9+ Ownership: A dual main-track approach

Dual main-track approach

If we introduce and expand a 9+ Way of Working, we work with a dual main-track approach. In order to make the emotionalization and humanization of the customer journey possible in the day-to-day practice, we ensure that:

• On the one hand, multidisciplinary teams get to work with Customer Journeys or Episode Journeys for key moments that matter to the customers and the organization. What the teams develop, test, improve, and prepare for a broad launch is ultimately intended as a new standard for the entire organization. 
• On the other hand, management and employees are inspired and activated from the very start to make a difference for the customer every day and to include this in the daily way of working, coordinating, and improving across the organization and to celebrate successes.

Ownership is essential to a successful 9+ Way of Working

In organizations that increasingly focus on agile working and self-management, employees are increasingly being asked to think for themselves, to be flexible, proactive, to keep to their agreements, and to dare to act outside the established frameworks. In this context, organizations are looking for employees who are really invested in their work. This is what we call ownership: to really invest in something and assume full responsibility for it.

Conditions for ownership

According to Pieter van der Haak (2018), ownership is subject to three intrinsic conditions and four contextual conditions. The first intrinsic condition is willingness – people in organizations show more ownership if they want to do the work they do well because of the work itself. The second intrinsic value is ability – this is about having sufficient skills and self-confidence. When you start something, you have to feel that you can do the job. The third intrinsic value is meaningfulness – people have an intrinsic wish to be meaningful for their environment. Understanding the meaningfulness of what you are doing is a huge help in claiming ownership. The four contextual conditions are: room for maneuver, trust, transparency, and overview.

With the 9+ Way of Working approach, we organize empowerment of teams and team leaders for and with clients, and encourage ownership of departments, branches, and teams on behalf of the entire organization for innovation of all or parts of the Customer Journey. By organizing this across the organization, we stimulate ownership at the level of the individual.
 

The brand is made or broken in one-on-one contact

With a share of 78% of service products in the Dutch economy (Statistics Netherlands, 2018), it seems appropriate to talk about a service economy. And even in these times of digitization, a brand is often made or broken in one-to-one contact with employees. What's more, time and again, it's the employees who provide really enthusiastic customers (promoters and fans). But at the same time, employees are often the number-one cause of dissatisfied customers. The thousands of decisions that all the employees of an organization make every day have an enormous impact on the customer experience. That is why Altuïtion, in co-creation with clients, focuses on the 9+ Way of Working, on 9+ Leadership, and on 9+ Ownership, while also paying careful attention to the extent to which the customer experience and the interest of the customer are taken into account in all decisions that are made in the organization on a daily basis.