Personal leadership · Proving to Scaling
Owning your work
You bring a problem with a recommendation, make the decisions that are yours to make, and finish what you pick up.
Worth reading first: A role with a purpose, Who decides what
Does this sound familiar?
- You get stuck and send your manager a message: 'How should I do this?' Then you wait.
- You know perfectly well what you'd do, but you ask anyway, just to be safe.
- You start three things at once, and a month later none of them is finished.
- You can see something going wrong with a client. It isn't your client, so you say nothing.
- Something went wrong, and your first sentence was about who hadn't passed it on properly.
Who it's for, and when
For anyone whose work someone else is counting on, and for managers who have a manager or an owner above them too. Early on you sit next to the founder and can just pop in; then it's enough to say what you'd do every time you ask a question. You need the fixed format in this lesson once they're no longer sitting next to you and every question lands on a pile.
The model
“Don't move information to authority, move authority to the information.”
Owning your work means you're the one who moves it forward, even when you need help. The lesson Who's got the monkey? teaches your manager not to take your problem off you. This lesson is the other side of it: you don't come to drop it off. You bring it with what you recommend, and you take it away again with a next step.
On his submarine, Marquet noticed that everyone was waiting for his orders, and that they knew plenty he didn't. So he had his people stop asking 'can I?' and start saying 'I intend to'. That way they'd already thought about what was needed, and all the captain had to do was say 'very well' or ask a follow-up question.
Oncken puts this into five levels. At 1 you wait until you're told, at 2 you ask what to do, at 3 you make a recommendation and then act on it, at 4 you act and report straight away, at 5 you act and mention it in the regular meeting. Stay at 2 and every problem ends up with someone else. This lesson helps you get to 3, and to 4 or 5 where the decision is yours.
Which decisions are yours is on your role scorecard (the lesson A role with a purpose) and in the agreements from the lesson Who decides what. If you don't know, ask once and get it written down. Then you won't need to ask again.
David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around! (2012). As captain of the submarine USS Santa Fe, he stopped his crew asking for permission and had them say what they intended to do instead. The five levels of a problem come from William Oncken Jr. and Donald L. Wass, Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?, Harvard Business Review, 1974.
1. Bring a problem with a recommendation
Say what's going on, what you've already tried, what you recommend and what you need from the other person. Half a recommendation beats none: it gives you something to talk about.
2. Make the decision that's yours
If it's under Decides alone, you decide and you don't check with anyone. If it's under Checks first, you talk it through, and then you make the decision yourself.
3. Finish what you pick up
What you commit to, you finish. If it's not going to happen, say so as soon as you know, and say what you can do and by when. How to make a commitment and renegotiate it in time is in the lesson Commitments you keep.
Commitments you keep4. Say what you see
If you see something going wrong outside your own work, tell whoever's responsible for it. You don't have to fix it. You make sure the owner knows.
Pitfalls
A recommendation that's really a question
'Shall I maybe do it like this?' sounds like a recommendation, but you're still leaving the choice to the other person. Say 'I intend to', and ask if they can see anything you've missed.
Wanting to solve everything yourself
Ownership doesn't mean struggling on alone for too long. If you're still stuck after a day, or it affects a client, a deadline or money, bring it, with the four questions.
Watch and read
Marquet himself, with a clip from on board a submarine: what it sounds like when someone says what they intend to do, and what it sounds like when they're waiting for an order.
Watch on YouTubeTwo minutes on what to do when someone asks you what they should do: don't answer, ask what they see and what they'd do. Marquet uses his own ladder with more rungs, but it points the same way as the five levels in this lesson.
Watch on YouTubeTo go further
Marquet's whole story, with questions from the audience. For anyone who wants more.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Turn the Ship Around!
L. David Marquet · 2013 · ISBN 9781591846406
The story of the submarine, chapter by chapter, with questions for your own work at the end of each one. About 270 pages, and it reads like a story. This ISBN is the hardback edition.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Know what's yours
Read your role scorecard and your decision rights. If there's nothing there, write a first version yourself and put it to your manager.
A role with a purpose - 2
Bring a problem in four questions
What's going on, what have you tried, what do you recommend, what do you need? Use the format below, in a conversation or a message.
- 3
Say 'I intend to'
For anything you could actually decide yourself. Then all the other person has to say is whether they can see anything you've missed.
- 4
Keep track of what you've picked up
One list, with a finish date for each job. Look at it at the end of the week. If something's no longer going to happen, hand it back with a reason, before anyone asks.
Commitments you keep
Examples
Ready to use: bringing a problem
What's going on? One or two sentences, with what it affects (a client, a deadline, money). What have I already tried? What do I recommend? I intend to ... What do I need from you? A decision, a contact, time, or just for you to know. When will I let you know how it went? If you don't have a recommendation, say which two options you see and which one you'd choose.
Ready to use: the same conversation, wrong and right
Wrong: 'The supplier can't deliver for another three weeks. What should I do?' 'Hmm, let me think about it. I'll get back to you.' Now you're waiting, and the problem is with your manager. Right: 'The supplier can't deliver for another three weeks. That pushes the client's handover back a week. I've rung two other suppliers; one can do next week, for 8% more. I intend to go with them and ring the client today. The extra cost is above my limit, so I need your sign-off.' 'Agreed. Will you let me know what the client says?' 'This afternoon.'
Ready to use: phrases for the next level up
Instead of 'What should I do?': 'I suggest that ...' Instead of 'Can I ...?': 'I intend to ... Can you see anything I've missed?' Instead of saying nothing: 'This is what I've done, so you know.' Instead of 'I thought you were doing that': 'I'll pick it up, and I'll let you know on Friday.'
A planner with an engineer off sick
At half past seven an engineer calls in sick. The planner doesn't ring the managing director. She moves two jobs to tomorrow, rings those clients herself and brings in an engineer from another team for the urgent job. At nine she sends one message: this is what happened, this is what I did, and one client would like you to call them back.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.
1.A client wants to change their order at the last minute. You don't know if that's still possible. What do you do?
2.Your role scorecard says under Decides alone: moving a client appointment within the same week. A client asks if the engineer can come on Thursday instead of Tuesday. There's room. What do you do?
3.A client is angry about a late delivery. You want to ring them today and offer a discount that's within your limit. What do you say to your manager?
4.Two clients both want help next week, and there's only one engineer free. You don't know which one comes first. What do you do?
5.You see in the system that an invoice belonging to a colleague has been outstanding for two months. It isn't your client. What do you do?
6.You've been stuck on a problem with a client for two days. You want to solve it yourself. What fits this lesson?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
Read next
- Keeping your manager on board · Your manager hears what they need to know in time, bad news included, and knows what you need from them.
Not sure where to start? Take the growth scan