This post is part of our ongoing series on the action-oriented process.

Actions are most powerfully implemented when ownership is assigned to stakeholders. In the context of the workshop, once actions are identified, the assignment of an owner among the stakeholders for resolution of each action item can go a long way in ensuring implementation.Traditionally, researchers have attempted to create insight implementation by recommending actions to the entire organization.

However, this approach can sometimes cause recommendations to fall flat, or even worse, sound preachy to the rest of the organization. Researchers are finding that a more effective way to create ownership is to let stakeholders identify their own goals and action items.

The table below outlines an example of how this might work. For each finding in the left column, a key stakeholder would be assigned in the middle column. On the right, that stakeholder would create their own action steps for implementing on their assigned finding.

Image courtesy of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung on Flickr Creative Commons