“Success is never owned, it is rented, and the rent is due every day” — Rory Vaden
Our General Manager at AO has that Rory Vaden quote on his office door. Every time I walk by it, I can’t help but feel it resonating in my head. Especially this week when I was praying up a topic for my teachings, that quote stuck out!
Every one of us at some point has worked with somebody who said, “that’s not my job,” and hated what they were doing. We’ve also likely worked with people who would always try to get us to do some or all of their work. Nobody EVER likes working with those people.
When teams have an ownership mindset, they take responsibility for outcomes, not just their output. And they feel empowered to make the decisions that will lead to those outcomes. Don’t miss this though – That last bit is critical: Accountability and Authority must go hand in hand. When they don’t, work just becomes a checklist. And your people will disengage.
Here are 3 ways to spot a lack of ownership within your team
1. A total disregard to make things a memorable experience – When everyone’s attention is just focused on this piece or that piece, we lose the opportunity to look at the experience of the situation. Whether that is interviewing a potential new Team member, or meeting with a potential client. If you are just going through the motions, with little to no energy, passion, or efforts, there’s a disengagement there.
2. Fault finding with no solutions – Everybody sees what’s wrong, but nobody feels empowered or compelled to do anything about it because the thing in question is not, well you know, “their responsibility to handle”! So things continue to deteriorate, dragging down the morale, creating a toxic culture, and taking out the company’s reputation right along with it!
3. Continuous Underperforming – When people working on the front lines don’t have the authority to make decisions about what they are responsible for, they won’t ever do their best work (even if they’re sincerely trying to be excellent at their job).
When I think about ownership one way to think about it is using a football analogy. In a tie championship game, with just a few seconds left on the clock, who wants the ball? Some don’t enjoy the tension, stress, or pressure that comes from those moments. Others want the ball. They want to take the pass, knowing the responsibility of the moment. That is ownership!
Another thing I have seen that holds people back from owning is insecurity. As leaders, we hold ourselves to a higher standard. And sometimes that can limit when we take ownership of something. We set the bar too high, assuming that ownership requires expertise and perfection. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Yes, ownership requires effort and willingness to be held accountable. But it just means that our “yes” is actually a “yes, I’ll own that.” It means we step into a challenge, not without maybe having some fear, but despite our fear we do what we need to do to own our craft.
Let’s land the plane today with this… You know your team has an ownership problem when you start seeing things not getting completed and there is always some kind of complex excuse explaining why it couldn’t be done. Owners take full responsibility! On winning teams, you see folks pushing for leadership. But in teams with low ownership you’ll always see the opposite. No one wants to step into a leadership role. They actually run from it, viewing it as a negative as opposed to growth. Don’t let your insecurities and unreal expectations hold you back from being part of a team of high performers. Step in, ask for the ball, and take ownership! There is a championship win waiting on the other side, I promise you!