Over the last decade, I’ve noticed that there is one thing that separates the pros from the junior varsity squad at work. Pros take ownership of the things that they work on… It’s that simple.
Taking ownership means that you understand the buck stops with you. Taking ownership means that it’s not OK to not know what’s going on, or how everything fits together. Taking ownership means finding people who can help you when you need it and caring enough to do it until it’s right.
As a project manager, I’ve dealt with a lot of people who throw things over the fence. Like it’s somehow OK to expect somebody else to solve their problems for them. And when things inevitably fail, fingers get pointed, conversations get heated, and nobody wins.
It’s really nice to find other people who take ownership of things, because I would argue that it’s a rarity in the working world… There’s a lot of risk in taking ownership, because you could come up short when the chips are down, and that final hand is dealt.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
There are many Chris Hall's in this world. This one blogs and tweets under the code name: hallicious.
