12 February 2026
Why your team doesn’t take ownership (and how to fix it)
By
Kate Waterfall Hill
If you’re a leader who feels like everything ultimately lands back on your desk, you’re not alone.
You delegate. You explain. You encourage ownership. And yet somehow, you’re still the one catching mistakes, rewriting work, stepping in at the last minute, and holding the mental load for the entire organisation.
It’s exhausting.
And while it might feel like a team problem, in my experience as a leadership coach, and after more than 30 years working in board-level roles across agencies, consultancies, and professional services, it usually isn’t.
If you’d prefer to listen, this topic is also explored in the episode Why Your Team Doesn’t Take Ownership (And How to Fix It) of the How to Lead podcast, where I unpack this challenge in real time and share practical leadership shifts you can apply straight away.
The Hidden Burden of Low Ownership
Leaders often talk about ownership in abstract terms: responsibility, accountability, initiative. But the real cost of low ownership shows up in very practical, very human ways.
It looks like leaders:
Working late to “just tidy things up”
Re-reading emails at night, debating whether to intervene
Feeling permanently on edge because if they don’t spot the issue, no one else will
I hear this all the time, particularly in fast-moving agency and consultancy environments.
One founder said to me, “I feel like the human QA system for the entire business.”
Another told me, “I can’t ever fully switch off — things only move if I’m involved.”
That isn’t strong leadership.
That’s quiet burnout.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: most teams haven’t suddenly become careless or disengaged.
They’ve adapted to how leadership actually operates — not how it’s described.
Meet Linda
Which brings us neatly to Linda.
Linda will happily tell you that no one takes ownership anymore. She usually says it with a sigh. Sometimes with a joke.
Often while:
Rewriting a proposal herself
Tweaking a deck at midnight
Jumping into a client email “just to be safe”
Linda is tired.
Linda feels indispensable.
Linda also doesn’t notice how involved she still is in everything she claims to have delegated.
Linda wants ownership.
She just hasn’t created the conditions for it to exist.
And Linda isn’t a bad leader. She’s a very common one.
Ownership Isn’t a Motivation Problem — It’s a Design Problem
When teams don’t take ownership, leaders often assume it’s about attitude or effort.
“It feels like they just don’t care as much as I do.”
“I don’t think they’re thinking far enough ahead.”
“They wait to be told instead of stepping up.”
But in reality, most ownership issues are the result of predictable leadership habits, especially in environments where things move fast, clients change their minds, and pressure is constant.
Over time, these habits quietly train teams not to own things.
1. You Step In Too Early
Something isn’t quite right.
The deck feels off. The proposal isn’t landing how you hoped.
So you fix it. Quickly. Quietly.
The work improves. But the signal gets worse.
The signal you’ve sent is: “This isn’t really yours. I’ll take it from here.”
When leaders repeatedly step in at the first sign of imperfection, people stop owning outcomes and start waiting to be corrected.
Ownership needs room to wobble. If everything is smoothed out instantly, responsibility never sticks.
2. You Say “Own It” — But Keep All the Decisions
Many leaders use the language of ownership while holding tightly onto control.
You ask someone to run a project but:
You approve every decision
You tweak the wording
You adjust the timeline
You jump into client emails
That isn’t ownership. That’s supervised compliance.
Real ownership requires decision space. Not total freedom, but clear boundaries where someone can think, decide, and learn.
Without that, people don’t feel responsible. They feel monitored.
3. You’re Unclear, So People Play It Safe
When people aren’t clear on what matters most, they default to caution.
In agency life, this shows up as:
Over-checking
Slow progress
Work that’s technically fine but oddly timid
That’s not a lack of initiative. It’s a lack of clarity.
Vague briefs create dependency. Clear outcomes create confidence.
If leaders don’t explicitly name priorities, trade-offs, and success criteria, people protect themselves by choosing the safest option, not the best one.
4. Ownership Only Appears When Something Goes Wrong
If the word “ownership” only comes up when a deadline slips or a client is unhappy, people associate it with blame.
Ownership shouldn’t live in moments of frustration.
It should live in the structure of the work:
Clear roles
Clear outcomes
Clear follow-ups
Not sighs. Not disappointment. Not “I just expected you to…”
How to Fix It: Creating the Conditions for Ownership
If you want more ownership, don’t start by asking your team to care more.
Start by changing the conditions they’re working in.
1. Step Back In Later — Not Sooner
If you’re always the first person to notice something’s off, pause before you fix it.
Ask yourself:
Is this genuinely my moment to step in?
Or am I stealing the learning?
Instead of correcting immediately:
Ask what they’ve noticed
Let them talk through their thinking
Agree what they will do next
Letting something wobble slightly isn’t negligence.
It’s how people learn to hold the whole.
2. Give Away Real Decisions, Not Just Tasks
If you want someone to own something, be explicit about what’s theirs to decide.
For example:
“You decide how we approach this client conversation.”
“You’ve got the final call on the structure of this proposal.”
“Come to me if there’s a genuine risk issue — otherwise, run with it.”
Ownership only works when decision rights are real.
If everything still needs your approval, you haven’t delegated ownership.
You’ve delegated activity.
3. Replace Vague Briefs with Clear Outcomes
Clarity creates confidence.
Before work starts, get specific about:
What good looks like
What matters most
What trade-offs are acceptable
If you don’t name the priority, people default to safety.
Clear outcomes reduce over-checking, speed up decision-making, and unlock better judgement.
4. Build Ownership into the Rhythm of the Work
Don’t wait for things to go wrong to talk about ownership.
Make it part of how work runs day to day:
Regular check-ins focused on progress and risks
Clear follow-up points where people update rather than get chased
Calm conversations when things slip, focused on learning and adjustment
When ownership is normal, it doesn’t feel risky.
It feels expected.
Ownership Is Built on Belief
If accountability is about follow-through, ownership is about belief.
Belief that:
The work is genuinely theirs
They’re trusted to handle it
Mistakes won’t trigger control or criticism
If you’re carrying too much, that’s not a personal failing.
It’s a signal. And often, the most powerful leadership shift isn’t pushing your team harder.
It’s stepping back more clearly.
Ready to Go Further?
If you want to embed these shifts properly, not just understand them, this is exactly the kind of work we do inside the Leadership Accelerator Programme.
It’s designed for leaders who want practical tools, real-time support, and accountability as they build leadership habits that actually stick.
And if you’d like to strengthen your leadership in a way that truly lasts, you’ll find full details of my coaching, programmes and resources at waterfallhill.co.uk.
