As Woody Allen famously quipped, "80 percent of life is showing up." But as corporate educator and workplace coach Jay Forte explains on , the Allen rule doesn't work in the workplace. Successful managers, he argues, need to find ways to create and encourage entrepreneurial thinking up and down an organization -- and instill what he calls "owner thinking" into a company's culture and ethos.
Why? Because without that scrappy, startup-like attitude, employees can easily become disengaged from higher level strategic goals and shy away from taking ownership for tasks that fall outside of job descriptions. Encouraging employees to shift from "job-description thinking" to "owner thinking," says Forte, will enhance company culture, boost creativity, and promote productivity. Here are three ways Forte says owners can help create a shift:
1. Clarify Expectations
"...Clarity, particularly about the required outcome, ensures employees and management are working towards the same expectation. This is also the place to raise the expectation from standard job description performance to owner-thinking performance..."
2. Break Down Hierarchies
"...Owners know the facts. Most employees don’t. How can an employee perform at owner level without all the information? Hire the right employees then give them more and better information..."
3. Demand Big Thinking
"...We define what we expect and need in our workplace. Raise the expectations, share important information and require big ideas. Set the tone for what must happen in the workplace and employees will see the opportunity to do more than just show up..."
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