Summary

The author emphasizes the importance of fostering a sense of ownership among team members to enhance their commitment and care for their work, as illustrated by their personal experience with a stark contrast in job satisfaction and initiative between two different roles within the same company.

Abstract

The author recounts their experience in two distinct roles within a large company, highlighting the impact of ownership on job performance and satisfaction. Initially, as a chief technical lead, they felt a strong sense of ownership, which led to proactive actions like maintaining a pleasant bathroom environment, despite it not being part of their job description. This sense of ownership also translated into a high level of effort in solving real problems. However, after a project's collapse and a subsequent role under poor management, the author's feeling of ownership diminished, reflected in their indifference towards the bathroom's condition. The author concludes that when employees feel valued and part of a shared vision, they are more likely to take initiative and contribute positively to their workplace, even in small ways.

Opinions

Ownership over one's work can significantly increase the level of care and responsibility one takes.
A positive work environment where employees feel valued is crucial for fostering a sense of ownership.
Poor management can erode an employee's sense of ownership, leading to disengagement and reduced initiative.
Employees are more likely to go above and beyond their job descriptions when they feel a sense of pride and ownership in their workplace.
Communication of a clear vision, solicitation of input, and recognition of individual importance are key strategies for building a team that takes ownership of their work.
The author believes that the sense of ownership can be so strong that it affects all aspects of an employee's contribution, including the cleanliness and maintenance of shared spaces like bathrooms.

Give Your People Ownership or How My Best Job Ever Involved Taking Care of the Toilet

If you own it, you’ll take care of it.

How do you feel when you own something versus when it belongs to someone else? Do you care for a rental car, for example, to the same degree that you would a car you own? We want our teams to treat our customers and goals the way we would. So we need to make sure that they feel like they own them. Sure, everyone knows that. But some years ago, something happened to me that taught me how powerful and important that idea is. This is a true story, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

I had a great job for a very well-known large company. I was the chief technical person for a huge project, with nearly 500 people taking technical direction from me. I also had a crack smaller team that I directly commanded. I loved that job and we were working towards a very important goal.

Ownership

To make the job even sweeter, the team was located all around the country. In my office, I was the highest-ranking person around. I reported to the VP in charge who was thousands of miles away. So even though not everyone in the office reported to me, they might as well have.

I took care of a lot of things in that job. But one that was especially funny was that the men’s room stunk. Think of a cross between a paper mill and stinky cheese. When I noticed this, I popped to the store and came back the next day with a dollar air freshener. Problem solved. For about six years, I replenished the air freshener every month or so.

Even though it wasn’t in my job description, I owned that bathroom.

The Fall

As huge projects sometimes do, this one disintegrated for a lot of complex reasons. I should have jumped ship early. I didn’t. I wanted to help put as many of our people elsewhere as possible.

By the time it was done, I had to take a new position with the same company, but in a different building. It sounded good and was — in theory — about the same as my previous posting. At least I was away from the bathroom.

But there was one big difference: the project’s management was textbook horrible. Even worse, my direct boss was a huge narcissist. Lookup any trait of good leadership, negate it, and that was how this guy was. He stole credit and was quick to place blame. He played head games and often bullied low-level employees. His goals would flip flop based on a whim, especially if it pandered to upper management at the team’s expense.

No Ownership

That went on for two years. I tried hard to protect my team from this madman, but it was all for naught. One day he got in “trouble” for some of his antics. Somehow he got nothing more than a slap on the wrist. I knew it was time to bail out.

I took another job with the same company, but back in the same physical location I had started in. The job was still a chief engineer job, but for a much smaller team with less money. Management was adequate. Not stellar, but adequate. Still, I never again felt the kind of ownership I had in the first position.

It wasn’t a factor in me leaving, but one thing that annoyed me was the stench in the men’s room. I stayed for another two years. I was so beat down, though, that it was never the same. Even though I’d been with the company for a dozen years, I decided it was time to move on. I was at my new job for about a month when I happened to have a revelation in — of all places — the men’s room.

A Revelation

I thought, “Well, at least here the men’s room doesn’t smell.” Then it hit me. For about five years I had put air freshener in the bathroom that stunk. The narcissist beat me down for two years. After that, I went back into that bathroom and I did not think, “I could put in an air freshener, but I won’t because I’m mad.” I promise you, I did not think that.

I didn’t think of it at all. It wasn’t my bathroom. I had no investment in the people who used the bathroom. I didn’t feel like I was in charge or even close to it. I guess my subconscious figured that the people who loved telling me how they were in charge should fix it. Of course, they didn’t.

Of Course…

I’m not saying that me putting air freshener in the bathroom was any great service to the company. Of course, my people appreciated it even though they didn’t know who did it. But what I am saying is this:

If I was willing to spend my money and time to take care of the bathroom, how much effort do you think I spent solving real problems? Plenty.

Conversely, how much effort was I spending on the last job? Not that I was not doing the best work I could do. But, obviously, I wasn’t looking outside my swim lane because I didn’t own that project or that bathroom. I didn’t feel valued. I didn’t feel like part of the group that was driving things.

Plan of Action

Making people feel valued isn’t very hard and it costs almost nothing.

Communicate your vision to them clearly and often. Make them excited about that vision so they will adopt it as their own. Football teams don’t brag about their winning despite the fans. They want the fans to feel a part of the success and they do. Do the same thing.

Ask for opinions. Listen to input and, if it is sound, act on it. Take opportunities to mentor. Understand what is important to people and reward them using that knowledge. So many ways to build a team that owns the work.

The payout is even higher than you might think. The bathroom might even smell better for it.