Are you taking ‘extreme ownership’ of your ERG/Network’s impact?

In the book ‘Extreme Ownership’ retired US Navy Seal officers Jocko Willink and Leif Babin explain that effective leaders accept there is no one else to blame for problems and commit to lead up and down the chain of command to find solutions. 

‘Extreme’. Sounds scary. And as challenging as it can be, Network/ERG leadership isn’t combat. 

At its heart though, extreme ownership is a universal, empowering and liberating concept. It’s not about beating yourself up or burning out by trying to do everything yourself. 

It’s about recognising that if you own the problem, then you can own the solution (through teamwork and good communication). 

It’s a concept that we enjoy and a trait we recognise in many of the most impactful disability ERG/Network leaders in the PurpleSpace community. Here’s how Darren Rowan, International Leader EnAble, Eli Lilly and Company puts extreme ownership into practice:

“A colleague once suggested that it’s a form of arrogance to complain when others’ don’t understand disability inclusion. It’s not about internalising other people’s ableism or putting up with discriminatory practice but as a leader, if you start to frame other people’s perceptions as your problem and not theirs, you immediately switch into problem solving mode. The question becomes, ‘what can I learn and how can I influence in a way that moves things forward?”. 

Support your disabled colleagues to own their conversations with colleagues

In her latest book, ‘Positively Purple’, PurpleSpace CEO, Kate Nash discusses how focusing on her own actions help her to deal with the inner conflict caused by the words and actions of other people:

‘I profoundly belief that my life is enhanced and made richer much more by the actions I take (or do not take) than by micro-managing the education and lack of training of others who have less experience of disability’. 

One of the most important impacts that any disability ERG/Network leader can have is supporting their colleagues with disabilities and long-term conditions to develop their confidence and to own the outcome of their interactions with colleagues. 

This month we invite you to consider:

• What are the biggest challenges your ERG/Network faces and what personal actions can you take to help solve them?
• How can you work constructively with teams or colleagues who don’t share your understanding of, and passion for disability inclusion? 
• How can you support colleagues with disabilities to build the confidence not to let ‘other people’s stuff’ (i.e. lack of education or experience of disability) destroy their energy and enthusiasm?

New resource on building confidence

This month, we launch a new resource for employees with disabilities that summarises the fundamentals of how to have confident conversations with colleagues. 

How will you cascade the learning?

Peer Leadership Roundtables

One of the most valuable aspects of PurpleSpace membership is the opportunity to build your leadership capacity via quality conversation with other disability ERG/Network leaders.

Each month we convene groups of disability ERG/Network leaders to stimulate discussion on the issues that matter most to our members.

Connect with your peers during these interactive one-hour sessions for disability ERG/Network leaders. These sessions are a great way to share good practice and challenges, swap ideas and build your ERG/Network leadership capacity. 

We have two sessions to choose from to explore the power of ownership:

• 8 August 08:00 – 09:00 GMT (19:00 – 20:00 ACT)

• 22 August 16:00 – 17:00 GMT (11:00 – 12:00 AST)

Resources and Recommendations 

Tap into our PurpleSpace know-how and check out some of the external learning that links into this month’s leadership lesson:

• Confident Conversations: A suite of guides to support people with disabilities and long-term conditions to have confident conversations with work colleagues. 
• Why Are You Pretending to be Normal? Written by Dr Phil Friend OBE and Dave Rees, this book asks the questions that anyone with a disability needs to ask themselves, offering practical tools and techniques.
• Extreme Ownership Animated Summary: Lessons from ‘Extreme Ownership’ by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.