Own Your S*!#...Taking Ownership as a Leader
When you start to look at the reasons why people leave organizations, a lot of research and data points to poor leadership. There’s a quote that we wholeheartedly believe that states “People don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses” meaning that employees may love their jobs but they will still leave because of bad management or a bad boss.
So what exactly makes a bad boss? More specifically, how do we encourage leaders to take better ownership of their actions and attitudes so they can be good or even great bosses? It starts with taking ownership of yourself, your work, your attitude, and everything you bring to the table as a leader.
Here are our best tips for taking ownership of your stuff at work.
How Did I Contribute to This Problem?
Every issue within your team should be self-reflected on. Even your individual team members’ performance issues may have been contributed to by your poor leadership. You should constantly be in a state of self-reflection. Some regular questions you should be asking yourself include:
Did I communicate clearly enough to set my associate up for success?
How did I contribute to this situation?
Am I accountable for the same things I hold my staff accountable for?
Ask for Feedback
In conjunction with being hyper-self-reflective, asking for feedback from your staff, peers, and leaders will help to build an awareness around how you show up at work. We don’t ask for feedback from our staff enough when they are the ones who have to live with our management styles. Ask your staff - what do you need from me?
Get an Education
You will never know everything. Jim Collins said, “Good is the enemy of great.” One of the best ways to take ownership is to admit what you don’t know and build out your leadership toolbox. If you aren’t good at giving feedback, take a class, or read a book. It’s incredibly grounding to learn something new.
You will always be a work in progress and you will never be the perfect leader but taking ownership of that fact is the first step. Remember that becoming a leader means that you’re responsible for other humans and it’s your job to inspire, motivate, train, and ultimately set them up for success.
