Everybody is accountable to somebody. In the workplace, this means that every one of us, regardless of what we do, are responsible for delivering something to somebody. Earlier we discussed the idea of developing community and fostering teamwork, and that was more about the relationships that we have with each other. This point is more about our actions, and the deliverables that we have to each other.

Even if your job is in Customer Service, and your primary focus is on helping customers, you still have internal customers that you are accountable to. Maybe it is getting your timesheets into the payroll department, or sharing your productivity information with management, or passing on feedback to other departments as needed. I work in Training and Development, and my internal customers not only include various workgroups that need to have something trained, but also various other training professionals and most importantly the learners that are participants in my training programs.

The first thing that we need to understand about this is that even though this is different than the "Develop Community" point, I would like to point out how supporting internal customers works best when you have a strong sense of community. Regardless, supporting internal customers must be a high priority purpose because it is what makes the whole operation run smoothly. If the payroll person is having to wait around for timesheets, then they will have moments of inefficiency, and will then have to work extra hard in order to push everything through once they have what they need.

This brings up several interesting points regarding how we behave ourselves. First, we cannot be self-centered around what WE need all of the time. Each of us should make it a priority to make sure that we are on time with obligations to others, regardless of the personal cost. The bottom line is that you will have to make these deliverables at some point, and causing delays in the processes only slows everyone else down too.

Then as leaders and managers in our organizations we need to ask ourselves if we are creating the environment for people to meet deliverables to each other, or if we are hindering it in any way. One of your roles as a leader will be to remove obstacles that interfere with the efficiency of the organization. Take a close look right now at who all of your internal customers are, and evaluate whether those functions are running as smooth as they could be.