The Leadership Coach™

Loan Car Syndrome

Posted on 06. Sep, 2009 by Paul Andrew in Leadership, The Leadership Coach™

Years ago a friend’s father had a car accident and was given a loan car over a long weekend by the smash repairer. Since the father didn’t need the car, his son’s friends hatched a plan to get away for the weekend… to Uluru (Ayers Rock)… half way across Australia from Sydney. Driving and sleeping in shifts they raced against the clock, knowing the car had to be back in three days. They barely saw Uluru before continuing on to Darwin (and the untimely demise of a Kangaroo who smashed a headlight and dented the panels). Then they braved muddy floodwaters near the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland and completely submerged the car. Miraculously they were able to restart it and they limped the car home. But there was no miracle for its condition – smashed, scratched, flooded and full of mud. Tuesday morning came, they returned what was left of the car, paid a paltry insurance excess and walked away. True story.

That’s what a lack of ownership will do. You’d never treat your own car like that. But there’s something in human nature that treats what belongs to someone else without respect, unless we cultivate a sense of ownership. Do your team treat your organisation like a loan car? You know you’ve got Loan Car Syndrome when the team don’t value the customers, the assets, the products, the reputation or the vision like the boss does. In great teams you get the sense that every person sees himself or herself as an owner.

I’ve got an Apple iPhone, and I worked out pretty quickly that if I needed help with it I should go to Apple, not to the phone company that sold it to me. I won’t name the phone company to protect the not-so-innocent but they represent what is worst about modern businesses. Departments blame each other, repairs are outsourced to someone you can’t speak to, you wait 30 minutes on hold to have someone waffle about a ‘glitch in our system’. But take your phone to Apple and someone with a t-shirt that reads “Genius” will sit down with you and help you… face to face… because they love their product… they’re proud of it… and if something is wrong they’ll replace it on the spot.

So how can leaders develop a culture of ownership in their teams? It goes deeper than attaching people’s pay and bonuses to performance measures, although that can have its place. By contrast I’ve led teams in volunteer organisations where hundreds of people demonstrated deep levels of ownership without receiving a cent for it.

My Top 5 Ownership Strategies-

1. Demonstrate it daily. They’re watching what you do, not what you say. If the standard is low, first check the standard you’re setting yourself.
2. Reward ownership wherever you see it. You get what you focus on so make heroes (and managers) of those who are exemplars of true ownership.
3. Shift your language from “I” and “my” to “we” and “our”. It’s our business and we have a great opportunity here.
4. Allow people to take responsibility and authority. If you micro-manage your team, or you delegate responsibility without authority, don’t be surprised when they lack ownership.
5. Make sure your people can own the successes too. Ownership should include sharing in the plunder, not just the problems.

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback

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Related posts:

1. Who Is In Your Drawer?
2. Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast
3. Frank Is Your Friend

Tags: Executive Coach, Executive Coaching, Keynote Speaker, Leadership Coaching, Leadership Development, Leadership Training, Movements, Team Building