Taking ownership at work means being proactive, accountable, and invested in your job duties and their contribution to organizational goals. It provides motivation, ensures alignment with company objectives, and helps foster positive relationships. Demonstrating ownership involves communicating goals, actively listening, offering solutions over just problems, developing self-awareness, and continuously pursuing learning and professional growth.

1. OWNERSHIP

2. What is ownership
To take ownership at work means to be proactive in your job role and to
understand the purpose of your job duties in achieving organization goals.
Another way to define this concept is to hold yourself accountable for your
work, regardless of the outcome, and demonstrate a genuine interest in
contributing to company success.

3. Why it is important
Provides a constant source of motivation for your work: Taking ownership of your work helps with
motivation in your job role, as it empowers you to ask questions, develop ideas and get feedback on
your efforts instead of waiting to receive answers from your superiors.
Ensures you align your projects or job duties with company goals: When taking ownership of your
work, you maintain good communication with your direct superior and ask questions about the
reasoning behind new assignments or job tasks. This helps you direct your work activities toward
accomplishing company goals.
Helps you foster positive workplace relationships: Because work ownership encourages
accountability and communication with your superiors, it helps you complete your work while
thinking of how it affects others and ensures you speak with your superior to learn more about their
expectations.
Encourages career growth: Work ownership encourages you to expand your skill set, take on
additional responsibilities and pursue new job roles, which can help you take proactive steps in your
career.

4. Remind yourself why you chose your job
Reminding yourself of the goals and career aspirations that led you to
apply for and accept a job offer can help you remotivate yourself
about your job duties.
This is because you clearly understand your job's purpose in your life
and future career.
Your ability to remember why you chose your current job also allows
you to reevaluate your career goals and develop strategies for
achieving those objectives.

5. Be proactive instead of reactive
Taking ownership of your work requires you to take proactive
measures in your daily job duties.
This includes anticipating problems and developing solutions,
asking for clarification on deadlines or tasks and working ahead
to minimize stress or confusion during busy workdays.

6. Practice managing up
• Managing up is a process employees can take to get to know
their superiors, including their management styles,
communication preferences and expectations.
• It also encourages employees to develop a positive working
relationship with their manager.
• This is a useful way to take ownership at work because it allows
you to establish trust with your superiors and pursue
opportunities to gain more work experience.

7. Balance expressing your ideas with supporting others'
ideas
• An important part of taking ownership of your work is expressing
your ideas during team meetings or projects.
• To do this, you need to have confidence in yourself and support your
ideas with evidence.
• However, as important as it is to express your own thoughts, it's just
as important to listen to ideas and input from your team.
• Company leaders and experienced employees often have innovative
ideas that align with company goals.
• In these situations, taking ownership of your job means
acknowledging the ideas of others and when to support them by
converting their ideas into actions.

8. Communicate with your employer about your career
goals
• To take ownership of your work and accomplish your career
goals, you need to be honest with your manager about what
you want to achieve in your job role, which areas you want to
learn more about and the projects or job duties you enjoy most.
• Being honest with them is important because it helps them
better understand your needs as an employee.
• It also helps you work with your manager to establish
performance milestones and determine new tasks that align
with your interests

9. Ask for constructive feedback
• Instead of waiting for performance reviews and peer reviews,
ask for constructive feedback regularly as a standard part of
your work routine.
• Asking for constructive feedback from peers and superiors gives
you the chance to better understand how you excel in your role
as a teammate and employee.
• It also helps you determine what areas you should improve to
contribute to your company more successfully.

10. Practice active listening
• Active listening is a method you can use to enhance
your communication skills in the workplace and take ownership
of your work.
• It includes non-verbal cues like nodding, smiling, making eye
contact, taking notes and positioning your body in certain ways,
but it can also involve making small verbal gestures and asking
questions.
• Through active listening, you can better understand the needs
of your employer and your teammates.

11. Offer solutions to problems
• When taking ownership of your work, offering solutions is more
effective than presenting problems.
• For example, instead of going straight to your manager with a
problem you discovered, take a few minutes to consider how
you would solve the problem by yourself. When you visit with
them, present the problem and immediately describe a few
potential solutions you came up with.
• This shows initiative on your part and helps your manager
maintain awareness of workplace activities.

12. Develop your self-awareness
• Self-awareness is how you understand yourself, including your
strengths, weaknesses, learning style and personality traits.
• By having an in-depth understanding of your habits and needs,
you can hold yourself accountable, set goals for improvement
and adjust the way you work to accommodate your strengths
and weaknesses.
• For example, if you know you have difficulty concentrating for
long periods, you can adjust your work style to complete tasks
in set time frames followed by short breaks.

13. Ask questions early on
• When you start a new project or job assignment, you can take
ownership of your work by asking questions early.
• This helps you determine key objectives your manager wants
you to achieve and figure out the purpose of a project or job
assignment within your department or the company as a whole.

14. Volunteer for new assignments or team roles
• By volunteering to lead presentations, take on additional
assignments or switch to a different team role for a project, you
have the opportunity to develop your skills and get closer to
career milestones.
• Volunteering yourself for these opportunities helps you take
ownership of your work because it forces you to instigate
change instead of waiting for someone else to give you new
assignments and responsibilities.

15. Take advantage of learning opportunities
• A key part of taking ownership at work is motivating yourself to
improve your professional knowledge and workplace skills.
• You can do this by participating in training programs or
certification courses.
• Depending on the company you work for, you might be able to
pursue these learning opportunities through your HR
department.
• If not, you can seek certification courses online or in your local
community.

16. Set professional goals for yourself
• Setting professional goals for yourself gives you specific
standards to uphold and career milestones to tailor your work
efforts toward.
• This also gives you a sense of empowerment because it helps
you challenge yourself as an individual and gives you a sense of
control over your professional aspirations.

17. Develop a forward-thinking attitude
• When taking ownership of your work, always think about how
your current actions and behaviors will influence your
coworkers, employer and future career goals.
• One example of this would be if you considered how your
involvement in work activities could affect your future skill level
and ability to get promotions.

18. Activity
• Write your Job responsibilities on a Paper
• Write in front of it what percentage you are currently owning it