Latest / Daily Influence / 808. You Can't Demand Ownership Without Giving It

Transcript

808. You Can't Demand Ownership Without Giving It · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And make us part of your Daily routine, whether it's during your commute, on a walk, or an quiet momentous for you, because you're influenced matters.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, everybody, Brian Smith here with the Iron Team series and your daily influence.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there is something that I hear from business owners and leaders a lot these days.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Actually, it's not just these days, it's been a lot for a long time.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe even as long as I've been an advisor, I might have even said these things.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That statement is, I just wish my people would take more ownership.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Owners want employees to take initiative, solve problems, make decisions, be accountable, and stop waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I can understand the frustration, I am a delegator to a fault, so I want them to do these things.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I understand that there's going to be problems, mistakes, and issues, but that's how they learn.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But whenever I hear that from our clients,
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's another question I think leaders need to ask.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have we actually given people something they can all?
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because we can't tell someone they're responsible for an outcome, and then require them to ask permission for every decision necessary to achieve it.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can't withhold information and expect good decisions.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can't punish every mistake and then wonder why people stop taking risks.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we can't insist that everything be done exactly the way we would do it and still call it ownership.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: If we want people to take ownership, leadership has to be willing to give some ownership away.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So look one of the easiest things for an organization to do is assign responsibility.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: you are responsible for this department, you are responsible for this customer, you're responsible for hitting these numbers.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, but what decisions can that person actually make?
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: What authority do they have?
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: What resources can they access?
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: What happens when something doesn't go according to plan?
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because if I give you responsibility for an outcome, but retain authority over every decision required to produce that outcome, I'm not really giving you ownership.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm creating responsibility without authority.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And eventually, that becomes frustrating for everyone.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: The leader becomes frustrated because the employee isn't showing enough initiative.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: The employee becomes frustrated because every time they show initiative, they're told they need approval.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then we wonder why people start saying, just tell me what you want me to do.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we unknowingly train people to stop taking ownership.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's why accountability has to work in both directions.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I'm going to hold you accountable for an outcome, I also have a responsibility to make sure you have the appropriate authority, information, resources, and support to achieve it.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, giving an ownership doesn't mean a abandoning management.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean everybody gets to do whatever they want.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Actually, I would argue the opposite.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: The more autonomy you give someone,
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do we try to accomplish?
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: What does success look like?
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: What are the boundaries?
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: What decisions can you make independently?
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you need to involve someone else?
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what resources are available?
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And how will we measure the result?
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: These are all management questions.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there are a big part of what we're trying to accomplish through smart management.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Good management shouldn't create dependency on the manager.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It should create enough clarity that people can make good decisions without the manager constantly being in the room.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a significant difference between control and clarity.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Control says come back to me before you do anything.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Clarity says, here's the objective, here are the boundaries, here's what you're responsible for, now go do what you do best.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: This may be the hardest part for some leaders.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you genuinely give someone ownership, they may not do things exactly the way you would.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that should be okay.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the foundational ideas behind the Iron Team series is that every individual brings something different to the team.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We think differently.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We communicate differently.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: We process information differently.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: We solve problems differently.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's something I've seen repeatedly through our work with tools like Colby and Disc, but you don't need an assessment to recognize it.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I give someone responsibility and then constantly correct them because their method isn't my method, eventually they're going to stop trying their method.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm back to having someone wait for me to tell them what to do.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Leadership has to learn to separate the outcome from our personal preference about how the outcome is achieved.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, they're standards.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are policies, there are ethical boundaries.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are times when the process itself matters, but there are also many situations where there are multiple ways to reach the right outcome.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: If we're serious about developing people, we have to allow them to think.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to allow them to make decisions, and occasionally, we have to allow them to make mistakes.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because ownership isn't something we can demand from people, it's something we have to create the conditions for.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So here's something I'd encourage you to think about today.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: consider one person on your team who you wish would take more ownership.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Before you ask what they need to change, ask yourself a few questions.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have I clearly defined what they're responsible for?
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do they have the authority necessary to accomplish it?
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do they have the information and resources they need?
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do they know where the boundaries are?
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And perhaps most importantly, am I willing to let them accomplish the objective differently than I would?
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because if we want people to become accountable, confident decision makers, we can't create an environment where every decision still has to come back to us.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not ownership, that's dependency.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And good leadership isn't about creating more people who depend on the leader.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's about developing people who understand their influence, except responsibility for it, and have the confidence to use it positively and responsibly.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't demand ownership without being willing to give it.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is Brian Smith with the I&TM series, and this has been your daily influence.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Listen to us every day and don't forget to visit us and sign up for our newsletter.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have a great day.