Our department heads agree to quarterly Rocks but they still refer to themselves as managers rather than true owners of their business units. How do we use our session days with you to shift their identity so they think and act like true leaders?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To get your department heads to think and act like owners, we must change how they define themselves within your organization. If they view themselves merely as managers, they will focus on executing tasks and waiting for your permission. We use our quarterly sessions to shift their identity from passive doers to active owners of their seats.

This shift starts with the language we use in our sessions. We stop talking about managing tasks and start focusing on owning the outcome of the seat. During our quarterly planning, we hold your department heads fully accountable for defining their own Rocks and defending their resources. We ask them to step up as the ultimate decision makers for their business units, using the IDS process to solve their own operational challenges rather than escalating them to you.

By treating your department heads as owners during our session days, we encourage them to claim that professional identity. They begin to understand that their value is not measured by their daily activity, but by the health and profitability of the business units they run. This behavioral shift carries over into their daily operations, freeing you from micromanaging and building a self sustaining leadership team.