When I moved from a business where I was the responsible one, to where I was the accountable one.

And it was a shock, I can tell you.

I got myself offered a great promotion, as a result of some big-time management shuffling at the top and a restructure. It was a big business and a very big change in culture for me.

Think country bumpkin to big city. It was like 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' - and more.

After six months I was exhausted and crawled back to my boss to admit defeat. I wanted out and back to where I was comfortable.

He was having none of that and, (very nicely and very firmly), pushed me back into the frying pan - it was that hot!

Then, one day, a realisation struck me.

I was managing things, not people.

In fact, I was the doer of much of the stuff in the business and not managing my people to do the stuff they were eminently qualified to do.

Immediately, I spent time developing the capabilities of my people, investing time in them rather than doing all the jobs myself.

And things started to turn around.

This brings me to the difference between 'accountable' and 'responsible'.

Whilst I had the energy and capacity in a much smaller business, I could keep each plate spinning myself. I was responsible for all of it and the often much of the 'doing' too. I worked hard and could cope with it.

When the business became much bigger, I found out that I couldn't do it all any more.

Whilst I was accountable for the performance of my business, it became time to give away responsibility to others, with support.

Firmly and fairly, I gave away the 'doing' and let them get on with it. I told them the 'what' and let them have the 'how', within a few rules we agreed.

It was sure a tough learning for me and, well, if I could, you can too.

A corner was truly turned.

Martin Haworth

Thanks for taking a look at me! I work with people to help them realise their potential and make the most of their life. I also help managers to get the very best from their people, to make their businesses, teams, departments, whatever, to be successful.

Usually this is through my 'Coaching Managers to Coach' workshops, delivered worldwide, which includes experiential and hot-seat coaching for all participants - a great, fun learning experience. Click the big green link panel on any of the website pages!

There are over 1000 hints and tips, and that doesn't include the blog, which is updated pretty well daily, if not more often!

With a background in team management of groups from 6-300 and a great ICF coaching accreditation, I reckon I'm almost unique in my experience and training to make this work for you.

So take a look, checkout my other articles and maybe even set the blog page as a favourite:-) And, you know, if you want to get in touch, give me a call. I'll talk about almost anything, but I love helping people make the best of their workplace. Or e-mail me through the contact page on the site.

Ooops, I nearly forgot, I do manager soft-skills analysis with a programme called 'Intercept' and if you just want some one-to-one business coaching, I do that too. There's also a button on the navigation bar on the website pages for that too.

Fees, well, let me see, can I say that we can work something out? That's the way I work.

Thanks for happening by!

Martin