They got one eye watching you

I was a stationery freak as a kid (I was probably a freak in other regards as well, but for the purposes of this entry, let's stick to stationery). My thirst for new pencils, pens, notebooks, binders, markers, post-its, and the like was unquenchable. Despite the well-stocked closets in our garage, I would invariably find myself standing in a checkout line at Target trying to convince my mom why a particular pen was nothing like what we had at home. Needless to say, these were in the class of "debates" that I had lost long before they had even begun.

This time of year, back-to-school season, was always one of my favorites. Our school used to send home a list of suggested school supplies and suddenly, I could point to a host of things I "needed" -- and they were all on sale! I learned early on, however, that this list was not a creed of any sort in the eyes of my parents. The list, frankly, had no authority. If I didn't own the items on this list, it wasn't going to call up my parents and blame them for any sort of failure.

It was in the fourth grade that I finally stumbled upon a trick that promised to work every time. Instead of handing my mom a list with questionable validity, I instead marked it up by circling items that my teacher had "asked" us to have (usually just suggested, but a minor detail). For example, when I said that Ms. Pittock wanted us to have three colored pens and a 3-inch binder, not 2, not 4, my request was much more compelling. My mom agreed almost every time.

It was in my high school Psychology class that I first heard the term "social loafing." The idea that people will put less effort into a group task than an individual one because the former does not afford for pointing blame. Tug-of-war is the conventional example for this one. Even if a couple people on your team are not tugging as hard as they possibly can, you will never be able to identify them in the case that your team loses. (Note: Not my team. Your team. My team always wins).

I have been a part of a number of performing dance groups throughout the years. Before any performance, especially in my youth, I was reminded why loafing wasn't an option. That at any given point, there would be at least two sets of eyes watching me (the number of group performances that my father has filmed zoomed in only on me is a testament to this). Especially when everyone is supposed to be doing the exact same move at the exact same time, it's very easy to identify when one person slips up. And unfortunately, mistakes always garner audience attention. Sometimes more than when you're doing it right (a topic for another time).

Junior year of college, I moved into a house with seven other girls. I think we can all agree that living with seven other people, no matter what, is bound to have its issues. Ours was the diffusion of responsibility. Simple as that. Our shared spaces constantly looked as if they had been hit by hurricanes (a sink overflowing with dishes, a living room that was partied out). The problem was not that the house was messy; the problem was that each person could point the blame on someone else. And nobody ever knew who was right. Most girls also like to tiptoe around others' feelings. Not all, just most.

I am slightly embarrassed to say that the solution to our problem was inspired by a house of five boys. They had posted their list of chores on their fridge. Each time someone completed one, he simply put his name next to the chore with the date. When you're looking at a row with the same name over and over, it becomes pretty obvious who does things my friend, one of these five, explained. And of course, it forced the loafers to stop loafing. My

house adapted this method and saw almost immediate improvement (we had no success metrics, but I'm confident the change was statistically significant). Sometimes, it takes putting a reputation on the line to ensure success.

Last week during our bike ride, my friend's dad revealed to me the secret to Weight Watchers' success. In principle, it's nothing new. It's your average diet. Where it leaps ahead is the weekly check-ins. You are strict with yourself because you know that you have to report to someone and get weighed on a weekly basis. We all have some extent of will-power. But knowing that just one other person will assess your progress makes you exponentially more accountable.

Realizing the power in delegating goes a long way in the "real world" so to speak. While throughout undergraduate life, my output -- be it my essay, my problem set, or my exam responses -- was all that mattered, I'm beginning to see that in corporate structures, there is very little that you can accomplish all by yourself. Everything is a team effort. And that's not necessarily a bad thing if you know how to navigate and more importantly, how to diminish the capacity for loafing. It's about tapping the specific people you want on your team and giving each member ownership in some way or another. Engaging and empowering others. And somewhere along the way, you start becoming a good leader. Given, of course, nuances such as allowance for failure following due diligence and the assumption that everyone is working towards the same end goal.

Personally, this has been a difficult mindset shift for me, but it's nothing revolutionary. From a formalized version of the dilemma ("tragedy of the commons") to informal unspoken rules of modern society (copying multiple people on an email is more likely to garner a response from the main recipient), the power of accountability has been around forever and is here to stay. And if it means I get to use some colorful post-its and pens to list out and assign tasks every now and then, I guess I can't complain.

Writing this post has made me quite nostalgic of academic life. So I'll end with a high-brow literary reference: What's in a name? Everything (all due respect, Mr. Shakespeare, sir).