Want More Ownership From Your Team? Do These 3 Things

My summer “management experiment” with my kids didn’t go quite as planned. I backed away from the strict chore chart and tried to inspire them to simply take more ownership around the house. It started strong…and then fizzled pretty quickly.

👉 Watch the original Two-Minute Tip where I explain the experiment: link to video

Turns out, there are some pretty direct parallels to leadership at work.

In this Two-Minute Tip, I share three lessons from my failed experiment—and what leaders can do differently when they want their teams to take more ownership.

Telling people to “take more ownership” isn’t enough. We have to create the conditions that help them actually do it.

• Read the video transcript

  Remember my summer management experiment with my kids where I changed how we handled chore charts? Let's just say it did not work out as well as I hoped it would.

  You may recall that I backed away from the strict chore chart and instead tried to inspire them to be active participants in this family, contributing around the house. It started strong and then it died off pretty quickly.

  So some thoughts. First, ownership without clarity is basically just wishful thinking.

  Their idea of contributing to the family may look very different than my idea of it.

  So if I say that I want them to be more proactive and to take more ownership, that might look totally different to them. We've got to be really clear in expectations.

  Second, autonomy works better when there's some structure under it.

  We don't need to choose between micromanagement or total freedom. I do think there can be a happy in between.

  I needed to be a little bit more clear about here's what you own, here are the boundaries, here's what success would look like, and then let them run within it.

  And then lastly, accountability needs a feedback loop. Unfortunately, in parenting, this usually looked like me getting fed up and getting upset from time to time.

  But in reality, in leadership, we can't just communicate an expectation once and assume they'll run with it. We need to communicate it, follow up, reinforce, give feedback, help them make adjustments as needed. It's an ongoing feedback loop.

  I still think there was value in my initial idea of wanting to motivate them to take more ownership, but I did learn that more structure was needed along the way.

  So if you're frustrated with a lack of ownership on your team, I hope you can take some of my lessons learned and apply them to your own situation.