#MiPDV – “I Own This”

Long ago in my career, I was named team leader for one of the global functions in the company. Being team leader meant I helped the manager assign functions to team members and to interview and select candidates when we had an opening, but no one on the team reported to me.?

Shortly after I was named in the role, one of the team members announced to me that he was responsible for one of the functions of the team – his words were, “I own this.”?

I responded that I had not been able to discuss the various roles with our manager, who was traveling overseas at the time. The team member dug in – “I spoke to him and I own this.”?

This person had significantly more tenure at the company than me, and I was not going to argue the point with him – arguing would be pointless at the time. I decided to buy time until I could speak to the manager, who ultimately agreed that if covering this function is so important to the person, then maybe it would be the motivation to ensure he would do a great job.?

Turns out that the manager and I were both wrong. In the time I led that team, I saw that this person wanted to be associated with any successes from that function he “owned”, but he ran away from any issues.?

Personally, in a business setting, I find the phrase “I own this” to be more damaging than helpful. In this case, the teammate who used it conveyed a few unsaid yet important points:?

• He didn’t respect that I was team leader. For whatever reason, he disagreed with the decision to name me as team leader, and he wanted to make it clear that he was not going to go along with the decision. (Incidentally, no one else on the team had an issue with my appointment.)
• He was willing to unnecessarily inject politics into a situation. If there is a problem, I prefer to discuss it with the individual(s) directly involved, then escalate if needed. However, this individual decided to escalate immediately.
• He was unwilling to be a teammate to the rest of the team. Declaring something as his meant he was walling off the function to the rest of the team – he wasn’t interested in helping any of them and didn’t want their help.?

About a year later, this person announced he was leaving the company, and the problems he created went with him.?

His approach to “owning” a function provided several lessons for me:?

• “Owning” includes the good and the bad. This person did no favors to anyone – the global team, our global constituents, our customers – by only wanting to take part in successes. He blamed others for failures, which didn’t help anyone.
• Not being a good teammate makes the entire team look bad. Because of this person’s actions, our global constituents were wary of the rest of the team, who had to work extra hard to earn the trust this person destroyed.
• Injecting politics only wastes time. By claiming that he had gone around me to talk to our manager about his role, he caused additional calls between the manager and me to ascertain the truth and plan a path forward. We could have used that time to serve customers instead,
• Using the phrase “I own” puts a “Keep Out” sign around the function. After this person declared that he owned a function, no one else was willing to offer suggestions to make the function better. They realized that their time would be more productively spent elsewhere.?

What is ironic is that in a business setting, nobody owns a function. A function or role can be reassigned on a moment’s notice – “owing” a function is temporary at best, not permanent as this person thought.?

Instead of “owning” a function, I find it’s better to own responsibility for one’s actions, regardless of whether the outcome is what is intended or expected. In this way, you’re inherently taking responsibility not only for the outcome, but also for all successes and failures along the way.?

What are your thoughts??

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That’s mi punto de vista #MiPDV.