Leadership Lessons from Kids: Ownership

As a mother, I have struggled for many years to get my kids to keep their room clean and tidy.

They just don't do it and the mess keeps adding up. Honestly, it doesn't really bother them too much as there are more interesting exciting and amazing things in the world vying for their attention on a daily basis. The mundane job of cleaning up doesn't figure in their priority list. Consequently there comes a point when it is hard for me to even look at the mess and so a clean up is done. Somewhere, they have seen this pattern and know it!

So in their mind, the equation reads as : Messy room - Ignore - Super messy room - Ignore - Super super messy room - Ignore - Super super super messy room - Ignore - Room gets cleaned.

Now this year has been particularly hard (thanks to the pandemic). Working from home and so many things to do on a regular basis, I felt it was high time for them to take ownership.

But, they were not ready or willing to do it!

Neither was I willing to continue to do it.

So I had "the talk" with them. One in which I told them that they need to own up the job and that keeping their room clean and tidy was their responsibility. And I was very clear that I wouldn't do it, come what may!

It took a few embarrassing instances and experiences for them to realize that I meant what I said about owning it up.

So in their mind, the equation now reads as : Messy room - Ignore - Super messy room - Ignore - Super super messy room - Ignore - Super super super messy room - Ignore - No one will clean, so clean up yourself.

We are in a better stage than when we started the year. It still takes some regular reminding and nudging and pushing for them to tidy up their room. But they own it up. Interestingly, they do a better job than me sometimes.

Taking this thought to the business context - Ownership is important for performance at work and individual career progress. As leaders, it is important to recognize that we need to let our teams own up at work. For that, we need to clearly tell them that they own a piece of work. And we need to let them take the ownership to deliver to best of their capacity. To make it all real - leaders needs to consciously step back and let individuals / teams figure things out - try, learn, fail, evolve and grow. After all, leadership and ownership are almost always work in progress for many of us..

What are your thoughts and comments?