What is a Team Ownership Mindset plus 10 Ways to Create More Ownership
What is a team ownership mindset and more importantly how do I go about increasing ownership within a team? I will be answering these questions and explaining why creating a team ownership mindset makes a massive difference to team performance. If you create better team performance and a more motivated and engaged team then you – as a manager – are going to get more people to manage, and everything that comes with promotion.
There are lots of steps we can take as leaders and managers to encourage team members to take ownership. Ultimately, the team members and the team as a whole need to choose to take ownership. You can’t force it on others or demand it. As we go through, I will be sharing with you want I have found works well in encouraging ownership across a team.
What is a Team Ownership Mindset
- 9 characteristics of a team ownership mindset
- 9 Benefits of creating a team ownership mindset
- 10 proven ways to create a stronger team ownership mindset
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9 characteristics of a team ownership mindset
The biggest and most obvious sign of a team ownership mindset is that everyone in the team wants to do well. They want to do a good job, so they don’t let themselves, their colleagues ,and the team as a whole down. There is more energy, conversations, collaboration, and drive within the team.
A team ownership mindset is more than team members taking responsibility. Everyone in the team knows and understands what they need to do. They have clear job descriptions and know what they need to deliver and when they need to deliver it.
The team members are held accountable to deliver – by their manager and by their colleagues. To create accountability, invest in visibility and focus on managing expectations at work. Create reporting, trackers, use whiteboards etc to show everyone how progress is going on an individual, project and team basis. Explain as clearly as possible the expectations you have of them.
When both responsibility and accountability are present, plus the environment encourages it, team members usually choose to adopt an ownership mindset.
An ownership mindset is when the employees – in their minds – think like owners of the business. They go the extra mile to do the right thing for the business. They take that extra client call just before home time. Team members take more care to not make mistakes, so they don’t waste their time or cause wastage issues. They care about doing the best they can for the business and their team.
In contrast, an employee mindset is focused on activity rather than outcomes, and about doing that activity for their contracted hours but not more. An employee mindset is much less worried about the business and much more worried about themselves – even though without a business they won’t have a job.
key characteristics of a team ownership mindset
- Caring about team performance and hitting targets
- Consistently demonstrating responsibility
- Have a clear understanding of how their role and what they deliver impacts the team and business.
- Holding themselves and others accountable to deliver outcomes
- Focusing on outcomes much more than activities
- Collaborating so the team hits goals i.e. very teamwork focused
- Using initiative and being proactive to look for and deliver the best outcomes they can for the business
- Much more likely to want to learn and improve what they do
- More energy, enthusiasm, motivation and conversations happening within the workplace
As a manager is great to see a team adopting a team ownership mindset. Having an ownership mindset in the team makes is a lot easier to hit team targets and have a lot more fun along the way.
9 significant benefits of a team ownership mindset
Perform a Lot Better
Firstly, teams perform a lot better when they have a team ownership mindset. Everyone holding team members accountable and those team members wanting to perform leads to better performance.
Higher Morale & Motivation
Secondly, the team has higher morale, and is more motivated. Everyone wants to do well, to do a good job and to make sure they don’t let anyone down.
More Collaboration
Thirdly, you get a lot more collaboration and helping each other. This in turn increases everyone’s efficiency when doing their jobs, which in turn increase overall team performance.
More Trust
Fourth, there is a lot more trust throughout the team and between team members and management. Everyone trusts the other to do their jobs well and support them.
Higher Engagement
Fifth, employee engagement and satisfaction is a lot higher. Each person is more involved in the running of the team, involved in the planning and decision making and in all the different aspects of what the team needs to achieve.
Better Decision Making
Sixth, there is better decision making. Team members get involved and input into the decision making process. Their detailed knowledge of their areas, greater openness and discussion, combined with manager trust leads to better decisions at all levels within the team.
More Enjoyable
Seventh, with a better more enjoyable working atmosphere, and team members supporting each other, you get better employee retention. This leads to lower recruitment costs, less training and getting up to speed time and deeper team relationships – all of which help improve team performance.
Agility & Adaptability
Eighth, the team is more likely to be agile and adaptable. Team members are more willing to learn and change to what is needed by the team and business from them. Team members with a team ownership mindset are more likely to push themselves and learn new skills and deepen existing skills.
More Innovation
Ninth, you are more likely to have innovation within the team and from the team. Challenging the status quo, designing new or better processes and using new approaches to common problems are all types of innovation. Team members with a team ownership mindset are much more likely to be looking to make improvements and be more willing to go through the effort of implementing them successfully.
how to create a team ownership mindset in your team
Given the huge benefits you get – as a manager and as a business – from creating a team ownership mindset, why do so few teams have this mindset?
The approach the manager has towards managing is the biggest factor in getting team members to take ownership. In my view, too many managers are expected and told to control, organise and delegate rather than focusing on setting clear direction, supporting the team and working on creating a positive environment. Managers have too much focus on what the team is doing and not enough on how they impact the team through their behaviours, actions, and decisions.
Everything a manager does is in the spotlight and so by managing themselves better, managers create less issues and manage their teams better.
For instance, if the manager coaches team members to make decisions up to a certain point, rather than making those decisions as a manager, then the team members would take more ownership of the situations about which they are making decisions. It sounds easy yet in practice it takes a lot of self-awareness and self-control to not make these decisions. In the beginning when the staff member may feel out of their comfort zone and keeps trying to get the manager to make the decision, its tough to avoid making decisions that we as managers are very comfortable making.
To enable staff members to take ownership, the manager must empower the team member and give them the right level of authority to take ownership.
Ten steps that I have found incredibly useful in creating a team ownership mindset are:
- Set crystal clear expectations
- Show the team the how
- Create visibility
- Promote Psychological Safety
- Delegate problems as well as tasks
- Encourage team level planning
- Always follow-up
- Lead by example
- Resolve conflicts quickly
- Celebrate successes together
I go into detail on each of these steps in a article on 10 Factors in Creating Team Accountability – click on the link to learn about these 10 steps.
Enjoy creating an environment that encourages a team ownership mindset and definitely enjoy all the benefits you get by doing so.
in summary
How to get your team to take ownership, what is a team ownership mindset and holding team members accountable are all part of the same process of working to create the right environment across a team and then being there to support and encourage team members to develop their skills and confidence in taking ownership of the outcomes they are working to deliver.
Creating ownership thinking in your team is 90% within your control as a manager. You can create all the right conditions and then the team members have to chose to take ownership. I have found that when the environment is right, very few team members avoid taking ownership.
To recap, we have been through:
- 9 characteristics of a team ownership mindset
- 9 Benefits of creating a team ownership mindset
- 10 proven ways to create a team ownership mindset
I think create a team ownership mindset is huge. Get your team taking responsibility and accountability for their work and get them keen to deliver for their colleagues and as a team overall, and your job as a manager is halfway done.
The impact on the atmosphere and the team performance is really noticeable. You can get these changes within the team in months. 90%+ of this journey is within your control. Use the tips give in this article to work on helping your team create a team ownership mindset.
