• Spend some time reading journal articles which discuss quality issues both within your own and other organizations.
• Choose one or two of the books listed below to read on quality and standards.

Recommended Reference Books

• The Power of Personal Accountability: Achieve What Matters to You; (2004) by Mark Samuel and Sophie Chiche; Xephor - Presenting a structured approach, case studies, and exercises in a highly motivating manner, this book will help you learn from leading authorities in the human potential movement to be accountable for your own success.
• Managing By Accountability: What Every Leader Needs to Know about Responsibility, Integrity and Results; (2007) by M. David Dealy and Andrew R. Thomas; Greenwood Publishing - Using stories from front line experiences and examples from successful leaders, this book demonstrates how leaders who embark on a management philosophy of personal accountability imbue their organizations with qualities of integrity and responsibility.
• Accountability Leadership: How to Strengthen Productivity Through Sound Managerial Leadership; (2001) by Gerald A Kraines; Career Press, Inc. - The book's author presents a radical and revisionist point of view in support of hierarchy and accountability as tools to boost organizational productivity.
• Winning with Accountability: The Secret Language Of High-Performing Organizations; (2008) by Henry J. Evans; CornerStone Leadership Institute - Taking you step-by-step through various methods and tools you can use to help achieve your objectives, this book offers experienced guidance to you, your colleagues and your team to reach new levels of excellence and success.
• The Accountable Leader: Developing Effective Leadership Through Managerial Accountability; (2008) by Brian Dive; Kogan Page - Combining detailed guidance and international case studies with proven insight and practical summaries, this focused book gives you an effective blueprint for successful leadership in your company.
• Beyond Planning: Creating a Strategy that Promotes Alignment, Agility, and Accountability; (2005) by American Productivity & Quality Center; APQC - By examining organizations that are sustained by performance measurement systems and all-level accountability, this unique report details how they create and maintain business strategies that enable quick adaptability and provide a proven path for growth.
• Creating the Accountable Organization: A Practical Guide To Performance Execution; (2006) by Mark Samuel; Xephor - Written for leaders and change agents at any level within an organization who are ready to move to the next level of excellence and success, this practical book offers strategies and techniques for increasing both individual and shared accountability.
• Accountability: Freedom and Responsibility Without Control; (2002) by Rob Lebow and Randy Spitzer; Berrett-Koehler Publishers - Provides practical guidelines for transforming control-based operations into freedom-based work environments where managers take on the new role of Wise Counsels and employees design and fully own their jobs.
• The Accountable Organization: Reclaiming Integrity, Restoring Trust; (2004) by John Marchica; Consulting Psychologists Press - This book shows how to identify an organization's values and purpose, integrate them into a strategic plan, and develop a focused road map for execution that provides clarity, defines performance standards, and much more.
• The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything; (2006) by Stephen R. Covey; Free Press
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; (1999) by Stephen Covey; Simon and Schuster
• Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ; (1996) by Daniel Goleman; Bantam Books
• Emotional Intelligence at Work; (1998) by Hendrie Weisinge; Jossey Bass Inc.
• In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life; (1994) by R. Kegan; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Recommended Skill Briefs (available through UNSkillport.com)

• Personal Accountability: Learn about the characteristics of personal accountability.
• Identifying Ways to Establish Authority and Accountability: Learn to establish authority and accountability successfully.
• The Accountability of Managers: Learn how consistency helps ensure employee accountability.
• Dealing with Accountability Issues: Learn to develop leaders within your own team.
• Your Inner Boss in Action: Explore the concept of possessing an inner boss.
• Planning to Put Your Inner Boss in Charge: Explore how to win validation of your accountability plan.
• Your Inner Boss and the Real World: Learn to avoid conflicts between personal and organizational values.
• Meeting Your Inner Boss: Explore the concept of possessing an inner boss.
• Performance Review with Your Inner Boss: Learn how to present a self-assessment.

Other Reference Books

• Putting Total Quality Management to Work (1993) by M. Sahkin and K.J. Kiser published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Assessing Business Excellence: A Guide to Self-Assessment (1996) by L.J. Porter and S.J. Tanner published by Butterworth-Heinemann
• In Search for Excellence (1991) by T. Peters and R.H. Waterman published by Harper Collins
• Trust in the Balance: Building Successful Organizations on Results Integrity and Concern (1997) by R.B. Shaw published by Jossey-Bass
• El Arte De Gestionar Y Planificar En Equipo (1989) W.A. Randolph and B.Z. Posner published by Grijalbo (Spanish)
• L'excellence; une Valeur Pervertie by B. Ouvry-Vial published by Collection Autrement (French)
• Organization et Motivation by P. Morin published by Organization (French)