Ownership is not paying off a loan
"Take complete ownership of your outcomes by holding no one but yourself responsible." Gary W. Keller
I tried to explain ownership to a non-veteran the other day. It didn't sink in. This is not at all to say that all non-veterans fail to grasp the concept of ownership. Indeed, many do, but the moment gave me pause. I've been thinking about it since. The non-veteran I was talking to described a scenario where she was the leader of a group and placed in charge of seeing a project through. One of the members underestimated how much material would be needed for the project so more needed to be acquired on the spot to finish the job. The project may have missed its deadline because of this. She blamed the individual tasked with gathering the materials. Hmmm.
Ownership is taking complete responsibility for everything your team does or fails to do. That's a Rob Campbell definition but it is accurate and, indeed it describes leadership. Of course, ownership is typically explored only when failure (or potential failure) occurs - "who was in charge?" That person is the 'owner.' Even if the person responsible for gathering supplies failed in his duties to do so, she was overall responsible and it was her duty to check supplies to ensure a sufficient quantity. Seem unfair? Perhaps, but it must be that way. Without this concept, why have leaders? We could absolve ourselves of any responsibility by pinning the blame on others. This is why not everyone desires to be a leader.
"Extreme Ownership," by Joco Willink is a superb book which illustrates the concept. It seems reading it or a block of instruction on ownership would be sufficient. Maybe for some people however, Willink, indeed, most service members undergo years of leadership training and education which includes the concept of ownership. Moreover, they get to practice it under the most extreme conditions in training and combat. The non-veteran I was speaking with may or may not have had a class on it and was probably never placed in a scenario where the concept of ownership was paramount.
I took ownership of the non-veteran's lack of understanding. She wasn't a bad person, she just understood ownership as paying off a loan instead of embracing the responsibility of the entire project - every task and every person. Yikes! The moment taught me that I needed to invest more time describing it with examples and stories to ensure it sunk in and, of course, demonstrating ownership in word and deed.
I'm being facetious with the title of this blog and my description of the non-veteran's understanding of ownership. I do so only to hammer home my point - and that point is, don't assume your people understand the concepts of things like ownership, influence, emotional intelligence, and the like. Invest in them. Take ownership of their development. Always.
And get that loan paid off!
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell