"A number of individual contributors and first level managers evidently feel stalled in their careers and have decided that it's not their fault. They see others on a fast track, being promoted and heading up interesting design or customer initiatives; they believe that their own lack of movement is due to not getting given the same plum assignments, not being given the same chances for visibility. The solution, they think, is if they just move over to person X's group and get to work on project Y, then they'll be set and on a fast track.

"The reality is, we didn't 'give' those assignments to any of those high performing 'favored' employees. They got them because they stepped up. They saw a problem, suggested a way of fixing it, took responsibility and made it happen. They showed they were drivers with their first taking of initiative. Past that we knew we could point them at any problem and it would get handled. In fact, they often bring the problems, and their solutions, to us before we even ask.

"Any of those 'constrained' people could take the same initiative right where they are, and make for themselves the same opportunities and visibility, and win the same promotions. (If they had done so before now, some of our commitments wouldn't have been so challenging to meet.) But they're operating daily in a box of their own making. And they've ended up putting a box around their own careers. "

• The overall business goal: Everyone asks not "what is the work," but first, "what is the purpose of the upcoming work?" What are we trying to deliver to a customer and why -- what is their most pressing need, their particular measures of success? And what is the business goal of the company? Do we have to release a system by a certain date, even if not with all the possible features, to have the chance to gain significant market share? Do we have to meet a certain cost target to make money from it? Only when those goals are understood will individuals on the team be able to come up with the right ideas and make the best tradeoff decisions for the customers and the company, throughout the project.
  
  
• The corresponding project results: In meaningful detail, what must the project deliver to achieve the business goals? What must the system look like to meet the cost targets and schedule date? What internal processes might be needed to enable us to meet the goals, e.g. new configuration management procedures to support a new level of customer special systems?
  
  
• The commitments needed along the way to get there: How many schedules have slipped because someone didn't truly "own" their milestones -- did not take an attitude of extreme commitment to meeting dates all along the way? A slip at the end is usually made of up multiple smaller slips much earlier on. Team members must understand and be willing to drive to interim dates for their various project contributions.

1. Involve them in business discussions to help them understand the bottom-line results needed and how their work fits:
   
   • Do you involve team members in business discussions? The co-creation of Project Charters or Project Vision documents by the team early on should focus first on customer needs and company business goals, then on key functionality to meet those goals.
     
     
   • Do team members understand how their technical decisions affect project results? Design/Project reviews in the early phases should include the schedule, project budget, product cost, and risk profile of each design alternative being considered.
     
     
   • Do they understand how their work fits into delivering results at different points? In team planning sessions, highlight major milestones and plan backwards to show how their work is critical to making the interim targets. Create milestone tables that don't just list milestone dates, but also list the critical 'driving tasks' from each functional group for meeting the major milestones.
     
     
2. Model ownership through the questions you ask. Meetings are a fabulous opportunity to model the business-oriented mindset you want from every team member. In your project meetings and design reviews, demonstrate how team members can 'own' the goals and results through the questions they ask. For example, rather than accepting design alternatives decisions as-presented, make sure people are asking: "What are the costs of upgrade anticipated to be -- do they meet our Project Objectives?" "To hold the schedule for the Customer X contractual commitment, don't we need to consider leaving feature X until a subsequent release?" Even one person, regardless of title, can start to shift your entire team's mindset by asking such questions. Find them or create them by some pre-meeting coaching.
   
   
3. Make team member's roles and responsibilities and duties explicit to banish accidental boxes. Make sure you haven't put someone in a box by setting tight constrained expectations, or not being explicit enough with your expectations. Use techniques such as Team Roles Lists that go beyond general high-level role titles to include detailed responsibilities, and even specific "duties." See our Team Roles and Responsibilities List template for more on this.
   
   
4. Recognize and reward the initiative taken by people who are operating outside boxes. When they speak up with the right questions in meetings, reinforce the importance of their questions to the group. When they speak up for the customer, express your delight and the value of their perspective. In one-on-ones, look for opportunities to congratulate and further coach people on operating not in a box, but within the big picture instead. Use them as expert objective reviewers/contributors on other project -- and point out to them how their mindset is making them valuable and expanding their visibility and involvement in the company.

• What outcomes, what customer satisfaction, what project results are falling short of what you wanted, what the company needs?
  
  
• Is it a box problem? What boxes are people operating out of, and where did those boxes come from?
  
  
• Determine what ownership of business goals, results, and commitments need to be better understood by the team and build in that learning to your project's requirements development and meetings and all your interactions with team members.
  
  
• And finally, give your people explicit permission and encouragement to take initiative; and expect it through how their roles, responsibilities, duties, and milestone commitments are expressed. Then recognize it when it happens!