This article was originally published on Linkedin Pulse. 

The Eleven Car Pileup

This comes from a true story. You are the General Manager of a fast food store. Your restaurant had a surprise inspection and the mystery shopper got stuck behind eleven cars in the drive-through. The service time was terrible, and customers complained to the national 1-800 line. Worse, when you checked the in-store video you saw the window worker and shift manager chatting and laughing casually during the rush, not focused on service.

How do you handle this? Tell them they messed up? Find a solution and inform the team? Explain what they should have been doing? Show them what they did wrong in the surveillance video? Remind them about service standards?

The Five Whys

To find the right answer we need to solve the actual problem, not its symptoms. Five whys can get to the bottom of things quickly. Is the real problem...?

But WHY don't they feel ownership? Where does lack of personal ownership come from? What's the source of the "I don't own this problem" germ?

You (and I) Naturally Prevent Personal Ownership

It seems to be human nature to tell people what to do. As soon as people have authority,even in studies where they know they are play-acting, we tend to order each other around.

But that doesn't make it effective. "Telling" people kills ownership, initiative, and leadership because it is really controlling, and controlling people keeps them from growing. That means you have to keep on motivating and controlling them. Miserable! No wonder some studies claim 70% of workers are "not engaged" in the US workforce. And all that telling and controlling people is exhausting. No wonder so many bosses feel stress!

Who's "Owning" This?

If we change our own actions, others can take ownership, grow, and act. Next time you're tempted to "do something" about a problem and tell someone what to do, stop. Ask yourself instead: "Who's owning this?" The answer is found in three questions:

If the answer is YOU you're the psychological owner, and if you stay on that path you're in serious trouble. Do you really want to carry the weight of everything around you alone, forever?

Stop and consider, 
"Who's owning this?"

When the answer is THEM your problems are mostly solved, even future ones you've never thought of. 

Inspire Ownership through Inspiring Questions

Voltaire said we should judge someone by their questions rather than their answers. That's true with leadership. Great leaders ask great questions that inspire ownership—questions that invite others to THINK, FEEL the pain and reward, and ACT on their own initiative.

Great leaders ask great questions that inspire ownership.

When President Kennedy challenged the country to go to the moon, he said:

• "I therefore ask the Congress..."

• "But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon—if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there."

• "We propose...." "We propose...." "We propose...."

• "...this is a judgment which the Members of the Congress must finally make..."

• "I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action, a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs...."

• "Now this is a choice which this country must make...."

By asking, you let them choose. Once they choose they will start to THINK, FEEL, and ACT on their own. They "own" it, and they will make it happen.

This approach jump-starts a freeing culture of initiative. Workers become highly satisfied, fully engaged, smarter in their decisions, and better motivated with no change in pay or title. They perform better, they accomplish more. Amazingly, their managers enjoy their jobs more, feeling a lot less stress and going home earlier.

Important: Don't ask questions to drill your people, needle them about tasks, or make them guess what you are thinking. That's another form of controlling.

Workers become highly satisfied, 
fully engaged, smarter in their decisions, 
and better motivated 
with no change in pay or title.

Revisiting the Eleven Car Pileup

Let's look again at the eleven car pileup and try this approach. Listen as you, the GM, ask questions that invite ownership and growth (THINK, FEEL, ACT) instead of scolding:

GM: "Did you see last night's mystery shop and 1-800 results?"

Worker (a Shift Mgr): "No. What were they?" They're used to being told what to do.

GM: "Do you know where they're posted?" Pointing vaguely in that direction."Tell me what you think." By letting them do it, you help them "act [their] way into a new way of thinking" as Jerry Sternin first said and David Marquet recently popularized in his great book.

Worker: "Oops... Ouch!" THEY feel the pain now. If you had told them the answer, YOU would psychologically own part of the problem.

GM: "What do you think happened?" THEY are now being invited to do the thinking, to learn how to analyze. They're in the best position to do the thinking because they were there, and they have the most information.

Worker: "Hmmm. I don't really know..."

GM: Pauses to see if the Shift Manager will say more. Silence is important for THEM to think, feel, and take action.

GM: Believing her. "OK. How could you find out?" Let THEM think and analyze, help THEM learn how find answers.

Worker: "I guess I could check the video from last night...?" Their brain is suddenly kicking into gear since they are being invited to think. They are still hesitant.

GM: "Great idea." You walk into the video room together. THEY find the right recording. THEY run it as you watch with them and listen.

Worker: "Well, that's embarrassing. Why was I just standing around like that??" THEY are really feeling the pain now and doing the thinking.

GM: "I... don't know..." Smiling and laughing with them to lighten things.

Worker: "I must have been listening to what Tanya was telling me. I can't believe I did that! I'm sorry."

GM: "How could we prevent that? People do get distracted sometimes. Any ideas?"

Worker: "Well... I play softball, left field. It gives me an idea. When the ball is hit to the shortstop I run to back them up. Maybe we could have two people watching the drive through line, a main person and a backup. If one misses it the other will still alert the team."

GM: "I love it! How would you start?" Inviting THEM to take action.

Worker: "I want to talk with the crew and see how they feel about it, then ask if they have ideas about who should back up the window person." THEY are taking action now, and you didn't tell them to.

GM: "The other shifts should hear about this. Could you share what you come up in the next all hands meeting?" Inviting THEM to take further action and involve the thinking of OTHERS, so the new approach spreads.

Worker: (Standing a little taller.) "Sure!"

Who "Owns" It Now?

In the eleven car pileup example, above:
Who's doing the thinking now?
Who's feeling the reward from solving the problem?
Who's taking action on their own initiative?
So, who 'owns' it now?

Who did most of the talking?

How do you think the worker feels now?
How would they feel if they had been scolded?

How do you think the GM feels now?
How would the GM feel if they had lectured?

Making people feel bad doesn't help them perform better.

Making people feel bad doesn't help them
perform better.

Starting the Change

You can start this right now in your own team, department, company, or family:

1. Do the people around you "own" their stuff as much as they could?

2. Is this adding work, stress, or frustration in your job or life?

(Note that the questions above invite YOU to THINK, FEEL, and ACT. It's easy once you get started.)

When we stop controlling and ask questions that invite ownership, we carry less weight and create happy leaders. It feels great for everyone!

Kevin

Kevin Crenshaw is a Rapid Turnaround CEO, Speaker, Author, and Leadership Trainer specializing in fast company transformation. His upcoming book is a rapid blueprint for building self-empowering organizations without changes in personnel or titles. Follow Kevin here for previews and principles from the book and other principle-based leadership tools.

Our kudos go to the creators of these great images, which they graciuosly made available. Let's recognize their initiative and creativity by commenting and sharing their pages and albums.

It Could Be You by Stuart Richards, Creative Commons License.
I Will Never Be Your Pawn by Amy Humphries, Creative Commons License.
Long Line of Cars by Robert Couse-Baker, Create Commons License.
Kennedy Proposing to Land a Man on the Moon, NASA, Public Domain.
Denken / Thinking by Sebastian ter Burg, Creative Commons License.