"own the process"

Posted by Lewis on April 07, 2003

In Reply to: "Own the process" posted by ESC on April 05, 2003

: : Jargon from where?
: : recent Doonesbury

: I don't have a definitive answer. But I believe it came from a business-world management fad --"empowerment" of employees -- lampooned in the comic strip "Dilbert."

It appears to come from the counselling field, rather than business. It's related to people "buying-in" to an idea. I use it when talking about mediation : that because I only set the ground rules for the problem-solving discussions, the people involved "own the process" in that they are free to determine to define the boundaries of the discussions.

It requires that the people involved must be entirely free to determine the rules of engagement and not have problem-solving imposed upon them.