You want a high-performing team. People who take initiative. Employees who solve problems without being told.
But here’s the question: are you modeling what you’re asking for?
Most leaders say they want ownership. Then they operate like renters. They complain about the problems but don’t fix them. They point to constraints instead of possibilities. They wait for someone else to make the first move.
Your team is watching. And they’re doing exactly what you’re doing.
I’ve coached enough leaders to know this: ownership isn’t a trait you hire for. It’s a mindset you build. And it starts with you.
Act like everything is yours to fix. Not because it’s fair. Not because it’s technically your job. Because you’re the leader and leaders don’t wait for permission. When you see a problem, you own it. When something’s broken, you fix it. That doesn’t mean doing everything yourself. It means taking responsibility for making sure it gets done.
Stop saying “that’s not my department.” The moment those words leave your mouth, you’ve told your team that ownership has limits. That some problems aren’t worth solving if they’re outside your territory. Silos exist because leaders protect them. Break them down by refusing to respect them yourself.
Replace “they should” with “I will.” Listen to yourself this week. How often do you say “HR should handle this” or “leadership should communicate better” or “they should give us more resources”? Every time you say “they should,” you’re giving away your power. Change it to “I will figure this out” and watch what shifts.
Own the outcome, not just the effort. “I tried” isn’t enough. “I sent the email” isn’t enough. “I told them what to do” isn’t enough. Ownership means you’re responsible for the result, not just the attempt. If it doesn’t work, you adjust. You try something else. You keep going until it does work.
Take responsibility for what you didn’t do. The conversation you avoided. The feedback you delayed. The problem you saw coming but didn’t address. Not doing something is still a choice. When things go wrong, own what you didn’t do, not just what you did. That’s where real ownership lives.
Here’s what happens when you lead with an ownership mindset: your team stops asking for permission and starts taking action. They stop waiting to be told and start figuring it out. They stop making excuses and start making progress.
Because ownership is contagious. When you demonstrate it consistently, others catch it.
I worked with a director who was frustrated with her team’s lack of initiative. “I shouldn’t have to tell them everything,” she said. “They need to think for themselves.”
We looked at how she responded when people did take initiative. What we found wasn’t pretty.
Someone would propose a solution, and she’d immediately explain why it wouldn’t work. Someone would try something new, and she’d critique the approach. Someone would make a decision, and she’d second-guess it publicly.
She thought she was preventing mistakes. Her team heard “don’t bother trying.”
We shifted her approach. When someone brought her an idea, she asked questions instead of pointing out flaws. When someone made a decision, she supported it even if she would have chosen differently. When something didn’t work, she focused on learning, not blaming.
Within weeks, her team transformed. People started solving problems before bringing them to her. They made decisions confidently. They took risks and learned from them.
She didn’t give a speech about ownership. She just started demonstrating what it looked like to trust people and let them own their work.
That’s how you build an ownership culture. Not through posters on the wall or lines in the performance review. Through your daily behavior.
Every time you blame circumstances, you teach your team to do the same. Every time you wait for perfect conditions, you teach them to wait too. Every time you point to what’s outside your control, you teach them they’re powerless.
But every time you own a problem that isn’t technically yours, you show them what leadership looks like. Every time you say “I’ll figure it out” instead of “it can’t be done,” you demonstrate possibility thinking. Every time you take responsibility for an outcome, you model what accountability means.
Your team doesn’t need another training on ownership. They need to see you live it.
Stop renting. Start owning. Not just the wins. Not just the easy stuff. All of it. The problems, the solutions, the outcomes, the mistakes.
That’s leadership. Everything else is just management.
What are you ready to own today?
If you want to develop a true ownership mindset in yourself and your team, schedule a call with me.
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