Ownership is mind-set determined – see how many of the following you recognise:
[geoads2]
- Yes I agree with you , you’re right I do need to change – soon
- These numbers are not good enough, they will improve – soon
- I’m going to sign up for an MBA, its time for me to improve my business education – when I get the time
- I nearly told her/him what I really thought of them. I was that close to losing it.
- Next month/quarter/year I will deliver a better performance
- Factors beyond my control were to blame for missing the numbers (select from a long list – the wrong weather a favourite amongst some company chairmen)
- It’s a personality clash, there’s nothing I can do
- It’s good in theory but won’t work in practice (then it’s a bad theory)
- My boss is a nightmare
- I don’t have the resources, or its evergreen predecessor
- I don’t have the time
- We can’t fire them, it’s too difficult (not if done correctly)
- Better ongoing mediocre performance, than a vacancy (this breeds mediocrity)
- People need time to come to terms with changing their behaviour (no they don’t, people need time to change their attitudes not their behaviour)
- The other department/person/division is to blame.
- We are incompatible star signs (true – said a manager earning £75K plus a year)
- Where can you get good people these days?
- People these days are more disloyal
- I have an addictive personality
- I have a low metabolic rate
The issue with this list is not to test them for truth, they might be, that’s not the point. People with a high ownership mind-set seek to transcend issues not use them as excuses as to why something has not been achieved/done/actioned.
[geoads3]
What’s good fun (or depressing if they work close to you) is, once you spot someone with a low ownership mind-set, how often these excuses crop up.