My first leadership experience within an organization was a total bust. I was involved in a youth group as a pre-teen and decided to plan a “social” – you know, a group of guys, a group of girls, some music and some food. After hanging fliers and making tons of phone calls (this was before the days of SMS and Facebook), you can imagine my disappointment when a just handful of people showed up. Myself, a few losers and the girl who was helping with refreshments. It was a pretty lame crowd. What happened to all the people I spoke with that had committed to come? Dejected and ready to resign my post as social coordinator, someone told me about The Green Jello Theory.

It’s no secret that if you want people to feel invested in any kind of project, they need to feel responsible for the outcome. They have to perceive themselves to be an integral part of the process without whom success would be impossible. What does this have to do with green Jello? The story goes something like this: a shy girl was invited to participate in a club. She was seriously considering bailing out, but she remembered that she was asked to bring green Jello to the meeting and had agreed. She had no idea why, but she knew that her Jello was important to whatever activity was going to take place. So reluctantly, she shows up with her bowl of Jello and it turns out that the Jello wasn’t all that important at all. What was important was that she showed up, had a great time and become involved in the club. The rest is history.

A project manager seeking to diffuse specific tasks or entire parts of any given project needs to come up with creative yet effective ways to divvy up the responsibility of bringing along the green Jello. (Although in our case, the green Jello should be something the project or initiative really does need). Once that happens, and everyone within a team gains small ownership, the results are much different – and much more successful – than when the team members are just along for the ride. While that all sounds great, it is important to remember that diffusion is a lot more than just vertical delegation. Successful diffusion requires the following:

• Team Mapping:  Assessment of skills, capabilities and room for growth.
• Public Review:  Allowing everyone to see current status and identify growth opportunities as a group and individually.
• Turning on a Dime: Due to our rapidly changing environments the ability to turn everyone, and the parts they now own, on a dime.

You want your technical writers to feel invested in the process and take ownership and pride in their work product? Have ‘em bring along a bowl of green Jello to your next team meeting.