Why this course?

“I need more employees to think about the business the way I do!” The manager who said this was frustrated with employees who don’t focus on customer service or don’t look for ways to save the company money like she does. Managers want employees to take ownership of the job, to demonstrate that they understand that their own success is tied to the success of the business. This workshop develops the skills managers need to have strategic conversations that encourage employees to think – and act – as if they own the job and the business results.

What makes us different?

Ownership and Accountability is customized for client-specific situations, needs, and cultures. It emphasizes intensive practice and skill building, not theory. Managers learn not only what to do but also how to do it. They also learn through video labs in which they see themselves as others see them, often for the first time. This approach produces the aha! moment necessary for sustained behavioral change.

This approach produces rapid, sustained workplace behavior change –  managers return to their jobs, do them differently and better, and, follow-up research shows, are still doing so 12 months later.

How does your organization benefit?

When managers participate in this hands-on learning experience, you can expect to see:

• • • Managers helping employees connect what they do every day to the company’s strategic goals, so that employees feel a part of important business accomplishments – connect the what to the why.
    • Employees with a clearer understanding of their job expectations, how they will be measured, and what success looks like.
    • Employees demonstrating initiative, self-starter, proactive, and owner mindsets because their managers helped them translate these traits into specific, observable behaviors. 
    • Employees recognizing what needs to be done and doing it.
    • Employees demonstrating commitment to producing desired results.
    • Managers helping employees understand the impact of their actions and decisions.
    • Managers having more frequent and more productive conversations with employees about their performance.

What will participants learn?

• • • The skills and tools for having strategic conversations that foster ownership of the job
    • How to help employees connect what they do to to why this matters – the impact of their performance on customers, on business results, and on the other parts of the organization
    • How to define the measurable results expected and the specific behaviors that will enable employees to succeed – and engage employees in determining how they will achieve results
    • How to help them set priorities
    • The five steps to commitment: How to get employees to make a sincere commitment to producing desired results
    • How to listen to employee concerns and identify what they need from their manager in order to own the job
    • How to hold them accountable without micromanaging and how to coach them to hold themselves accountable

How does the course work?

Typically this program involves 12 to 20 participants (16 is ideal). It covers 16 intense hours, including three video labs, and also involves some pre-work.

More than 2/3 of course time is spent in small groups in video labs: practice, coaching, feedback. Participants use scenarios drawn from their own experiences; these scenarios can be customized to fit your company’s needs. Each lab group has four participants and one coach/facilitator.

Customization and integration

First, participants create their own practice scenarios based on real-life situations, not off-the-shelf case studies.

Second, Ownership and Accountability works because it is designed in partnership with you – designed to integrate seamlessly into your organizational culture and with existing practices, programs, models and systems. We’ll work with you to integrate the skills and processes into your existing performance management processes.

Measuring results: Pre- and post-workshop survey

Direct reports of participants respond to questions about their managers’ coaching/leading/managing communications behaviors. This online survey is administered before participants attend the training, and again nine to 12 months later. Each participant receives their results, and senior management and HR Business Partners receive group summary results along with our analysis.

This survey:

• Provides baseline data for each manager regarding how their direct reports perceive their behaviors.
• Highlights specific behaviors that need to be improved through the skills training.
• Focuses attention on the specific behaviors that make leaders more effective.
• Pinpoints which behaviors will most effectively foster ownership and accountability.
• Provides documentation of progress and the sustainability of the skills over time.

How will the skills be sustained?

Sustaining the skills entails collaboration on the part of the participants, their managers, and the organization. We can offer strategies to support all three and can work with you to select and implement strategies to ensure sustainable success.