Creating a Culture of Ownership
More ownership, better results
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There’s a pattern that I’m hearing a lot recently. Most leaders I work with sharing their desire to see more ownership in their organisations. Not just individual accountability, but shared responsibility for results. They want people to step up. To lead from every seat. To care about outcomes, not just tasks.
They’ve put in frameworks. Scorecards. Incentives. New reporting rhythms. All in an effort to increase ownership. But often, not much changes. People still wait to be told. Teams execute, but don’t challenge. And ownership - the kind that drives progress - stays stuck at the top.
It’s rarely about laziness or confusion. And ownership doesn’t come from pressure.
It comes from belief. From culture. From seeing something that needs doing and thinking, that’s mine to take care of, even if no one asked me to.
And that’s not something you can enforce. It’s something you have to invite, enable, and model.
The challenge is that many senior leaders were raised in systems where ownership was linked to control. But in the fast-paced, complex environments, that we now operate in, that approach breaks down. You can’t control everything and if you try, you become the bottleneck. What you can do is create the conditions where others lead. That means offering freedom - not chaos - but freedom to act within a clear framework.
It means stepping back, setting direction, and letting people shape the how. Backing initiative even when it looks different to how you’d do it. And owning your part, especially when things go wrong.
In one leadership team I worked with, the team leader (a COO) wanted her team to lead more boldly — but she also corrected minor decisions and weighed in at the last minute. Getting things wrong was - unintentionally - viewed as a failing, and not talked about openly through the lens of learning. Her team had learned not to make bold moves without her. Not because they didn’t care, but because it didn’t feel like theirs to own.
She paused when we discussed it: “I think I’ve been holding on too tightly and calling it support.”
It’s a common pattern. Leaders say they want ownership, but when the going gets tough, they hold on to control. Often with good intent. But over time, initiative fades. People stay cautious. And responsibility stays concentrated.
Real ownership comes from three things: motivation, permission, and example. People need to care. They need to feel safe to act. And they need to see what ownership looks like in action.
When those things align, the shift is tangible. People stop passing things up. They take pride in outcomes. And teams move with a different kind of energy - one that doesn’t rely on the leader for momentum.
A 2023 McKinsey study found that organisations where people felt psychologically safe, outperformed peers by more than 25%. The biggest drivers weren’t processes or pay - they were trust in leadership, clarity of purpose, and a sense of autonomy. In short: people were trusted, connected, and free to act.
Creating a culture of ownership doesn’t just improve results - it deepens engagement.
When people feel like their contribution matters, and they’re trusted to shape what happens, they bring more of themselves. More of their skills, their talents, and more of their energy.
That’s good for them. And it is most definitely good for business.
Reflect: Your behaviour sets the tone for ownership. People will take their lead from how you show up.
Where might you be holding too much, even with good intent?
What are you currently role-modelling when it comes to initiative, responsibility, and follow-through?
What’s one area you could step back from to create space for someone else to lead?
Learn: Teams develop patterns around ownership. They either reinforce shared responsibility or quietly erode it.
Where do you see strong ownership in the team and where is it missing?
What do people believe happens when they take initiative? (when it goes right, and when it doesn’t).
What is your team more focussed on; completing tasks or achieving outcomes?And how do you talk about the difference?
Focus: The wider organisation either supports ownership or gets in the way of it.
What in your current systems makes it harder for people to act with ownership?
Where have you made freedom feel risky, or responsibility unclear?
If you re-designed the business around trust and shared responsibility, what would you do differently?
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Great article with some really helpful prompts - thanks Rebecca