Break It Down Would your managers take more interest in their departments' success if it were their company?

It's your company, and nobody cares more about it than youdo, right? Probably true, but there's a way to get yourmanagers to care almost as much--and be motivated to adopt yourperspective in their operational style.

How do you do it? Through a management method called"intrepreneurship," a concept first developed in bigcompanies a decade ago as a response to declining morale andproductivity, says Mickey Adams-Grames, president of ML Adams &Associates LLC, a management consulting firm in Salt Lake City. Itwas also created to be an alternative to competitive corporateincentive programs that actually pitted managers against eachother, often to the ultimate detriment of the company.

As part of her work, Adams-Grames has adapted the concept tosmall and midsized companies by taking this basic approach:Managers are taught to view every other person in the company astheir customer; they are totally responsible for everything intheir departments, including financial issues; they share in thecompany's profits; and they are both in control and accountablefor their area of responsibility.