Ownership, responsibility, culpability... and progress.
I once knew a leader who was enthusiastic about ensuring every goal (objective or project) had an owner and his thinking was simple — if there was no owner how could you expect anything to get done, and in the same vein, there could only be one. For him, if you had more than one owner, there was no true accountability (which in his mind was more or less like not having an owner at all).
It didn't take me long to jump on his ownership bandwagon because it's really the only way to get anything done.
And now for the rub that comes with this progressive thinking — since most things don't happen without a team of people, how do you reconcile this with the need for one owner?
You definitely need to ensure you have the right people on the team, a solid time and event schedule, the needed resources, sacrosanct operating mechanisms to ensure action is moving forward, and a solid "multi-coloured" dashboard to ensure everyone knows what's happening — all of this is solid, quantifiable, and necessary, but the reconciliation with "one and the many" comes with the words "responsibility" and "culpability", and even more subtly, the words "you" and "we".
re·spon·si·bil·i·ty [rəˌspänsəˈbilədē] NOUN — the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone
cul·pa·bil·i·ty [ˌkəlpəˈbilədē] NOUN — responsibility for a fault or wrong; blame
you [yo͞o, yə] PRONOUN — used to refer to the person or people that the speaker is addressing
we [wē] PRONOUN — used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself and one or more other people considered together
Anything you are involved with inherently needs responsibility and culpability, and if it's just you it's easy because you own all of it — and if there is more that just you then these words need to be injected into the group. Ownership is about "you" accepting responsibility and culpability for the goal (objective or project), and if there is a team behind you then that involves expanding the definition of responsibility and culpability to include everyone involved (something imperative for success) — the "you" becomes "we".
If you ever hear yourself trying to avoid "responsibility" or "culpability" then you are falling short as the owner — and if you ever hear anyone on the team trying to avoid "responsibility" or "culpability" you are also falling short, because remember, you own that too.
Ownership and Leadership... semantics if you ask me, because its true when they say, "True leadership has no title".
iamgpe
"
Articles from Graham🐝 Edwards
View blogRecently I thought I had reached a level of wisdom that I could offer thoughts on a number of things ...
Social media feeds are filled with the anticipation of a new year and all the best wishes that come ...
Recently I thought I had reached a level of wisdom that I could offer thoughts on a number of things ...
Related professionals
You may be interested in these jobs
-
Supervisor (Full-Time)
5 days ago
EightSix Network Inc Toronto, ON, Canada Full timeWe are a casual Italian restaurant concept with 4 locations across the city of Toronto. We are a neighbourhood restaurant looking to grow our team We are hiring a full-time senior server/supervisor. This is a senior role as a server, directing and leading the team in events and r ...
-
Technicien Au Centre D'appels
5 days ago
Direct apply
Autorité des marchés financiers Montréal, Canada**Votre mandat** · En collaboration avec la directrice du centre d'information et les membres de l'équipe, le titulaire de l'emploi doit: · - Informer et assister les consommateurs dans leurs relations avec les intervenants du secteur financier encadrés par l'Autorité; · - Recuei ...
-
Retail Merchandiser- Part Time
3 days ago
Direct apply
M30 Retail Services Inc. Bathurst, Canada Part timeM30 Retail Services, Inc. is a Calgary-based, forward-thinking merchandising company setting the standard as a best practices merchandiser for retail companies across Canada. Our merchandising reps are dedicated and experienced, and our goal is to provide top-notch merchandising ...
Comments
Graham🐝 Edwards
6 years ago #2
Thanks for the comment Lisa \ud83d\udc1d Gallagher
Lisa Gallagher
6 years ago #1