I’m often asked by leadership teams to speak to organizations, particularly hospitals, (to both hospital and physician staffs), about “taking ownership” of the hospital or organization they work with or for.
Larry Murphy, a stellar USAirways flight attendant (more on Larry later), demonstrated “taking ownership” multiple times on my brief flight with him from Charlotte to Columbia, on my typical last leg of travel to get home.
Larry constantly referred to the CRJ we were flying as “my aircraft.” Not USAir’s. Not the pilot or co-pilot’s aircraft. But HIS aircraft. Surely the jet was USAir’s as it was also the pilot’s, but when Larry was speaking, it was HIS aircraft.
Let’s imagine you are a physician and work in a hospital. And you’re talking to a patient in your office. How do you refer to the hospital? “The” hospital, or “my” hospital.
If you’re a nurse working in a hospital do you refer to “the” or “my” hospital?
As a physician, I’d typically refer to my practice as “my” or “our” practice with my partner. But I usually would refer to the hospital as “the” hospital, not “my” hospital.
“I’ll let you fly on MY aircraft anytime!” Larry said to a passenger helping him with another passenger’s luggage.
Not only “in the moment,” (more on this later too), but as an OWNER.
There’s a big difference between the pronoun “the” and the possessive pronoun “my.”
And that’s ownership.
Before Larry became a flight attendant, he ran a music business that specialized in selling Orff instruments to schools for children’s music classes. He was the “owner.” But now, as an “employee” of USAirways, he still thinks of himself as an “owner,” because he IS.
While he acknowledges that most people who fly on “his” aircraft will most likely never fly on one of “his” flights again, he looks at his mission as providing an ambience that will leave a positive impression in the mind of passengers who might want to repeat the experience by flying on USAirways again. As he puts it, “In my music business, my mission was to turn a moment into a sale. And then to turn that sale into a relationship that would build trust and pave to the way to mutual respect and multiple sales. That’s still my job as a flight attendant for USAirways.”
Take ownership.
Use a possessive pronoun.
“MY hospital.”
Try it out.
Be an owner.
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