Are you an OWNER or a RENTER?

That’s the provocative question that each of us must answer as, together, we roll up our sleeves and take on one of the toughest yet potentially most influential issues in our workplace today – Accountability.

Before I answer the question, let’s use the analogy of home ownership to tee up the conversation with a slightly altered version of that question. Does someone who owns their home think about it talk about it and behave toward it differently than those who are renting the property? My answer is YES!

Here are some of the sentiments that owners might have:

  µ  “I’m proud of my property. After all, it’s a reflection of me.”

  µ  “I’m in this for the long haul.”

  µ  “If something needs fixing, It’s on me to get that done.”

And here are some of the ways that most renters think;

  µ  “I’m not going to live here for too long so I’m not going to improve things too much.         After all, wat would I get out of it?”

  µ  “If something goes wrong, I’m not responsible. It’s the owner’s problem to solve.”

It’s not too hard to see where I’m going with this, is it? Team members who ‘phone it in’ each day, hold onto ‘same old same old thoughts and actions, make excuses and blame others are renters. A team member showing up as the best version of themselves each day, ready to be better and different, offering suggestions for improvement and understanding how their seemingly modest contribution adds to the success of the whole organization; well, that person is an owner!

Think about it…ownership isn’t a passive experience; it’s an active, intentional one! Owners participate instead of spectate. Each of us can ‘take ownership’ no matter what our position in the organization. And not only on our ‘good days’ – but moment by moment each day, regardless of the circumstances, the people involved, our mood or the weather.

At its core, an accountability-rich culture is full of owners rather than renters!

Accountability-rich organizations are defined by the willingness & ability of almost everyone to …

own their thoughts & emotions

own their reactions

own their behaviors

own their words

own their attitude & mindset

own their professional growth

own their mistakes/problems/solutions

In other words, they own the moment!

So, back to our original question: Are you an owner or a renter? I’ve chosen to be an owner. How about you?

Kick-start your journey to accountability - grab a copy of Leta's latest book, Own It, and it's accompanying Accountability Credo poster on Leta's website!  

CLICK HERE TO OWN IT!

A Conspiracy of Goodness at Work

The first time that I came across this power phrase—a conspiracy of goodness—was in a story about a small French mountain village, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. During World War II, the entire town took the great risk to quietly shelter five-thousand Jews during the Nazi occupation of France. They were ordinary people, often poverty stricken themselves, doing the right thing day in and day out, not for days but for years! Not one person broke the commitment. And not one Jewish person was lost. It is said that these were a very solid, independent and simple people who ‘acted without agonizing instead of agonized without acting.’
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Now, admittedly, the work of everyday leadership may not rise to this same magnitude or consequence; but that doesn’t mean that it is any less worthy. We too must be courageous and tenacious. And we must be committed to taking action and doing the right thing, not only when it’s easy or a ‘good hair’ day for us, but rather, day in and day out for the longer term.

What would a conspiracy of goodness look like and feel like at work? For me, it’s all about coming together and co-creating a virtuous cycle instead of the vicious cycle with which we’re more familiar. Here are some everyday ideas to kick start your thinking:

• All of us would choose to show up as capable adults at work and do the right thing throughout the day. Even when others make a different choice. That’s my express definition for accountability.
• We would all choose to be constructive rather than destructive in our relationships.
• We would all make and keep our commitment to be a good influence on our team culture and its performance.
• We would all take the risk of standing up to bullying and intolerance.
• We would all welcome new team members and help them to more easily fit in and belong.
• We would all do these kinds of things unconditionally; without expecting something in return. We would do this because we realize that doing the right thing is its own reward.
• We would all regularly discuss ‘doing the right thing’ and decide together what exactly that is in different situations.
• We would all work together to co-create a sense of goodness within our team.

And the list could go on…..

Can we actually unite, make plans and then with unswerving resolve, work collaboratively to bring about a really good result? Think about it, we probably do it in small bursts today and don’t give ourselves nearly enough credit. What if we played big and thought about it on a larger scale??


Leadership Dare

* If you find the idea of a conspiracy of goodness as intriguing as I did, then learn something more about its origins!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Chambon-sur-Lignon

* Identify what you can do to rally your team mates together and co-create a conspiracy of goodness on your team.

A LEADERSHIP LESSON FROM MARS

I saw the movie, The Martian, shortly after its 2015 release. At the time, I thought that it was a good but not great movie. Matt Damon stars as astronaut Mark Watney on a mission to Mars. (I feel obliged to call a Spoiler Alert here. I’m about to reveal important details of the plot). He’s stranded on Mars alone when his team mates leave for the return trip to earth. He’s rescued and returns heroically to earth. And he continues his career on earth as an instructor in the Astronaut Candidate Program.

I saw the movie again recently and I still don’t think it’s going to win any awards. But… what did catch my attention was both the quantity and quality of memorable leadership moments that are tucked into this two hour film. There are the obvious ones about perseverance, resilience and MacGyver-esque innovation. All worthy topics.

But my favorite leadership lesson came at the very end of the movie, when Mark Watney gave the new class of astronaut candidates a dose of reality based leadership as he described the most important take-away from his experience on Mars. Here’s what he said: “This is space; it does not cooperate. At some point, everything’s going to go south on you – everything! And you’re going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now, you can either accept that or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You solve one problem; one challenge; then you solve the next one. If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.” Simple. Powerful. Brilliant.

I think this leadership lesson applies directly to you and me as we face daily challenges in our work. Ditch the drama. Stop catastrophizing. Lighten up. Be a serial solution seeker. Repeat the next day.