Dan Schneider

Marketing the Ownership Mentality: The Critical Role of Key Managers
August 31, 2007

Your management team is responsible for the day to day and strategic operations of your business. They communicate early and often with the people who make your products or prepare your services for the outside world, and are an extension and representation of you, the owner. Therefore, they – the managers – are your internal marketing team responsible for promoting the culture you envision for your organization and spreading the ownership mentality.

Let’s think about managers as falling into one of these four categories:

1.      Manager: This person exercises supervisory responsibility over other employees. A turnover at this level might be inconvenient at worst. As a rule, their loyalty lies with the highest bidder; so it isn’t likely you can count on them to spread and drive a culture of accountability.    

2.      Key Manager: We’ve moved up a notch.    They don’t particularly like change; and, as a rule, they lead relatively simple and conservative lives. Because of their commitment to do things right, they usually operate independently. When the business plan is well developed, they can see the big picture. They have unique talents, an admirable work ethic, and are often the backbone of a business. 

3.      Special Key Manager: Now we’re talking about someone very important to the achievement of the strategic goals and marketing the “Ownership Mentality.” They understand the key concepts of inspiration, delegation, education, and communication. As a result, they adjust easily and quickly to changing circumstances; and they operate most effectively without close supervision. 

4.      Very Special Key Manger: These are your movers and shakers. Had circumstances been different, they would own their own businesses. These are the people you want surrounding you. They are calculated risk takers who have demonstrated an ability to make the right things happen the right way and the right number of times. In short, they make you money and are the embodiment of the ownership mentality. 

Given those classifications and brief descriptions of their characteristics, take a few minutes to fill in a table like the sample below. Do a quick evaluation of where your managers fall, and you’ll probably begin to understand why accountability and an ownership mentality is struggling or flourishing in your company.

 Remember, your managers are the people leading the charge and marketing the owner mentality throughout your organization.

Posted by Dan Schneider on August 31, 2007 | Comments (0)