From my perspective there are three roles you can play in a given situation. One is observer, two is as a helper, and three as the owner. Knowing your role is a crucial part to knowing how you should respond. I mentioned last month that private ownership had proven to be a far better economic system than government or societal ownership. I live in an area that has homes that are rented as well as homes that are owned by the occupants. Normally I can tell the difference by what we refer to as pride of ownership. Rights, responsibilities and privileges come from the ownership role. My boss tells a story that illuminates this. "Imagine yourself walking down a deserted street and finding a $20 bill in the gutter. Most people would look around, note there was no way to discern the owner of the $20 and put it in their pocket. Imagine the same scene but the $20 is in a wallet with an ID card. Most people would attempt to find the owner and give them the wallet and $20". In both cases the $20 was not yours, but it was much easier to keep when ownership was not assigned to it. The owners of the homes in my area link the appearance of the yards to themselves, while the renters link the appearance of the yards to the owners of the house, not themselves, and don't take as much care with the appearance. Small business owners are often more entrepreneurial than corporation owned businesses because they recognize the positive or negative results affect them more. Employees may see themselves as helpers, but like the renters know they are not the actual owners.This same thought process applies to more than homes and small businesses. In any group activity ,the roles of owner, helper and observer become obvious even if they are different than assigned. Observers may be engaged but only at a superficial level of talking, not at an activity level of helper, or responsibility level of owner. If observers are expected to help, or helpers are expected to own, major disruptions and poor results will occur. Joint ownership takes an even higher hurdle to overcome unless they think and believe exactly the same about all things (an unlikely scenario). In many cases the multiple helpers also make success more complex. Each one knowing and carrying out their role is the best avenue for success. Certain types of people who more willingly accept responsibility will move toward the ownership role of any group project. Others, who are not as interested in the limelight or responsibility, work better as helpers. Many times their assigned roles in the project don't match up. Project management can be defined as getting the right people in the right roles at the right time. By the way, observers do have value. The perspective they provide from the detached position they've taken is helpful for direction. It should be obvious, however, that a limited number of quality observers is all that is needed. Observers should not offer their opinions or observations unless requested, because only the owner can make what is actually an opinion into an observation.
Dysfunction occurs when someone who should be the owner tries the observer role. Accountability means being responsible, answerable for activities and results. If I am assisting or helping, my only accountability is for my actions, not for the result of what I am helping with. Observing is just a way of helping by bringing perspective to the situation that an owner may not have, but should only be given when asked. Ultimately the wisdom of ownership is that authority and responsibility are fully linked. Helpers may be the largest part of the solution but like the renters and employees mentioned before, they recognize their level of accountability does not include ownership. Ownership then, is what we are each individually accountable for, so knowing who to answer to is important. An individual business owner is answerable to the IRS and has to maintain their business records in such a way that they can be audited. In an organization large enough for "ownership" to be delegated, the supervisor recognizes they are ultimately responsible but includes the authority with the delegated responsibility so they can require an answer. Each of us are answerable to God for our conduct and decisions, making us all owners. In each personal relationship we are answerable to the other person for 100% of our side of the relationship. A major component for a civil society is personal responsibility, meaning we are answerable to society for our actions. Everyone is answerable to someone and most of us are answerable to many. This helps us define our ownership areas, which are to have a higher priority than those things we help with.
The theological description of being answerable, Revelations 20:12 and 15 says: "I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." The Bible explains in John 20:31 "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name". Liable means to be legally bound, as to make good any loss or damage that occurs in a transaction: answerable: responsible. We are all liable for how we live our life, spend our time, treat people, and what we believe. Having it wrong theologically has eternal implications because you can't change your role after death. Having it wrong in other aspects of life can be temporary. Take time now to recognize aspects of your life that require your ownership and step up if you are not performing the ownership role. Look at those areas that your role is helper but you've pushed the owner out to claim ownership and apologize if needed. Perhaps there are areas that your role is helper but you are not even helping. It's possible to "own" the helper role if that is what is to be done. Consider all the instances where your role is observer or you take time to observe even when you have no role at all. Are you spending too much time that way? Are you telling anyone that will listen what your observation is, even when you are not asked? Should you actually be helping by asking the owner what is to be done? There is one of three roles you can be responsible for in a given situation. One is observer, two is as a helper, and three as the owner. Knowing your role is the crucial part to knowing how you should respond. There is great wisdom in ownership, even when it is owning your role.
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