A Summer Management Experiment at Home

This summer, I'm running a little management experiment at home.

Last year, my daughters had a detailed chore chart with clear responsibilities, rewards, and accountability. One daughter thrived in that system. The other did not.

So this summer, I decided to try something different. So far, I've seen a surprisingly positive shift in attitude and motivation. (Let's hope it lasts!)

It reminded me of an important leadership lesson: sometimes we become so focused on driving compliance that we forget to build connection.

Clear expectations, performance measures, accountability, and rewards matter. In fact, they're essential. But if we focus only on compliance, we often miss the deeper motivation that drives ownership and initiative.

People are more likely to take ownership when they feel valued, trusted, and connected to a larger purpose. The best leaders create both clarity and connection.

If you want to see your people take more ownership, remember this: people are much more likely to act like owners when we treat them like owners.

• Read the video transcript

  Well, this summer I'm running a little management experience at home. Last summer, I had a very detailed chore chart for my girls with explicit responsibilities every day, and through that they earned a little bit of screen time each day, they earned an allowance. And one of my daughters thrived in that system, and the other one did not.

  So I decided to experiment with a new approach this summer. Instead, the chore chart this summer has very minimal expectations for a daily basis. I mean, we're talking like pick up your belongings just a few very minor things.

  But then the majority of the chore chart includes a list of different ideas of ways that they could contribute to this home, other things that they could do to really help take care of what needs to be covered around our house. And I didn't even tell them what types of rewards will be involved in this system.

  Instead, the message was, " You're part of this family. I would love for you to choose to contribute to our family and to our home this summer, and here are some ideas to do that." And I will say, it has been amazing. Now, it's early summer, so we'll see how this lasts, but the one who did well in the old system, she takes responsibility all the time anyway, so continues to do just fine.

  The other one, it has been so fascinating to watch her motivation and excitement, change in this new system. In fact, the other morning I was driving home from the gym and she called me, and she had all these questions for these extra chores that she was doing that I hadn't even asked her to do first thing in the morning.

  So let's hope this continues. It's a great example of how sometimes in our leadership we can shift over into kind of a compliance mindset, where we are driving compliance out of very strict expectations. I am a huge fan of clear expectations, clear measures of success. However, we need to motivate our employees to pursue those through connection, not compliance.

  Do they feel like they are a valued member of this team? Do they feel needed? Do they feel like they get to contribute in valuable ways? Do they feel like an owner of the team's success, of the company's success?

  Because at the end of the day, people are much more likely to act like owners when we treat them like owners.