Driving Ownership as a Leader

Think about people in your team, people you’ve worked with who have a sense of ownership in the work they do. From my experience, they’re often driven by a set of core values. They’re committed to completing tasks when they say they would, even without the external pressures of a deadline. They take responsibility and face the consequences when things don’t go as planned. They may not even be conscious of it – they do it because it’s who they are and it’s the right thing to do.

As such, before getting into the specifics of how you can encourage people to take ownership, it’s important to build a foundation of shared values that drives them to do so. But simply being aware of these values isn’t enough. They need to embody these values, and one of the best ways to do that is by seeing how someone else does it. That’s where you – their leader – come in. It may seem contradictory, but the best way to lead here would be to show them what a great follower you are. Specifically, how well you follow these values.

It’s likely you’ve seen and experienced this in other settings – whether it’s a teacher or family member you wanted to emulate as a child. Or a coach in a sports team. You might start your journey listening and mirroring their behaviour and lessons, but in time you internalise them. They become part of your instincts and how you use your abilities. So don’t shy away from taking time to build foundations. Establish shared values that your team, your company should follow. Let these values ground decisions to take ownership in everything they do.

Driving Ownership

Everyone on the team should be aware of the shared values as guiding principles and have regular dialogue on what this looks like in practice. Whether it’s over virtual chats or in person, let your team know that they can reach out to you. Encourage them to check in with each other. This ongoing dialogue builds a habit of reviewing whether or not everyone is on the same page as things inevitably change.

It also helps to ensure specific projects start on the right note. One of the things that can help your team to build ownership is getting clear on the project’s shared objectives. As a leader, you need to be absolutely transparent about your expectations and how the process of meeting these objectives will be assessed. If, like me, you intend to review the project on an ongoing basis, to see how things can be improved at every stage – whether it’s before, during or after the project itself – let your team know up front. Otherwise, your input could be misinterpreted as micromanagement, even if your intention was to support them, which sets back any efforts to build a sense of ownership.

Lastly, the project’s success should be shared by all, even if you’re the ‘face’ of the project. After all, achieving the project’s objectives was a result of the team stretching their capabilities and time. They should be given credit for their contributions.

Walking the Talk

After the shared values have been defined, your role as a leader would be to embody them. To show your colleagues how these values anchor the decisions you make, how you communicate, how they drive you to respect and support others. This, in turn, paves the way for your colleagues to take ownership.

Following these values won’t always be easy. You’ll need courage of conviction in whatever you do and content of character which should ideally tie in with institutional values like honest and integrity. To show your colleagues, and yourself, that it isn’t just lip service, you’ll need to be disciplined about practising it. In turn, this creates a culture where your colleagues, like you, commit to behaviours where these values shine.

For example, integrity is something our companies and I stand by. And this shows at all levels, across industries. On occasion, I get requests to donate products like bicycles and spices out of goodwill to fun fairs or temples. When I ask my assistant to ensure that these donations are made, she doesn’t simply agree and make sure it gets done. Her response, before anything else, is always to question who should be billed for these donations – whether it’s something I’m committing to in a personal capacity or if the company should be charged. And, if it’s the latter, what are the grounds for doing so?

It would be easy for me to say, “Just send it to them. I’ll take care of the rest.” It would be easy for her to accept this. But, because we’ve established the bedrock of shared values our work should be anchored in, she is able to say, “Nothing is going to happen if you don’t give me the details I need.” She is confident that she has the right to question her superior, in this instance, because she sees me demonstrating integrity in other aspects of work, because these values matter to her too.

Your colleagues aren’t going to manifest these values overnight. It takes time. In addition to seeing you demonstrate these values, your colleagues also need to trust you if they’re going to emulate what you practise. One thing that helps, I’ve found, is showing them that you care about things that are important to them. That your values align with theirs.

In India, Diwali is a big day, a fresh start to the fiscal year for businesses small and large. When I visit smaller shops, I offer prayers and puja. If the patriarch is there, I would bow down and seek his blessings, and sometimes touch his feet in reverence. I don’t have to do it, but I do so because it’s important to him. This recognition of what is important to him, to others, is what makes an impact. It’s why he’ll remember the young man who came and took guidance, and blessings.

This extends to values in different cultures as well. When we acquired a company in Russia more than a decade ago, there was a lot of feedback on how challenging it would be to work with the people, the local government etc. Keeping this in mind, we returned to our bedrock of shared values where we wanted to build a culture of trust and demonstrate integrity.

The company we acquired was built in Soviet times and was eventually privatised. It came along with a health centre of sorts, that offered its 1,600 employees respite during summer where temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius and in winter when temperatures drop below 30 degrees Celsius. They could choose different ways to rejuvenate, whether it was through exercise, diet, salt and ice baths, using the gymnasium and more.

When I consulted with the company’s CEO, who continues to lead the company today, he candidly shared that the facility was for his colleagues’ welfare. It made no immediate impact on the business. There and then, it would have been easy to write off the additional funds that were needed to maintain the facility as an unnecessary expense. But supporting communities and people was a value that the company and I championed, and why we made the decision to invest in the health centre. In time, with profits, we were even able to renovate and expand it. We supported our colleagues and the local community, and permitted schools to use the empty playing fields during the summer.

By walking the talk, and making the commitment to show our employees and the community that we truly valued what was important to them, we were able to build trust in time. And continue to do so, 14 years on.

Does it always work? The hard truth is that it doesn’t. You may hire people who make it their life’s mission not align themselves with these values. Be mindful of this, learn, and adopt hiring processes that prioritize hiring people with the right attitudes instead. It’s much harder to change this, so focus your resources on training up skills instead.

Just as shared values take time to be established, your team’s sense of empowerment isn’t going to happen overnight. As a leader, it’s important to think about your role in helping them to build confidence in themselves and to create a culture that encourages them to take calculated risks. This means creating opportunities for others to trust them and managing how you react to mistakes that will inevitably be made.

Building Trust

Here’s an example of a roadmap I’ve used when working with younger colleagues, who I’ve named Jane for illustration purposes, and why it works.

Let’s say you’re negotiating a large contract. As a leader, it’s likely that you’ve earned the trust of the client on the deal. Your client may be confident in your abilities, but they don’t have a reason to extend this belief to Jane just yet. It’s your role to help Jane to give them one.

For the first meeting, take the lead to understand the ins and outs of the deal. Namely, how it would impact your company. What the terms mean for your client. When there are opportunities to do so, invite Jane to share ideas and expertise. This helps Jane to build confidence in her abilities. It also shows the client how your team can add value and helps the client be more open to having Jane lead the next meeting – which is the next step.

At subsequent meetings, continue to be present and assist Jane as needed. At the third meeting or so, explicitly let the client know that even though they would always have your support, that you will continue to be available and a part of this project, it is now Jane’s show to run. This makes it clear to your client that you will continue to be involved and supportive, and, that your relationship is as important as it always was. For Jane, knowing that she has your support, that you aren’t just throwing her in the deep end of the pool, builds more confidence.

Lastly, before you hand over the reins to Jane, it’s key that you both agree when to walk away from the deal. This way, Jane is able to take ownership as she won’t need to seek your approval for every step she takes, and has freedom to negotiate within the boundaries.

Managing Mistakes

We’re only human and mistakes are really a matter of time. If your team lives in fear of making them, that’s what they’ll focus on instead of building skills and preparing themselves to take ownership of more projects. Help them to shift their focus by first changing how you react to mistakes made.

So what should you do? If it’s a small error, let it go. For larger errors, apologise to the client as if you were the one who made the mistake. Consider ways you could salvage the situation and, if appropriate, appeal to the client to rethink their decision.

Going back to the example with young Jane in a meeting where you’re simply observing and offering occasional support. Let’s say she rejected the client’s proposal, even though the terms, while seemingly different, were actually in line with what she could (and should) have accepted to close the deal.

If your intervention offers the chance to save the contract, ask yourself if you’re in a position to change the conversation without pointing out the error in front of everyone else. Find a way to help Jane piece together the gap she had previously missed. And if you’re too late, don’t overrule her decision, even if it means letting this deal go. Taking this step would shatter Jane’s confidence and cause her to withdraw. It also undermines everything you’ve done and said to empower her thus far, because it signals that you don’t trust her to make the right decision. To own her mistakes.

If the client is adamant on where they stand, consider the nature of your relationship with the client. If you’re working together on an ongoing project, accept the losses that were a result of the mistake made, and move on. If not, walk away. Even if it’s a huge contract. Write it off as a lost opportunity.

Show your team that the mistake should be an opportunity to learn. Let your younger colleagues know what this mistake has cost the company, and remind them that we’ll do better next time. This demonstrates that you’re genuinely in it with them to grow – and recognise that they are too, despite the mistake made.

As you take these steps to stress that it’s more important to learn from mistakes, their focus and energy can shift to how they could do better. They aren’t defined by this transactionary mistake. Review how they came to make their decision. Retrace their steps with them to work out why the mistake happened, what operational or thought processes supported this decision.

Once you’ve taken time to understand them, let them know where they fell short. It’s a tough conversation, but blindspots need to be pointed out, or your team will never even know that there is a gap they need to bridge. From my experience, eight out of ten times, you’ll see improvements, especially if it was a genuine mistake. And they’ll be grateful for it in time, as some of my former colleagues have shared with me.

It might come up in the review that your younger colleague had deliberately tried to get around existing processes, and consequently made a mistake. Before getting angry about it, remember that mistakes are a way to learn – and this extends to you, the leader, as well. So find out why the person chose to take these steps instead. You may learn something that the current processes missed, and a way to improve them. You may learn something about your younger colleague’s skills which may be more suited for other roles. Or that you need to rejig your team so that they’re paired with someone who has complementary skills to avoid repeating the mistake in the future.

Just as there are mistakes you can (and should) learn from, there are also those that are unacceptable. This may vary from company to company – and that’s fine. What is more important is that your shared values reflect this. That the line between what is okay and unacceptable is clear to your colleagues. For instance, I won’t stand for a breach of integrity. Whether it’s a breach of financial integrity, where someone takes money from the till, or consistently breaking promises like committing to more knowing full well that they would not be able to deliver – it’s all unacceptable. Take the time to define what it means, so that the rules are clear to all.

1 Lead By Example

It may seem counterintuitive, but to be a great leader, you first need to be the best follower of the shared values you and your company have established. Your behaviour builds trust that these values aren’t corporate spiel and offers actions that your colleagues can, well, follow.

2 Be Transparent and Clear in Communication

Get clear about what taking ownership looks like, and take time to establish that you and your colleague are on the same page on this. Don’t expect them to know what ‘unacceptable’ behaviour looks like if you’ve never told them.

3 Encourage Dialogue

To take ownership, people need to trust themselves and leaders, such as yourself, need to learn to trust them to do so. Encouraging conversations is one of the easiest ways to support a culture of trust where people are unafraid to speak to each other, regardless of hierarchy.