To grow a business, a business owner needs to leverage their money, their people, technology and systems. Many business owners find leveraging through people the most challenging for the following reason or internal beliefs:

  1. There is no person that can do this as well as I can.
  2. No one cares as much as me.
  3. I’m in a hurry, I do not have time to show someone what to do.
  4. My customer expects me to do it for them.
  5. If my team member messes this up, it could have a negative impact on the business.

We coach our clients on understanding ownership we show them how to give ownership of projects and tasks within a business while ensuring a successful outcome and continued business growth.

We introduce a concept called “The Point of Power” which pitches Ownership with Accountability and Responsibility competing against an ever-growing culture of Blame, Excuse and Denial.

We propose to our clients and our client’s teams that a business cannot grow, thrive or become profitable if the Blame, Excuse and Denial culture is allowed to exist.

To implement a culture in a business where Ownership, Accountability and Responsibility thrive, a business owner and their senior management team must create an environment where:

Delegation happens rather than abdication. Delegation involves the assigning of tasks or roles to people in the organisation coupled with clear goals, objectives, milestones, and timescales. This is supported by a continuous review and progress reporting framework.

Systems and KPI’s are in place. It is important to have a certain amount of systems in place to allow task and projects to be completed in a particular way and the Key Performance Indicators will act as you dashboard, keeping you informed of progress and areas for concern.

Reporting and Acknowledgement. Every team member in an organisation needs to feel valued, especially if they are contributing to the success of the business, taking ownership and delivering what is expected of them. Very often we neglect the review process and even more frequently we neglect acknowledgement because we have moved to the next project. Ignore these 2 elements at your peril.

In general, team members are happy to take ownership. This will continue if the environment fosters and develops the culture described above.

There are multiple additional elements that can be added to the culture as the team develops. When a team has embraced ownership and it becomes a cornerstone of business growth and development, the team will create additional structures to protect what it values most.

We have seen team incorporate rules about Communication, Gratitude, Integrity and more in an effort to grow and business a sustainable business over time.

So, yes, people will embrace ownership as long at the underlying foundation is in place for the entire team and the owner is focused on developing this as the team help them to build a successful business.