Page 26 - Business Coaching #11 - JUN 2021

THE EMPLOYEE IS
IN THE DRIVING
SEAT
TAMSIN VINE, Group SVP People Development at Sodexo
London, England, United Kingdom
In the last few years there has been a lot of
debate about the use of the notion of ac-
countability in business.
Discussions on accountability tend to focus
on processes that support or account for
performance.
Personally, I think sometimes we miss an im-
portant dimension of accountability, which
is rendering it meaningless - the notion of
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accountability “to whom” and here’s where I
argue the notion of “accountability to self”.
At Sodexo, we have built this idea into our
approach to development, engagement and
performance, giving employees the frame-
work in which to own their performance and
contribution to the business and empower-
ing them to be in the driver’s seat of their per-
sonal development..
You may have heard the expression “you
can lead the horse to water,
but you can’t make it drink”
and that’s entirely true. You can create the
most incredible workplace, reward processes
and development programs, but if they don’t
resonate with the employee and what they
need to be successful, or the employee
has no control or accountability for these
experiences, the investment will not bring
the intended return.
This is a significant shift for organisations
who typically have carried accountability
for employee experience and performance.
Consider the classic engagement surveys;