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| DESCRIPTION | |
| When it's lacking: - People are told what to do -- instead of being expected to make their own decisions and judgment calls. - Employees are routinely going to management to get clearance, permission, and sign-offs. - Management seems to be in the meddling business. They sporadically get involved in work processes without adding value. - Change is done for employees (bad) or to employees (worse). - Most decisions are made by a small minority of people. - Information is parceled out only to those who "need to know." |
When it's thriving: + People view themselves as owners of their work and act accordingly. + The people who do the work shape how that work is done. They are the ones who own the process. + Change is done by people. Co-creation is the method of choice for setting direction, developing ideas, and seizing opportunities. + Everyone is kept in the information loop -- as co-owners should be. Virtually all information (excluding select items like personnel records) is available to all employees. |
| EXAMPLES |
| After four years working in operations at a bindery company, Kevin knew every nuance
of every machine. So did most of his co-workers, and they had specific ideas for
making things faster, cheaper, better. Problem was, management wouldn't listen --
until the company was sold. "The new owner didn't know much about the technical
parts of our business, thank goodness," he says. "We went to him with all
these ideas, and he just kind of said, 'Heck, sounds good to me. Go for it.' And
we did." The skeptics predicted chaos, Kevin says, but things unfolded smoothly.
"It works great when you just let people take ownership. They'll do amazing
things." In her work as a grief counselor for a hospice organization, Becky's mission is to bring peace and serenity to people during the most trying times of their lives. The job itself carries enormous stress -- and then there is management. Becky recalls a typical example: "There were about 50 of us who worked for the organization, and we were together for a staff meeting when one of the managers stands up and says, 'Starting this week, you'll be using this new time sheet.' We just sort of looked around at each other and said, 'Excuse me?'" Employees knew the old time sheet wasn't adding any value, she explains, but a better approach would have been to have front-line folks develop their own form. "I guarantee it -- we would've developed a time sheet that wasn't just a waste of paper. But they never asked us." The date: December 23. Debbie and her colleagues were working feverishly to fill orders at an appliance superstore. Most of the products were sold on-site and either taken home by customers or delivered by truck the next day. Then an out-of-the-ordinary phone order came in: Debbie needed to send a stereo via express mail so it would arrive in time for Christmas. She took the order, hung up the phone, did the necessary paperwork -- then discovered that the person in charge of mailing had the day off. Fine, she said, give me the shipping materials so I can do it myself. The response: Sorry, but that's not your job. You'll have to wait for him to come in tomorrow. Her response: If we send the stereo tomorrow, it'll arrive after Christmas. "I was so frustrated," Debbie recalls. "I realized just how narrow my job really was. I wanted to take charge, but they wouldn't let me." Clay and his co-workers at a printing plant spent every day wringing their hands. Everyone knew that the company faced serious financial difficulties -- according to one common figure, losses totaled $5,000 each day. Yet the two owners shut their ears to improvement suggestions from employees. "We had incredible ideas for turning that place around, but it was always us against them, right down to the last day," Clay recalls. "It was just so frustrating, knowing how to save the ship without actually being able to save the ship." |
| ACTION IDEAS |
| A lot of the business literature says that "management owns the process."
Toss out this industrial-era relic -- and start thinking of managers and all other
employees as co-owners. How you (and others) think will largely define how you act.
As long as we think of managers as having a monopoly on the processes, nothing will
come of our efforts to foster a wide sense of ownership. Widely open the information loop. Nearly everything should be available to everyone (except, of course, personnel files and other legally restricted items). People need information to make decisions. More information almost always translates into better decisions. The next time a colleague approaches you seeking "the answer" to a problem, bounce back the question: "What do you think should be done?" This workplace ritual results from our worst please-the-boss tendencies, and it's no way to foster ownership. If you yourself feel the go-to-the-boss urge, hold back and make the decision yourself. Better yet, round up a few colleagues, talk about the situation, and reach a group consensus. Develop organizational expertise in chartering teams. A one- or two-page charter, thoughtfully constructed by the team sponsor, is arguably the single most important tool for getting a team started. It gives direction, commits resources, notes any boundaries and constraints, and spells out up front exactly what the team is empowered to do. Routinely think in terms of co-creation -- involving large cross-sections of employees in the development of new systems, plans, direction, initiatives, improvements, and so forth. Yes, it takes longer, and it can be daunting when so many different perspectives crowd into the same room. But the gain in ownership, commitment, and resulting follow-through far outweighs the downside. Explore ways to establish co-ownership in a literal sense -- and not simply in terms of empowerment. This does not mean creating a carrot-based system of extrinsic rewards. Worth investigating: stock ownership, profit-sharing, gainsharing, and partnership. |
| Copyright 1998-2002 by Tom Terez and Tom Terez Workplace Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 21444, Columbus, Ohio USA 43221-0444. Tel. 614-571-9529..mail@BetterWorkplaceNow.com HOME | 10-Minute Briefing | Free Online Tools | Insight and Inspiration | Laugh and Learn | Buzzword Bingo | Kits, Books, and Tools | Keynotes and Services | Meet Tom Terez | Tell a Friend | Bronze Access |
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