Sense of Ownership
The data shows what you already know is true. Employees with a deep sense of ownership in the business are more productive, deliver better quality, and are, by far, the most innovative workers.
We know that a deep sense of ownership is a psychological state. Psychology tells us what creates that deep sense of ownership. It's an environment that does two things well: delivers the three sustaining motivators, and creates the three necessary conditions. The three necessary conditions are:
- Autonomy - no parent-child relationships.
- Agency - freedom to act.
- Ability - tools, skills, knowledge, collaboration...
The trouble is, it feels as though if you were to give your people true autonomy and true agency, you'd have chaos - people going off and doing whatever they want.
The Par Excellence methodology enable you to create the right environment, while greatly increasing control in the business over what you currently enjoy.
The three sustaining motivators required to maintain a deep sense of ownership are:
- Kinship - the social aspect of working with good people.
- Identity - how we want others to see us.
- Meaning - why the effort matters to me.
The Par Excellence tools actively prods employees to find these three motivators in the work they do. No business is perfect for everyone. An employee who cannot find these three motivators in your business will never develop a deep sense of ownership. It would be better for that employee, for you, and for all the co-workers if this person went elsewhere to find the right work to do.
To Implement Manufacturing Par Excellence
The methodology is licensed to Critical State LLC, lead by PhD level personnel.
Autonomy, Agency, Ability
Autonomy is self-governance. Within Par Excellence it is a formal process of making commitments, delivering those commitments, and being accountable to the team.
Agency is dominion. Within Par Excellence individuals have authority over some aspect of the business. It is theirs to nurture, maximize and change.
In Par Excellence, both Autonomy and Agency deliver problem-solving and decision-making.
Ability simply comprises the capacities needed to get the job done. In Par Excellence, it includes acquiring the tools, on-going knowledge and practice, and collaboration to get the job done.
Motivation
Today we know a lot about motivation. Beyond Maslow’s lower needs of food, shelter, and safety, the traditional motivators have focused on versions of pain, fear, and gain. They can certainly motivate behaviors, but do not tend to motivate high productivity, quality, and especially not innovation. They tend to be more transaction based than they are sustaining motivators. Nevertheless, it is what poor leaders rely on.
Psychologists have demonstrated that the key motivators that sustain a sense of ownership are kinship, identity and meaning. Par Excellence provides a set of tools designed to address each of these motivators. Get these right, and you will have employees with a deep sense of ownership.
Implementation
Implementation is about teaching you to fish. It consists of four training days spread evenly in a 120 day window. This has proven to be the best way for you to absorb the methodology and be successful with it. We then follow up with quarterly meetings where a few additional tools are acquired. Once you've thoroughly implemented the methodology, you can operate independent of us and you can cascade the process throughout the organization. We are always available for a call-back or refresher, but that is rarely needed.