The Oz Principle Blog

According to sportscasters across the country, Super Bowl 2010 (XLIV) was different from the rest for one simple reason—an NFL Championship has never meant so much to a city. Monday morning after the Super Bowl, quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees told Good Morning America, “We gained so much strength from our fans, from the people of New Orleans, just knowing how much they care about us … All we’ve wanted to do is win a championship for them.” The level of ownership exhibited by the New Orleans Saints for delivering an NFL Championship to the people of New Orleans, who have been through so much hardship since hurricane Katrina, is nothing short of awe inspiring—and particularly instructive.

Ownership among a group of people for a goal, dream, result, or triumph, is a remarkably powerful force, whether in football, business, or life in general. Individuals, teams, and organizations that attain the highest levels of ownership, as exemplified by the New Orleans Saints, can achieve the impossible. So how can you and your team achieve such levels of ownership? Let’s begin with a definition of ownership. We define it as the ability to tie where you are with what you have done and where you want to be with what you are going to do. In our view, if you cannot “make the tie” then you don’t Own It. This definition includes: (1) being personally invested in the situation, (2) acknowledging your involvement, (3) creating and maintaining a sense of alignment, and (4) committing to your personal and team objectives. Think of the power your organization would have if everyone in it were fully, deeply, personally committed to achieving the desired organizational results. Personal commitment—ownership—lies at the heart of accountability and thus at the core of every Culture of Accountability. So, what level of ownership does your team or organization exhibit? Consider the following four levels of ownership and which one best describes your team or organization.

-Resist/Resent. At the lowest level of ownership, people disagree intellectually with the course of action or desired result and are not emotionally involved, at least not with positive emotions. They have committed neither their minds nor their hearts to the endeavor. People at this level of ownership do not recognize a need to change, resent being asked to do things differently, and resist efforts to move forward.

-Exempt/Excuse. People at this level of ownership agree intellectually but are uninvolved emotionally. Either they consider themselves exempt because they’re “too busy,” or they make excuses because they “can’t get to it.” People at this level of ownership will not move forward. They may think change is a good idea, but it applies to everyone except them.

-Comply/Concede. People at this level disagree with or are uncertain about the endeavor from an intellectual standpoint, but they’re emotionally invested enough, on the grounds of loyalty, professionalism, or other considerations, to take action. People who comply with requests and concede to move forward can often produce solid results. However, while they may be aligned with an organizational direction, people at this level can still lack what it’s really going to take to get the desired result.

-Buy-in/Invested. At the highest level of ownership, people agree with a course of action intellectually and have an emotional desire to actively participate. Both their minds and hearts are engaged and they are thoroughly invested and vigorously involved. These people find it easy to “sign up” and readily see the advantages that they and their team or organization will gain by buying-in and becoming fully invested.

Helping people, teams, and organizations reach the highest levels of ownership is one of management’s greatest challenges, particularly during times of difficulty and change. But it’s certainly worth the effort, because one committed and engaged person is worth ten who are less committed and engaged. The most effective leaders are those who work tirelessly to move people to higher levels of ownership, just as head coach Sean Payton did with the New Orleans Saints. He changed the team’s culture from “hoping to win,” to “expecting to win,” by not only exemplifying his own high level of ownership for results but also by constantly challenging and guiding his team to “own” what it takes to win an NFL Championship. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for their Super Bowl win and to the people of New Orleans for showing us what it means to “own” a comeback.

Have you ever had the sense that people were not telling you every thing you need to hear? If they had the opportunity, if the right circumstances presented themselves, they might tell you something that could make a difference on how effective you are in the job and in working with others on the team?

The first step Above the Line, and the giant step towards greater accountability, is to See It.  People, and organizations, who are able to See It distinguish themselves with their emphasis on getting feedback on a constant basis from everyone.  In fact, they may seem a little carried away as they seek feedback before meetings dismiss, from their peers at lunch, from other teams in the organization—constantly looking for information to help them discover what the real “truth” is so that they can deal with reality and get results.

The first step towards greater accountability is to acknowledge the truth, which, when it comes to people’s perceptions, can be a relative thing—every stakeholder (customers, vendors, bosses, peers, team members, employees, the board) will see things a little differently depending on where they sit.  The benefit of knowing those perspectives, and then acting upon them, allows you to take greater accountability and impact results in a way that, otherwise, would not be available to you.

Accountable people demonstrate what we call the See It best practices of persistently accountable people and organizations. Here are four of these best practices:

1. Obtaining the perspective of others. The only way you get the perspectives of others is to communicate openly, ask for their views and then listen.  This means asking everyone—customers, vendors, suppliers, peers, team members—everyone.
2. Communicating openly and candidly.  Telling people the “truth” as you perceive it and then getting them to do the same with you facilitates the ability for everyone to be accountable.
3. Asking for and offering feedback.  It is essential that you create an environment where everyone is accountable to share feedback—that it is expected and that you want it.
4. Hearing the hard things to see reality.  You have to have a commitment to hear the things that may be hard to hear or you will frequently miss the information that could enable you to achieve the result.

The same is true for organizations.  Those that fail to create work environments where feedback is frequently and freely offered and obtained cannot develop the kind of accountability that gets everyone in the organization focused on results and asking “what else can I do to achieve the result?”

Without feedback flowing in the organization, there is little chance of getting to the “truth” about both why people do what they do and what should be done differently to make sure the job gets done, but also to ensure the ball is not getting dropped somewhere else.

Actively seeking feedback means asking the full range of people you hold accountable for feedback. Only then, can you expect to unleash the true potential of your people and your organization. Feedback creates accountable people and organizations.

To seek feedback from your team and others in the organization go to www.ozprinciple.com and access complimentary assessments.

Accountable people seek feedback—and feedback creates accountable people. In fact, people who embrace personal accountability never wait for others to come and give them feedback, they go out and ask for it, regularly and frequently. Feedback helps people, teams, and organizations face reality, identify problems, tackle obstacles, and address key issues. It helps people acknowledge reality—the first step towards greater accountability.

We have learned some important lessons as a result of helping thousands of people at every job level in organizations all across the world develop greater accountability for giving, receiving and acting upon feedback. That experience has both reconfirmed and taught us several valuable lessons about feedback. Here are ten of those lessons:

1. Feedback doesn’t happen unless you make it happen.
2. People tend to stop giving feedback over time, even if they once did it frequently.
3. It is easier to give appreciative feedback than it is to deliver con­structive feedback.
4. People often do not act on feedback without some sort of follow-up.
5. It is easier to filter feedback than to accept it.
6. People more fully appreciate the feedback they receive after they have applied it and seen its impact on their results.
7. Feedback declines after people improve because they assume it’s no longer necessary.
8. People struggle to know how to respond to the feedback they receive.
9. People typically fear receiving constructive feedback because they see it as criticism rather than helpful input.
10. Organizations always underestimate the difficulty of getting people to give and receive feedback.

One successful executive with one of our clients told us that, in his view, there is no better way to show genuine respect for people in the busi­ness than by offering them direct, honest feedback—particularly con­structive feedback intended to help them improve their performance. We’d like to share with you the way he puts it: “Do you think not giving feedback to somebody is respectful? Is going around them to their boss respectful? Is going to a peer in the hopes that they will mention something respectful? I often remind myself that delivering a tough message is the ultimate way in which I dem­onstrate respect to another human being. When I do this I put my fears aside and instead put their needs first, telling them what they need to hear. I have learned to deal with my discomfort while giving a difficult message and to not procrastinate in its delivery. That is one way I show respect for people.”

Hear Ginger Graham, Former President & CEO of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, talk about how she used the feedback process to impact results in her organization.

When you’re not getting the feedback that you need, go out and ask for it.  If people are not getting the feedback they need, go out and offer it.  The ability to give, receive and act upon feedback is conspicuously visible and readily observable in accountable people—because without it, accountability will inevitably wane.