Can you recognize ownership problems at work? Not coming to work, and not spending enough time on assigned tasks. Careless people are easy to spot. Right? Not necessarily!
Some of my team members seem to work hard. But to get results, I have to continuously chase them. The customer keeps complaining about them. When I spoke one-on-one with the team members, every one of them seemed pretty good. If they are good, the results should have been better.
When Hard Work + Smart Work Is Not Enough
So, I decided to check further. Why hard work is not equating to results? There must be some reason for low productivity. My first instinct was to check if they are spending enough time at work. They do. They work pretty hard sometimes more than other team members. I already know they are smart. That’s why I hired them!
Still, there was something missing. Customers were complaining that these team members are slow. Customers said, they are incompetent and asked to remove them from the team because they were not getting the outcome they expected. Every other day, there was escalation.
These hardworking team members are smart and also have experience. But customers felt they are not good. Somewhere, something is wrong.
The Real Issue: Intellectual Laziness
Here is what was going wrong. One team member, the very bright guy, totally refused to apply mind, when it comes to office work. He showed lot of intellectual laziness. When he found problems, he just reported that he is unable to progress and just waited for customer input. Customer used to be busy and would take some time to check the problem. When the customer checked the problem, the input required was usually trivial which could have been handled by team member himself. This made customer think that our team member is inefficient. Our team member could have assumed some things and taken a stop-gap decision and could have proceeded. Long cycle of improvement iterations were making the customer very upset.
The member had no problem spending sufficient work hours. He was even ready for extra hours. But he did not want to spend any intellectual energy on work. His was like – just follow the instructions, as a obedient junior. If work got delayed, it just did not evoke any emotions in him.
When questioned, all he keeps mentioning is how hard he works. He blames the system or customer for delays and refuses to introspect. This team member has hidden ownership issues. Other team members too had similar ownership issues which lead to low productivity and customer escalations.
Let us see how ownership manifests in different levels and why it matters.
Levels of Ownership
- Physical Involvement: This is the most visible form of ownership, where a team member invests time and follows instructions. It is easy to witness how hard anyone works.
- Intellectual Involvement: This level requires putting “skin in the game.” It means being mindful, proposing decisions, and acting when delays occur. Instead of waiting for customer input, take temporary decisions and make course corrections later. Intellectual involvement shows that the person is thinking critically and taking initiative.
- Emotional Involvement: When emotionally invested, a person’s commitment is obvious. It shows in their sense of urgency, body language, follow-ups, and proactive behavior. Delays make them anxious, not out of fear but because they genuinely care about meeting their commitments. This healthy anxiety drives results.
If all three align, you can feel the ownership of your team member. You will feel that you can depend upon this member. It is priceless.
If you feel something is not right about a team member, check these aspects of ownership.
