I heard a concept the other day that I really like. It was in the context of an organization. The leader of the organization shared with me that when he assigns a task out to another staff member, he’ll wait a day or two, and then come to them and ask, “Do you own this?”
When you own something, you take care of the details. You think through the results of actions. You take responsibility for the entire job (or whatever). Nobody has to check up on you to see if you’ve remembered details.
I want to “own” things I’m responsible for. Of course there’s other things that I DON’T own, I’m just helping with. But the stuff where “the buck stops at Adam,” I want to “own” those things — in the sense of responsibility, not necessarily in task.
i agree with you. you know, a friend of mine just told me the other day, that you don’t get anywhere just going. i KNOW that i KNOW that i won’t be doing anything in music for a career. however, i play bass guitar in church, and french horn at school. should i be allowed to blow those things off just because they don’t apply to the rest of my life? I DONT THINK SO! this is a problem for me. i dont want to do it. but i have to. i want to OWN IT. i want to have that reputation that i put my all into something when i commit myself.
de veras
the other side of that is actually allowing people to own things under you.
when they make a mistake and mess up, let them (the owner) clean it up–if they need help, they’ll ask!
1. hand it off.
2. verify they picked up the ownership of the event.
3. GET OUT OF THE WAY!
let the owner own it. When you bought your first car, did the old owner keep coming back to drive the car? what would you have said if they did?
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good point on ownership Adam! very nice. that’s been on my mind for the past few weeks as well!
Both good points (Adam’s and Nathan’s) and very useful to me right now. I’m learning how to be the “boss” and head of a not for profit organization/program without coming across as a boss. But I really like the idea of “owning it.” I want this place to succeed, so I need to do everything within my power to get things done, but I also need to realize there are people under me who have wisdom and advice.
Something that comes to my mind about ownership…
If you don’t give the person the tools they need so that they can own the project, then they will be destined to fail.
So, while I agree that getting volunteers to own their position, if the leadership doesn’t enable them with the all of the tools or the authority to accomplish the job, then they will never truly “own it.”