How to take ownership of your work (and why you should)

In psychology, an internal locus of control is a key predictor of life satisfaction. People who see themselves – not external forces – as in charge of their life outcomes feel more grounded, fulfilled, and empowered. 

This principle applies to our professional lives, too. But as an employee, it might feel like you don’t have much power to control what you spend your days working on. In her new book Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge, Melody Wilding demonstrates that we often have more self-determination than we think we do. 

Managing Up gives readers a map for shaping their career by building a strong relationship with their boss or manager. Part of that strategy is taking ownership: seizing projects and opportunities that can move your career forward.

We sat down with Melody to unpack what it means to take ownership, what it can do for your career, and how to do it in an impactful way.

What does it mean to take ownership at work?

In Managing Up, taking ownership is the act of declaring that you’ll step in to resolve an issue or seize an opportunity – then following through on your claim. “Ownership is the courage to raise your hand and say you’ll take something on to make work better for everyone – even if it’s not in your job description,” says Melody. 

Does this sound scary? Well, pivoting to a more proactive approach to work can be intimidating! But today, we’re explaining how to take ownership in exactly the right way. 

By taking ownership of initiatives that interest you, you can take a more active role in building the career you want. You don’t need to wait around for someone to hand you that perfect project – you can start proving your abilities in the areas you’d like to expand into. 

If you’ve ever heard the saying ‘dress for the job you want,’ taking ownership is like a more powerful version of that same strategy because you’re doing the work, not just dressing for it. Not to mention it’s better suited for 2025, when plenty of talented people log on to work in their pajamas.

Finding an ownership-ready challenge 

Melody has a simple rubric for identifying opportunities that are ripe for the taking: look for a triple win. “What’s something that has a career benefit to you, will feel important to your boss, and will also have a positive impact on the organization as a whole?” she asks. “Ideally, you’ll take ownership of a challenge that’s at the intersection of these three things.” 

You should also account for the working environment you’re in. For example, if you’re a new hire or your company is financially risk-averse, you may want to start by taking ownership of a project that would have fewer negative outcomes if you don’t succeed. 

Not sure where to look? Consider starting with: 

• Things colleagues consistently complain about or seem drained by 
• Areas where people are using inefficient workarounds
• What leadership discussions are focusing on and where future budget is being allocated

5 challenges and opportunities to own

• Bothersome bottlenecks: Inefficiencies that stress people out and slow down productivity
  • It’s taking forever to onboard new hires, so you propose and lead the creation of a centralized knowledge base with self-serve onboarding workflows
• Neglected needs: Unmet needs, projects, and priorities that are consistently being overlooked
  • Your industry landscape has changed, and your company has spent months discussing new features that could help you stay competitive. You plan a series of cross-team prioritization discussions to start bringing them out of the theoretical stage
• Feedback patterns: What do colleagues, customers, and stakeholders keep saying they need more or less of?
  • Customers keep coming to the support team with the same kinds of issues over and over. You propose a new service management tool that will let you create automated responses to these persistent issues, and oversee its implementation
• Upcoming projects: What priorities are coming up in the pipeline, and how can you proactively address them?
  • Your organization is launching a full, rebranded website. You propose a launch strategy with industry influencers to get the word out and give your community context for this new direction 
• Innovation opportunities: How can your organization reimagine or evolve its work to create better results?
  • You notice a skills gap in your organization, so you develop a training program or partner with a local university to train interns

4 steps to taking ownership 

Storming into the CEO’s office unannounced with a bold new cost-cutting or money-making plan is unlikely to go over well. As you prepare to take ownership, here are four steps to build momentum around your idea, get stakeholders on board, and set yourself up for success.

Build buy-in with pre-suasion

You don’t want your boss or manager to be hearing about your project for the first time when you’re trying to get it approved. “Change makes people nervous,” explains Melody. “You’re likely to get immediate pushback if you haven’t tested the waters for your idea.” 

That’s why she recommends using a technique called pre-suasion, a term coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini. “This isn’t about manipulation or planting an idea in someone’s head,” she says. “The goal is to lay the groundwork so when you make a request to move forward, it feels like a natural next step.” 

Here’s how pre-suasion could sound in practice: 

• Ask for feedback on how your organization is currently addressing (or not addressing) the problem, before bringing up your new solution
• Build urgency by talking about results competitors have created in the area you’re focused on, or why now might be the right time to act
• Mention that you’ve been researching potential solutions or strategies, even before you have something concrete to share

Present your idea with the SCQA framework (Situation, Complication, Question, Answer)

It’s important to be concise and focus on value when you’re ready to present your idea. “Very often, people either lead with too much backstory, or they problem-dump and focus on the issue and not their solution,” says Melody. “Either way, you risk stressing out leadership and losing their attention.”

Instead, use the SCQA framework as an easy tool to make sure you’re sharing your idea convincingly. Here’s what it looks like in action: 

• Situation: Context to help your listener understand the problem or opportunity
  • “It’s been years since we’ve had a healthy talent pipeline. Everyone feels like they don’t have the headcount to get things done, even though there’s budget to hire.” 
• Complication: Challenges or obstacles that stand in the way of taking action
  • “Every department is doing whatever they can to find people – everything from posting multiple job boards to tapping personal networks to managers acting as informal recruiters. There’s no cohesion between job postings, and candidates we do attract are often unqualified.” 
• Question: Your hypothesis for a worthwhile solution
  • “I think we need a more organized, centralized strategy that makes connecting with incredible talent an ongoing business process.”
• Answer: How you propose putting that hypothesis into action to solve the problem
  • “I’ve compiled this list of specialized recruiting firms that focus on our industry. Many are connected to local universities and other firms in our field. I think we should build a stable, long-term partnership with one of them and take finding candidates off managers’ plates.” 

Bring others along 

Even though you’re taking ownership, other collaborators will need to be involved to some degree. Taking ownership effectively is about striking a balance between individual initiative and maintaining a team player spirit. 

“The goal is to include the right people, in the right ways, without creating extra work or adding to their cognitive load,” says Melody. That will look different at different stages of the ownership process. 

As you work on your idea, consider bringing others along by: 

• Asking for input on initial strategy via surveys or brainstorming sessions
• Inviting other perspectives with informal coffee chats as you develop the idea
• Keeping stakeholders in the loop on outcomes via regular Slack updates or 1:1s

Pre-plan for challenges

Very few great ideas become reality without any unforeseen challenges. Hurdles and uncertainty shouldn’t be a dealbreaker – especially if you anticipate them. Melody recommends planning for both internal resistance and less-than-ideal project outcomes.

Reframe resistance and respond strategically

“Don’t take resistance personally. It’s usually related to peoples’ natural fear response, not the quality of your idea,” Melody says. “You can even reframe resistance as a form of engagement. People have opinions, and are actively pressure-testing your idea.” 

Here are some possible ways you might respond to resistance: 

• Try opening the discussion with an even more ambitious idea, so you can find common ground together that’s closer to your original plan
• Highlight how resistors’ own skills and talents could actually contribute to the outcomes you want
• Don’t be afraid to keep bringing up your idea (tactfully), even if your manager didn’t seem open to discussing it at first

Play out and plan for the worst-case scenario

“What would happen in the absolute worst-case scenario, like your plans totally flop and you embarrass yourself?” asks Melody. “If you play this out, you can come up with a bounce-back plan. You’ll likely also get a reality check that a negative outcome isn’t as bad as you fear.” 

Here are a few worst-case scenarios, and how you could plan for them:

• Your manager is completely unreceptive and won’t even listen to your idea, let alone give you the green light
  • This could indicate you may need to apply for other internal or external roles to get the growth you want, if that option is available to you.
• Your initiative doesn’t get the results or ROI you promise, and you’ve wasted company resources
  • You suggest easing into the project, and scaling up depending on initial outcomes. For example, you could start with a smaller budget or use freelancers instead of making a new hire 
• As soon as you launch a new feature, your competitor comes out with a similar but more comprehensive version
  • Plan ahead for the new feature to be reassessed and improved after four months based on user and stakeholder feedback

Managing Up is available now. Connect with Melody Wilding on LinkedIn, and learn more about her books, programs, coaching, and speaking on her website.