of tasks. This wreaked havoc and spread confusion throughout the shop.

When Tom began to coach Joe, Bill stepped in and would say things like, “Joe has a good heart. He’s been with me from the beginning. He’s too valuable, and if you get him angry, he might quit.”

Tom, not wanting to ruffle Bill’s feathers, backed off. Predictably, problems escalated. An inspector, fed up with complaining and nothing being done, quit since Joe was not holding a welder accountable for poor results and increased rework. Several customers called Tom to complain about late shipments, out-of-spec parts, and a general reduction in quality. To top it off, the controller said she was ready to quit because Joe didn’t follow directions, was late with timecards, and didn’t follow the purchasing and expense policy. This put more work on the controller, which had its own ripple effects—like several employees having errors on their paychecks.

This fable comes from real examples fabricators face. It shows why many good employees leave a company and customers find other vendors. What is remarkable is that these problems are relatively easy to fix—if the leader has the courage to let managers manage and replace the ones who don’t.

Managers often lack management training. They need to know about the importance of certain details, like accurate timecards and the penalties for off-the-clock work with hourly employees. They also need to be trained to deal with problematic employees. These skills don’t just come naturally.

Key Concepts of Accountability

Accountability begins at the top of an organization. Managers must be trained so they know not only what to do but how to do it. Consider an example from the fable, teaching Joe how to have a performance discussion with the welder. Joe might feel uncomfortable or unsure, which is understandable. After all, Joe hasn’t had a day of management training in his life. To help Joe learn the right way to handle this kind of employee problem, Joe participates in a meeting where Tom models the correct managerial behavior and addresses the performance concerns with the welder, so Joe can see how it is done.

After the interaction, Tom asks Joe questions: What did you see about the way I handled the discussion that would help you in similar situations? Was there some part of what I asked the welder that made you feel uncomfortable? In these follow-up discussions, Tom can coach Joe and help him feel more confident handling situations like this in the future. Tom can even say to Joe, “Let me pretend to be the welder; now, you have the same conversation with me and let’s see how it goes.” After the practice, they can discuss what went well and what needs a bit more work.

Managers must be comfortable coaching and conducting effective discussions about employee performance and behavior. They also shouldn’t overlook behavioral issues, which if ignored can break down morale and fester throughout the organization. Think of recent examples of prominent leaders who lost jobs and damaged companies because of harassment or other behavioral issues. Often, this was not the first time this kind of behavior occurred.

Managers themselves need to have clear behavioral and performance expectations that don’t just involve financial and production goals. Do they properly exercise managerial responsibilities? For instance, do they set performance and behavioral expectations and conduct regular and effective one-on-one discussions? Do they coach employees and give them timely, frank feedback, both positive and negative, and detail corrective action? Do they build cohesive teams? Do they develop people and build a deeper bench of talent?

Imagine how well Acme Fab’s welder might have performed if he were given clear expectations on the quality, quantity, and timeliness of his work. Imagine if he had been given prompt feedback the first time he did a less-then-acceptable welding job and was coached on the importance of quality the first time. Imagine further if the welder didn’t improve, and his manager took corrective action, such as offer additional training.

Failing to address performance and behavioral shortcomings communicates the wrong message in a very strong way: Poor performance or behavior is OK. But how many other employees watched the poor performance or behavior and then quit? How many customers were lost?

Managers must receive feedback in regular and formal one-on-ones, ideally held at weekly or biweekly intervals. They must see their leaders model behavior they are expected to perform. Remember, one-on-ones are for the employee, not the manager, and they’re not for the manager to just “check in” and see if projects are on track.

Managers can’t be allowed to continue mismanaging a team without consequences. Those managers who can’t or won’t meet expectations cannot remain in the role. At the same time, managers and employees who do the right things should be recognized and rewarded.

Management Practice

Role playing can be an essential tool here. Try having managers practice managing someone with less-than-acceptable performance in carefully crafted role-playing exercises. A part might be out of spec, a shipment might be delayed, or timecards might have errors or be late.

Imagine a role-playing exercise at Acme Fab. As part of the practice, Joe plays the role of the welder he manages, and Tom role-plays his supervisor (Joe’s current role). Joe sees how easily the supervisor asks open-ended questions to learn why the problem occurred, addresses his responses, and redirects the employee to focus on solutions. The supervisor is there to help, not assign blame, yet still addresses the problems and identifies steps (and a timeline) to solve them. He can’t simply pretend the problem doesn’t exist and just hope it will go away on its own.

Take Time to Learn

Managing people is a skill to be learned, much like welding. Every employee has a life cycle that starts with recruiting and hiring and ends with termination (voluntary or involuntary) or retirement. All stages require specific skills that good managers need to have:

• Interviewing and screening candidates.
• Onboarding the employee so that they learn about the company, the culture and values, their job, and the customers they serve.
• Setting performance expectations. Typically, this is much more detailed than the job description, such expectations must include both quantity and quality components.
• Conducting regular, effective one-on-ones.
• Coaching and providing feedback to keep the employee on track doing the right work.
• Evaluating performance and salary management.
• Promoting, documenting, disciplining, and demoting.
• Effectively handling leaves of absence, disputes with other employees, and career development discussions.
• Directing safety management, including how to conduct reasonable suspicion testing.
• Terminating the employee when necessary.

Welders don’t become competent after just one or two classes, and the same applies to managers. Management is a skill and, like any skill, it takes time to learn. Half- or full-day classes held monthly over a year or more aren’t unusual. Class schedules should allow time to practice new skills between sessions. Classwork would cover the law (like implications of timecard errors and working off the clock) and company policies, but also delve into building rapport and tackling employee problems where, again, carefully crafted role-playing can help.

Welders practice to learn and improve, and managers must be given time to do the same. Without practice, any newly acquired skill is soon forgotten, especially when it comes to the nuances that make managers more effective.

Accountable Management at Acme Fab

Back to the fable, imagine if both Bill (the owner) and Tom (the GM) agreed to meet with Joe (the problematic supervisor). They would present what they expected from all managers at Acme Fab and ask—without judgment—if he’d accept those expectations. If not, he could step back into a welding role or leave the company with a modest severance plan in appreciation for his years of service.

To do this effectively, Bill and Tom put everything in context. They explained how his behavior affected the business and the team—the poor quality from the welder on his team, the trouble with time sheets, and all the ripple effects. Joe realized he had let down Bill, his team, and himself. He said he didn’t want his guys angry with him and that, truthfully, he didn’t know how to effectively handle these situations, but he was willing to learn.

From here, Bill hired a consultant and began regular (and mandatory) training classes, not just for Joe but for all managers. These comprised several half days per month, spaced to allow trainees time to apply the new skill. Again, to maintain or improve any skill, everyone needs practice—no matter how proficient they may be.

After the first class, Tom and Bill noticed Joe change almost immediately. Joe applied what he had learned. He set clear performance expectations for each welder, and in weekly one-on-ones gave each welder feedback on what they did well and what they needed to improve. Often, that meant going to a bench and showing the welder a way to improve by watching Joe or another welder with better technique.

Joe noticed something else: Welders were helping each other. A welder would identify a part not welded correctly, and he or she would work with the co-worker who needed help. All this fostered an environment where quality mattered and where people took pride in their work. Eventually, Joe set up welding classes to help welders improve their skills and earn new certifications.

Overall company results were improving, too. Production efficiencies were high, scrap levels dropped, and morale was noticeably better. People seemed to enjoy their jobs more. Customers also called to say product quality was much higher and orders were on time. Financially, expenses were down and profits were up, so much so that Bill and Tom began looking to acquire another fabricator in an adjacent state.

Look in the Mirror

My son, who served in the Navy for 22 years, once said that if a ship runs aground, the captain, first officer, and top enlisted personnel are fired and replaced by a new leadership team, who are quickly flown onto the ship.

Consider an incident that occurred with the U.S.S. Connecticut in 2021. According to an ABC News report: The Navy has fired the top three leaders who were aboard the attack submarine U.S.S. Connecticut when it struck an uncharted sea mountain in the Pacific Ocean in early October. The commander of the Navy’s Seventh Fleet relieved the commanding officer of the submarine, Cmdr. Cameron Aljilani; the executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Cashin; and the top enlisted sailor, Master Chief Sonar Technician Cory Rodgers, “due to loss of confidence,” according to a Navy statement.

That may seem harsh, especially if the captain was not on the bridge, but the Navy says the captain’s job is to ensure the crew is properly trained, supervised, and are able to do the job. Whatever good or bad happens on the ship, the captain gets the credit or the blame. The first officer lost his job as did the top enlisted sailor. They were both in a position to take command and make critical decisions, but they didn’t. In that way, they all contributed to the accident.

Apply the Navy approach to Acme or any business. If you’re an owner, what changes can you make to ensure you set the right example, have policies in place, and ensure the management team is trained and is accountable for the results and performance of their teams? Also, don’t hesitate to hire a Tom (the experienced GM) to manage day-to-day operations. For this to be effective, though, you must allow the GM to manage without interference. As an owner, you need to avoid the temptation to step back in and do things the old way.

As the Michael Jackson song, “Man in the Mirror,” says: I’m starting with the man in the mirror; I’m asking him to change his ways. Let’s be honest—many owners in metal fabrication lack management skills. Outside coaching can help them determine their current skill level, the level they need to be able to lead the accountability change initiative, identify the management skills gap, and determine the best way to close it.