Five Steps to Cultivate Ownership in Others

There are few things that energize me more as a leader than helping others develop a genuine sense of ownership. The difference between a team that owns its work and one that merely completes its assignments is profound. In the first, people feel personal responsibility for outcomes. They take pride in the work, care deeply about results, and invest discretionary effort because the success of the team feels personal. In the other, people do only what is required, avoid risk, and feel little connection beyond their job description.

The downstream effects of these differences are significant. Teams marked by ownership tend to outperform their peers, experience more satisfaction, demonstrate resilience under pressure, and cultivate healthier team dynamics. For leaders, these teams are also far more enjoyable to lead. Ownership frees leaders from constant oversight and allows them to focus on growth, addressing big picture problems, and spending time on what comes next. In contrast, leading a team without ownership feels like perpetual supervision—monitoring compliance, preventing errors, and enforcing minimum standards.

The encouraging truth, however, is this: leaders are not victims of their teams. Leadership itself requires ownership and action from us every day. We shape systems, influence culture, and develop people. So, ownership does not come by accident; it is cultivated. The question, then, is how?

One helpful starting point is to understand the difference between a renter mentality and an owner mentality.

Renters and Owners: A Foundational Mindset

Most teams include a mix of renters and owners. The distinction is not about job titles or tenure—it is about mindset.

Renters, much like tenants in a rental property, focus primarily on personal convenience. They want the greatest return for the least effort. When something breaks, they expect someone else to fix it. They notice problems readily but feel little responsibility to solve them. After all, it is not their problem—it belongs to someone else.

In organizational life, renter-minded employees often operate the same way. They complete assigned tasks but stop there. They point out inefficiencies without offering solutions or getting involved. They disengage from outcomes beyond their narrow role and rarely take initiative unless directed.

Owners operate differently. Owners focus on value. They look for ways to improve what they have been entrusted with. They attend to details, invest effort in upkeep, and leave things better than they found them. In a work context, owners approach their role as something entrusted solely to them for a period of time—something they are responsible for strengthening before passing it on.

Employees who operate with an owner mindset tend to share several characteristics:

• Personal responsibility. As one of my mentors once said, “It may not be my trash, but this is my sidewalk.” Owners take responsibility for the quality and upkeep of the space they occupy, regardless of fault.
• Expanded capacity. Owners require less oversight. When leaders trust people to act responsibly within clear boundaries, then organizational capacity increases. Leaders can shift attention from monitoring behavior to solving adaptive problems and pursuing improvement.
• Readiness for more. Owners grow. They develop skills, embrace feedback, and operate with a growth mindset. Over time, they earn greater trust, responsibility, and opportunity. They increase the value they add over time.

Understanding this distinction helps leaders clarify what they are actually trying to cultivate—not just better performance, but a fundamentally different way of approaching work.

What Ownership Looks Like in Practice

Ownership can feel abstract until we see it lived out. Over time, several practical examples have consistently shaped how I think about ownership in teams.

The first comes from L. David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around! In it, Marquet describes a simple practice aboard the USS Santa Fe, which he commanded: the three-name rule. Whenever a crew member encountered a visitor, they introduced themselves using three names—the visitor’s name, their own name, and the ship’s name. “Good morning, Commodore Kenny. My name is Petty Officer Jones. Welcome aboard the Santa Fe.” This small habit reinforced pride, accountability, and personal responsibility for the ship at all levels.

A second example appears in CEO Excellence by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra. The authors describe the “10-foot rule,” where employees who come within ten feet of a customer make eye contact, smile, and ask, “How can I help you?” This practice signals that serving customers is not confined to certain roles but belongs to everyone.

The third example comes from Next Jump, an organization recognized for its deliberately developmental culture. When employees introduce themselves publicly, they share their name, department, and their current “backhand”—the primary developmental area they are actively working to improve with support from a peer coach. This practice normalizes continuous growth, vulnerability, and shared responsibility for development from the CEO on down.

What makes these examples powerful is their simplicity and adaptability. They require little cost or infrastructure. They can also fit within nearly any workplace environment. They function as cultural artifacts—visible signals that communicate, “This is who we are, and this is how we operate.”

Five Ways Leaders Can Begin Cultivating Ownership

The question at this point is, “Now what?” Ownership is shaped by context, culture, and individual readiness. There is no universal formula. Still, there are several actions leaders can take immediately to establish conditions where ownership is more likely to take root. You can take these, form them to fit within your context, and begin to apply them today.

1. Lead with Respect. Respect is foundational. People are far more likely to care about the work when they believe they are cared for as people. One of the earliest leadership lessons I learned came from my mom: people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Poor leaders and bosses—not the work itself—is one of the top reasons people disengage from or leave their work. Treat people with dignity. Assume positive intent. Create an environment where individuals feel seen, heard, safe, and valued. In my experience, when people feel respected first, they are far more willing to invest in what the leader and team care about.

2. Share Perspective and Context. Informed employees are equipped employees, equipped employees are inspired ones, and inspired employees are more likely to take ownership. Leaders should regularly explain the why behind decisions, not just the what.

When people understand the broader context—how conditions led to a decision, how their work fit into the larger system—they see the significance of their contribution. Ownership grows when individuals recognize that their small piece of the puzzle genuinely matters and how it contributes the full picture.

3. Build Trust Intentionally and Methodically. Ownership requires trust, but trust should be built deliberately. One helpful framework involves four steps:

1. Train. Teach people what success looks like and give them opportunities to practice. We cannot expect others to know what to do or be proficient if we don’t educate them and  through some repetition.
2. Certify. Training is the leader telling others how to do something; certification is the process of the now-trained person proving to the boss they have mastered the task or responsibility. Allow (or require) individuals to demonstrate competence through assessments, trial periods, or practice projects. This proves readiness for responsibility and trust.
3. Empower. Once competence is demonstrated, formally grant responsibility and the ability to act on their own.
4. Trust. After training, certification, and empowerment, get out of the way. Allow people to act independently in the best interest of the role and organization.

This progression helps leaders extend trust wisely while signaling respect and confidence in their people.

4. Align Authority with Responsibility. Ownership breaks down when responsibility exceeds authority. Leaders may assign accountability but fail to provide decision-making power, resources, or positional clarity. We must be mindful to afford the necessary authority to someone that matches the responsibility we grant them.

When people are expected to own outcomes without the authority to influence them, frustration and burnout often follow. Ensure that authority, responsibility, and resources are aligned so individuals can succeed in what they are asked to own.

5. Grant Real Autonomy. Once people are trained, trusted, and equipped, leaders must step back. Provide clarity on the what and the why but resist prescribing the how.

Set boundaries and expectations, establish appropriate check-ins, and then allow people the space to execute. Autonomy signals confidence—and confidence fuels ownership.

Final Thoughts

Ownership is not a program or a motivational speech. It is the result of consistent leader behavior, reinforced over time through systems, habits, and culture. Leaders who cultivate ownership shift the question from “How do I get people to care more?” to “What am I doing that makes ownership difficult—or possible?”

As you reflect, consider a few questions:

• What is the current state of ownership on my team and what might be driving it?
• Which of these five leadership behaviors should I address more intentionally this week?
• What simple, visible habit could our team adopt as the first new signal of shared responsibility and pride?

Ownership grows where leaders are willing to lead with respect, clarity, trust, and even restraint. When it does, teams do not just perform better; they become groups and environments where people genuinely want to invest themselves.