Year: 2015

Ownership is a grossly overused word in meetings in the corporate world. My assessment is that while people think they understand the meaning of this word, the comprehension of the real meaning, I believe, is at best broad and lacks depth. This post will introduce you to the important elements of taking ownership.

As always, coming from the world of generative leadership, we begin with the ‘what is’ question first.

What is Ownership?

Simply put, ownership is doing what owners would do.

So, when you take ownership of something, you do what the owner of that something would do. For example, you would do what the owner of the business would do; or you do what the owner of the project would do; or when you take ownership of someone else’s house, lets say as a tenant, you would do what ever the owner of the house would do.

There are certain things that owners do naturally. They do not have to be told what to do. Similarly, if you take ownership of something, you are expected to ‘do’ what the owners would otherwise do naturally.

Here are the 4 important elements of taking ownership

Owners are the cause in the matter:

Owners take responsibility. To be responsible is to take the posture that you are the source or cause of something, and the outcomes can be shifted by your actions. Taking responsibility is making the interpretation that when you assess something isn’t working, you provide what is missing to make it work. This puts you in the posture of producing action, not waiting for action.

It puts you in the posture of being a leader. You may not know what to do, but in this posture you will find out, or invent what is needed. If you wait for others, or act only if you know what to do, you become a victim, and tranquilize yourself with the reasons for your inaction and your lack of performance.

Owners listen for breakdowns:

The first thing that owners do is listen for possible breakdowns, such as, are we delivering as per our promise; are we on schedule; is the job being done the way it is meant to be done; are people performing; will we meet our deadlines; and so forth.

While it is extremely important to listen for possible breakdowns, it is not enough.

Owners declare breakdowns:

The common sense understanding is ‘declaring breakdowns is not good’. That is a myth. Owners listen for possible breakdowns and when they ‘see’ one coming, they declare a breakdown. Simply stated, declaring a breakdown in this context means if things continue the way they are going, and no change is brought forth, our promise will not be kept.

Owners declare a breakdown and state that where we are headed is not where we want to go. Owners create and choose where they want to go and change actions to get there.

Owners seek support and make offers:

Many times owners cannot take actions on their own. At such times, owners make effective requests to others who they believe can take actions to change course of the result.

Similarly, in my experience with consulting organisations, I have seen some young employees taking true ownership by listening for breakdowns, declaring breakdowns to their line managers, and where necessary making proposals for new actions. When taking ownership, if you make an assessment that someone is not doing or not doing well what needs to be done, the owner makes an offer of support.

This post is an invitation for you to take ownership in areas that matter to you. Identify areas where you are claiming to take ownership, but are not really taking on ownership. Also identify areas that you would like to take on ownership at work, at home, or in your social environment.

When you take ownership is when you really play the game. That is when you get off the stands and get on the court to play.

Enjoy the game!

Sameer Dua, Founder Director, Institute for Generative Leadership, India

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Last weekend I attended this fascinating event called “Ideas on India”. It had some big names from the current and the previous government speaking on their ideas on India. The program also had some well-known and senior ex-servicemen as speakers, who shared the idea that India is (I love the concept of India being an idea).

I am sure this program provoked different thoughts for participants and each were left with some question or the other in their minds. The question that got triggered in my mind was “What does being Indian mean to me?” and “What is my relationship with my country?”

And to answer that question, I looked closely at the meaning of the word ‘relationship’.

A Relationship for me is a promise.

I am the father of my children. While my children are my own, it is not that because they were born through me that I have a relationship with them of being a father. I am their father because I choose to be in this relationship with them and honour the promise of this relationship. There is a certain set of expectations that my children, my wife, my parents, my children’s school and the society have of me as a father. And when I honour their expectations do I truly become a father in their eyes.

My brother on the other hand has two adopted sons. They were not born through him, and yet, his promise as a father is by no means any less than mine. So, my claim is that being a father is not about blood, but about a promise.

My relationship with India, and with being Indian

If I had to take the same logic to my relationship with my country, India, I am not Indian because I was physically born in India or because I was born to citizens of India. Being Indian is a promise, the same way as being a father is a promise.

The question then that came up for me was ‘what is my promise to my country because of which I can choose to call myself an Indian?’

Simply because I was born in India does not give me the right to call myself Indian. Being in any relationship has a set of duties, and similarly, being in a relationship with my country, and calling myself Indian has a set of duties – and these duties are my promise to me being an Indian.

The 42nd amendment of the Constitution of India in 1976 added duties of Indian citizens (originally, the Constitution of India did not contain any list of fundamental duties). There are two interesting points that I want to bring your attention on:

1. Unlike in the erstwhile Soviet Union, which made the enjoyment of fundamental rights conditional on the fulfillment of duties – India does not have any such provision in the Constitution.

2. The fundamental duties are non-justiciable (subject to trial in a Court of Law) in character. This means that no citizen can be punished by a court for violation of a fundamental duty.

While the State does not punish me for not fulfilling my duties toward the State, clearly that does not absolve me or anyone else from their duties. However, in my assessment, I am breaking the promise of being Indian when I do not comply with these duties (If you are interested in seeing your duties as an Indian, please click here https://india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf and refer to Part IVA)

While continuing the comparison of my relationship with my daughter as a father on the one hand, and my relationship with my country on the other, there are certain unspoken expectations of each of these relationships.

For example, the unspoken promises of my relationship with my daughter are to encourage her, to promote her, to support her, to respect her, to honour her, to hold her to account, to love her, to provide her with the dignity that she deserves, and so on.

There are certain ‘duties’ that I have as a father and then there are certain ‘unspoken expectations’ that my daughter has of me. Both these are as important for me to honour the promise of being a father.

Similarly, I see my relationship with my country as no different. I have a certain set of duties toward my country, which are explicitly stated in the Constitution of India; and then the country also has a set of expectations of me, which are not explicitly stated, yet are important for the fulfillment of my promise as an Indian. These unspoken promises of my being Indian, in my assessment, are to promote her (India), to support her, to respect her, to honour her, to hold her to account, to love her and so on (very similar to the expectations of my daughter).

To have the right to call myself an Indian, I have to first fulfill my duties and also the expectations the country has of me.

This is the future that I would like to see – a future where each Indian understands the promise of being Indian and honours this promise!

Sameer Dua, Founder Director, Institute for Generative Leadership, India

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One eminent need of us humans is to grow. Whether it is physically, intellectually, financially or socially, growth is what most of us, if not all of us, desire. We follow a continuous growth path from the moment we are conceived. We constantly put demands on ourselves to learn and increase our capabilities. As we grow we choose a career path and allow ourselves to get immersed in our routines. This is the time we can ask ourselves these crucial five questions to know if we are still growing.

1. Am I practicing/ learning anything new?

We believe, when you read something or attend a classroom training, you acquire conceptual knowledge on the subject. Learning happens only when you practice it. And when you practice it long and hard enough you will embody it. Embodying a new skill is crucial for mastering it. For instance, I can gain conceptual knowledge about cooking by reading a recipe book but to master it I need to implement it by physically practicing it over and over again.

Learning is an important part of growing because finally we are where we are in life because of what we have learned so far! So take a moment and think what are you practicing in life right now.

2. Am I focused or do I waver?

My father always told me “If you don’t focus on one goal long enough, you will not get anywhere”. I find that so true in a lot of areas of life. Focus and consistency is the key to a lot of unlocked doors. When a new idea strikes you, do you lose focus on the one already on your plate and get all excited about the prospects the new thought shows you? Because if you do leave unfinished projects and ideas that have not been tested long enough, you are depriving yourself the opportunity to know if the time, energy and intellect you have spent till then was worthy enough!

Every time you begin to lose focus on the current project on hand, here’s what you can do; ask yourself the question “For the sake of what?” This little question can help you realign yourself with your cares and commitments in life and help you stay focused and consistent in your efforts to grow.

3. Have I created leaders?

This one is a no-brainer and yet not practiced enough! Among other definitions of a leader, this one holds true in the current context – A leader is someone who has a following. A lot of Corporates come to us with their needs for training and coaching and one common need in about 90% of them is “Creating new leaders”. Lending your subordinates a free hand and trusting them will work a long way in you creating new leaders. Trust here is important both ways. It does not happen overnight. It’s a slow but a sure process that leads you to your growth.

When you are working your way to create new leaders, it is equally important to practice new skills so that when there is someone ready to fill in your shoes, you are ready to jump up the ladder and shoulder larger responsibilities in your organization.

4. Am I open to feedback?

I know a Senior Manager at an IT organization and one of our coachees, who used to go about saying “I want your opinion about me, hit me with what you think about me”. The moment he said this, his eyes would go rigid and fixed, his shoulders tensed up, his stance would be like an animal ready to pounce. With this body comportment, all feedback that he ever received was what he wanted to hear- good ones and most times superficial ones, no one dared to tell him what they really thought about him! Being open is an embodied skill. It takes more than just saying it to be open to feedback.

Constructive feedback can help us grow; it can help us look at things differently. It can help us see things we did not know existed. Finally, it is totally on your discretion to use it or to trash it.

5. Have I put myself on the mat?

This one, I feel takes the cake. ‘Putting yourself on the mat’ is simply stated ‘Challenging yourself’. The moment you challenge yourself and work towards it with consistency you are carving your growth path! I heard a powerful idiom that has stuck on to me, “Your yesterday’s success story is only an ego boost today”. Unless you keep re-generating yourself again and again, unless you keep putting yourself on the mat again and again, unless you keep challenging yourself again and again you will not grow.

Go on, place yourself on the mat and feel the adrenaline rush to surge forward in life!

Sheeja Shaju, Leadership Coach, Institute for Generative Leadership, India

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