What would you rather: a team that is driven, takes the initiative, and goes above and beyond in their work? Or a team where you have to “make” them do everything, and what you end up getting is the bare minimum?
I assume you would rather the first.
That’s why it’s important to help your team take ownership as a leader, and your actions as a leader are a big part of whether they do or not.
That leads us to two questions: What does it mean for people to take ownership? And how do you get your team to do it?
What taking ownership is (and looks like)
What is taking ownership?
Taking ownership is when you take a vested, or a personal, interest in the work you are doing and its success. It’s not just a task that you have to do, but something you want to put effort into because you care about the results.
A person who takes ownership of their work takes responsibility for the results and issues instead of blaming, takes the initiative, goes above and beyond, is proactive and solution-oriented, wants to see it succeed, will do what’s needed to make sure it is successful, and are motivated to put in their best effort.
They own it like it was theirs.
Now that we have a clearer picture of what taking ownership is and looks like, how do you help your team take ownership?
It starts with the culture
A major part of whether your team members take ownership or not is based on the culture you build within the organization.
If the culture is one of fear and compliance, where people fear speaking up, making mistakes, innovating, and disagreeing because of the consequences they may have, people will focus more on avoiding mistakes instead of taking ownership and pursuing excellence.
If you have a culture where you just command and never listen, you build a mentality that is us vs. them, and one where people may do the work because they are told, but it’s because they are told. If it fails, they were just “following orders.”
When you build a culture where people feel safe speaking up, making mistakes, disagreeing, giving and receiving feedback, and where they feel listened to and heard, then you are building a culture where people are much more likely to ownership in the work they do.
As the leader, you set the culture in your organization and your team. Even if you are a middle or front-line manager, and the overall culture of your organization is unhealthy, you can still build a healthier one for your team that gets results.
If the culture isn’t where you want to be, look at yourself first and see what actions you need to take to begin changing the culture.
Give purpose
Giving the purpose, the why, of the work is huge.
If you feel like your work has no purpose or meaning, it’s hard to own it and put all your effort into it. Why? Because there’s no point to it.
Purpose first starts with the organization. It needs to have a clear purpose and goals that help it get there.
If you are the leader of a team, then you can take that purpose and goals from the organization and own them with your team (and, if your organization doesn’t have them, create them for your team).
When giving work to people, explain the purpose. Explain how it fits into the big picture and the mission and goals of the organization and team. Explain the impact it has and how it helps other people.
If possible, help them also see how it helps them in their own personal goals.
Involve them in the planning and decision-making
It’s harder to take ownership of something that you had no involvement in creating.
When you involve the person in the creation of the task, the plan, and the expected outcome, there’s more buy-in in it because they were part of it.
Even if you don’t do what they suggest, but they know you actually listened to them, there’s still more buy-in with that (It has to be real though—some “leaders” do fake buy-in where they already made a decision but “listen” to pretend to get people’s input. Don’t do that).
Of course, different tasks and projects may have different levels of planning they can do, but the more you can, the better.
It could be a one-on-one discussion with you going over it and sharing ideas, and it could be them planning it out and coming back to you and working through it.
However you do it, the more input they have in it, the more ownership they are likely to take, and the more motivated they will be in it.
Provide autonomy in the work
According to Daniel Pink in his book Drive, autonomy is one of the big three human motivators (along with purpose and mastery).
When you try to control every detail of how people do things, that is demotivating. However, when you provide autonomy, focus more on the outcome instead of every detail, and empower them to make decisions in it and how to do it, then you build more ownership in them.
Model it
As the leader, you set the tone of the team by your actions. You can say this and that are your values or this and that is important all you want, but unless you live it with your actions, your words mean nothing.
If you want your people to take ownership of their work, you take ownership of yours. Go all in. Show them what it looks like. Go above and beyond yourself.
Take ownership of mistakes and problems. Ask for help when needed.
Model the behaviors you want, and you are more likely to get those from your team.
Listen well
Listening is part of involving people in the process (as we discussed above), and it’s also part of building a good culture. It should happen all the time, not just when trying to implement or give instructions.
When you have a culture where listening is frequent, where you are constantly asking for and receiving feedback, people feel more heard and part of the company. They are more vested in it.
Because of that, they are more likely to take ownership in what they do.
Charles Duhigg, in his book Smarter Faster Better, tells the story of when Toyota started its first factory in the United States. It took over an old GM plant that was one of the worst (if not the worst) performing plants. It had tons of issues with employee behavior and more.
As part of the agreement to take over the plant, Toyota was required to keep 80% of the workforce from when it was under GM.
Toyota led differently, and one of the tools they implemented was listening well. When people offered suggestions on how to make things better, they implemented them. If someone wanted to rearrange a workspace, they would let them (listening and autonomy).
In fact, they said they would implement any suggestion given, and if they couldn’t, they would give a written response as to why. That’s powerful.
And it went from one of the worst performing factories to one of (if not the) best.
Look at how you can implement that kind of listening in what you do.
Show appreciation
Appreciation is a powerful tool. When employees feel appreciated, they work harder, are more engaged, and are less likely to look for another job.
Appreciation lets your employees know they are recognized for their work and encourages them to keep moving forward in it. It lets them know they are on the right track.
Try to show appreciation to your team, if possible, at least once a week. Make it specific.
(To learn more about appreciation, check out: The Hidden ROI of Employee Appreciation.)
Help them grow
One of the main motivations Pink mentioned in his book is mastery. Mastery is growth. Generally, people want to grow, get better, and advance.
People like challenges that push them and move them forward, and challenges in themselves can be motivating.
When possible, try to give them work that challenges them, and help them grow in other ways when possible. Doing so encourages them to take ownership in the work they do.
Don’t be the easy button
When people come to you about issues, problems, or uncertainty about a decision, don’t be the easy button. Don’t be quick to give answers or solve it for them.
Instead, help them own the decisions and problems by helping them decide and solve problems on their own. Instead of giving answers, ask questions. Guide them to a solution. Work through the problem with them. Help them come up with their own answer.
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Doing so grows them as people, and the decision made becomes their own because they are the ones who decided it.
Make sure people know who is responsible for what
One reason people may not take ownership of work is because no one knows who is supposed to “own” it.
If a project or task is discussed in a meeting, but no one specifically is assigned as being responsible for the task, it’s likely that it won’t be done by the next meeting.
Make sure it’s clear who is responsible for what when discussing or delegating projects. Never end a meeting unless it is clear who is responsible for what by when and making sure every task or action is owned by someone.
Build ownership in your team
The more you build ownership in your team, the greater the results you will get. If you find that your team doesn’t take ownership. Take a look at why:
- What kind of culture do you have?
- Are you modeling ownership yourself?
- Are you controlling everything or do you involve them?
- Do you provide autonomy in their work?
- How well do you listen?
- Are you the easy button, or do you help them grow and solve issues on their own?
Then work to solve it.
What area do you plan to focus on?
