Welcome to the latest weekly update on all things Own Your Day.
Before we get into this week’s topic, a date for your diary. We’re really excited to be able to confirm that our launch event will take place in London on Wednesday 23 June at the wonderful House of St Barnabas - a private members club which is dedicated to supporting homelessness. Make a note of the date for now and we’ll give you more details on how you can register in a couple of week’s time.
If you can’t wait until June, you can register to hear Julie speak and ask her questions at the LikeMinds Business Breakfast TV session on 19 May here.
This week, Diana focuses on one of the key themes from the book - taking ownership. As ever, we’d love to hear your views. If you use Twitter, you can see more on this topic over the coming week @OwnYourDay_Book too.
Diana’s thoughts on taking ownership
Stepping up and taking ownership is the reason I wanted to write this book. I became increasingly frustrated when I heard capable and motivated managers describing problems that held them back - often processes - while at the same time knowing how to fix that problem. And this frustration was made worse by hearing how other managers described how they just got on and fixed things.
So how do you step up and take ownership of a situation even if you don’t have formal authority?
Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
There are ways you can create your own permission to get things done. Firstly, you need awareness of your organisation’s strategy and plans along with knowledge of the influences in your market, which will provide the essential context for your team’s activities. In the book we make a number of suggestions as to how you can do this.
The next step is to create permission for yourself by taking ownership and accepting responsibility for fixing the problem. Ownership focuses on improvement rather than execution. It means finding solutions and not just joining in with complaining about the way things are. And framing your approach by describing the benefits such as doing something faster, increasing satisfaction, reducing budget or time. Remember, you might be solving a problem that senior managers are not even aware of.
One advantage of stepping up and taking ownership is that you’ll be in charge of setting the pace. And in addition to solving a problem, morale will improve as colleagues see what people at their level can achieve within the organisation. Your propensity for leadership will also be noticed by others.
If you’re ready to tackle something new, you have what is called a growth mindset which is so important in a changing and unpredictable working environment. The pioneering researcher who first coined the growth mindset phrase is Professor Carol Dweck, who also described the flip side as a fixed mindset. You can recognise this when people are stuck in the familiar territory of what they know, and who are too afraid to try something new because of the risk of failing. There’s an interesting interview on the importance of being open to learning new things in Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast 283.*
While challenging yourself can be generated by passion and dedication for your role, the growth and learning which comes from that can also create fear. Admitting to feeling fearful is absolutely OK, particularly in the current environment. But when you stand back and analyse what the worries are, the fear is often greater than the reality. So we’ve included a section on dealing with setbacks and failure in the book too.
Remember that we all have a natural tendency to focus on negatives which is a natural function of wanting to improve. When analysing how a project or task went, ask what went well and what might be done differently next time. Dwelling on what went wrong can create a sense of blame and negativity which is unproductive as well as demoralising. So to make sure you start meetings off on a positive note, ask the team for examples of what’s been a good experience since you last met. This will get everyone in a relaxed and positive mindset.
And finally, it’s never too early to start developing a growth mindset. For those of you who are parents, have a look at this animated talk on how to help children fulfil their potential - and how the wrong kind of praise can be damaging.
*HBR IdeaCasts are available through your chosen podcast medium and you can register on the HBR website for limited free access to articles.
Your thoughts…
We’re really keen to hear your thoughts on anything in this week’s note that has sparked your interest.
If you’ve experienced a setback, how did you deal with it?
Have you encountered a problem that needed to be fixed but held back from taking responsibility for fixing it? If so, what was the reason for that?
Whatever your reflections and experiences are, we’d love to hear about them in the comments section. Simply click on this link to share your thoughts.
Until next Friday.
Best wishes
Julie & Diana
PS You can pre-order your copy of the book via these routes:
Hi Julie & Diana,
Thanks for your weekly updates and best wishes for the launch. Meanwhile, I came across this and thought it might be of interest if you're not aware of it already.
https://www.managers.org.uk/middlemanagerlifeline
Best wishes,
Steve