Today’s episode addresses one of the most pressing challenges for leaders: getting teams to take real ownership of their work and their organizational culture. Encouraging ownership is a proven way to unlock peak performance, improve retention, and foster genuine satisfaction among team members. For many leaders, though, instilling this sense of responsibility goes beyond just handing out incentives—it requires a cultural shift and purposeful leadership tactics.
Ownership in the workplace means empowering individuals and teams to see the bigger picture, to make decisions, and to feel personally invested in their organization’s success. When team members truly believe it is “their unit,” engagement and performance skyrocket. This episode breaks down actionable strategies, including drawing inspiration from military tradition, that any leader—no matter their sector or authority level—can use to inspire this powerful sense of ownership. By making it clear that each member has a voice and a stake, leaders can drive transformational results and set their organizations up for lasting success.
Timestamped Overview
[00:00:00] Why driving team ownership is a top challenge—and a top opportunity—for leaders
[00:01:53] Real-world example: How WestJet Airlines used employee ownership to gain a competitive edge
[00:04:51] The limits of stock options and traditional incentives for everyday leaders
[00:06:23] Military traditions as a tool for building ownership: The coin tradition explained
[00:07:59] Changing perspectives: Why “it’s your unit” matters more than “it’s my unit”
[00:08:42] The significance of continuity and culture in organizations with high turnover
[00:10:51] Practical implementation: Engraving “it’s your unit” onto recognition coins
[00:11:37] Overcoming skepticism and building lasting buy-in for team ownership
[00:12:57] Adapting the ownership model to various industries and team structures
[00:14:00] Empowering teams to localize decision making and drive results
[00:14:56] Leadership wrap-up: Using tradition and mentality shifts to build ownership
[00:15:50] Free leadership self-assessment resource for continued growth
Resources Mentioned
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Scott McCarthy
Transcript
The following is an AI generated transcript which should be used for reference purposes only. It has not been verified or edited to reflect what was actually said in the podcast episode.
Scott McCarthy [00:00:00]:
Getting your team to take ownership is one of the biggest challenges that faces leaders today. It is also one of the best ways to achieve peak performance, to increase retention and make your team just happy. Yet, so many leaders struggle with this today. Well today, I’m going to talk about one military tradition and how I’m using it to increase ownership within my organization. Are you ready for this? Alright. Let’s do it. Welcome one. Welcome all to the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast, a weekly podcast series dedicated to helping you hit peak performance across the three domains of leadership.
Scott McCarthy [00:00:58]:
Those being leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. This podcast couples my twenty years of military experience as a senior Canadian army officer with world class guests bringing you the most complete podcast of leadership going. And for more, feel free to check out our website at movingforwardleadership.com. And with that, let’s get to the show. Yes. Welcome one. Welcome all. It is your Chief Leadership Officer, Scott McCarthy, and thanks for tuning into today’s podcast, where we’re gonna be talking about how you can try to increase ownership amongst your team into your organization.
Scott McCarthy [00:01:53]:
And this is such an important topic because as I said in intro, it is one of the best ways to achieve peak performance with your team, within your organization. It is definitely effective. There are so many examples of organizations out there who went and went down the ownership route and achieved great things. And for the longest time, I will tell you, like, the first company that comes to my mind when I think ownership is actually a Canadian airline, believe it or not, and that is airline called Westjet. So, just to give you an idea, the Canadian Airlines space for a long time and still remains to be very competitive. I mean, it is almost impossible in Canada. You know based on the way the rules and the laws are and so on so forth and just the the entry the barriers entry It is very difficult for new airlines to really set up in Canada, but WestJet was able to do it, and they are now easily the the facto number two, arguably number one airline in the country. Okay? And they’ve been there for quite some time.
Scott McCarthy [00:03:25]:
And there are many, many reasons. You know, they did so many great things out of the beginning, like scaling with purpose, keeping a unified fleet to keep costs down. So many of these great quote, unquote managerial type decisions that enabled them to stay lean, keep costs down, yet be effective in providing, their service to the people of Canada. But they did one thing in particular from a leadership standpoint that enabled them to expand and get a foothold and really grow and that is they instilled ownership within their team and how did they do that Well, they made them owners too. They provided stock and shares to all of their permanent and indeterminate employees. They invested. They were invested in the company’s success because that in turn enabled them to achieve more things. Now that is just one example of how you can turn around and instill ownership within your organization.
Scott McCarthy [00:04:51]:
But, you know, not every company out there can do that. Not everybody has stock options or you as a leader, you probably don’t even have access to that kind of asset. Everyone has the ability to, you know, issue stock options. So how do we, the day to day normal leaders, actually instill ownership within our teams? How do we do that? It’s tough. Don’t get me wrong. It is tough. Ownership is by far one of the most difficult things to do, and now I’m gonna talk about a military tradition that we do and how I’m using it as a part of ownership. Now if you’re new to the podcast, first off, welcome.
Scott McCarthy [00:05:42]:
Welcome. Welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here. Now you’re probably wondering, hey. Who are you? I am Scott McCarthy. By day, I’m a senior Canadian army officer who is currently the commanding officer of the twenty five Canadian Forces Supply Depot out of Montreal, Quebec. Okay? Within that organization, I am responsible for 85 folks and well over $4,000,000,000 worth of equipment. It is a challenge, and it is a challenge to get people to instill ownership.
Scott McCarthy [00:06:23]:
Ownership in our day to day operations, ownership in our outcomes, ownership in every aspect of what we do. But I’ve been leveraging two things to help with this ownership battle, and the first is there’s a tradition in the military that we refer to as the coin tradition now Won’t take any credit for the coin tradition. It’s been around for a long time. It’s actually from my understanding, comes from the US army, where a base commander used to or brigade commander used to give out coins to invite people to a monthly barbecue, and that was your ticket to get in. That has now since been morphed into a way to say thanks and to, recognize people, for their efforts and the work that they’ve done. So you’re wondering how does this tie into ownership. Well, the second part of this is that I’ve been telling my team that this is their unit, which is a very much a one eighty perspective from a military context. Everyone looks at the commanding officer as the person who is in charge of the unit.
Scott McCarthy [00:07:59]:
It is their unit. They run it as they see fit. They’re responsible for everything. The CO, the CO this, the CO that, the CO, the CO, the c o. Now, that’s great, and in some context it makes sense. Don’t get me wrong. I have to take ownership of my responsibilities and not just slough them off onto someone else, But, the other side of the dagger is that we know when I’m leaving. You see us military leaders we change it roles every two to three years, and in this case it is two years.
Scott McCarthy [00:08:42]:
So I can pretty much pull up a calendar right now, and maybe I will as I’m talking, and I’ll tell you that roughly when I will be changing out, and that is going to be in 2026. Let’s pick June. I’m thinking late June, so either the eighteenth or June 25 is most likely of 2026 when I will be leaving this job. So how is it my unit? Sure. It’s my unit for the two years, but not my unit after that day. It’s the next CO’s unit. And so with that, I have to actually manage my expectations and understand that it’s not actually my unit. Why? Because I have people who have been in the unit, civilian employees who’ve been there longer than I’ve been in the army and some longer than I’ve been alive.
Scott McCarthy [00:09:44]:
So it’s their unit. They’re the ones who get to decide the culture and how it’s going to be, if it’s going to be a high performing culture or not because I can show up and I can preach rah rah rah for two years and then everything can change right after. But the constant is the members who are there over the long haul. So it’s their unit. Now, let’s tie these two things together. So on the coin that I present as thank yous and well done’s and attaboys and attagirls, it is written on the backside, say, Volta unit or it’s your unit. I’m telling my people this every opportunity I get. It’s their unit.
Scott McCarthy [00:10:51]:
They get to decide how we’re going to operate because I can’t go and grab the equipment, prep it for shipment. Everything that’s needed, bring things on charge write things off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They’re the ones who did that to do it on my behalf so it’s their unit and this is the mentality that I’m pushing pushing hard for people to understand and for them to take a little bit of ownership of their unit. Is it a quick Band Aid fix? God no.
Scott McCarthy [00:11:37]:
And let me tell you, it is taking time for people to understand what I mean by that and to believe me when I say it. But I’m saying it, and it’s coming around. So when you think about how you can instill ownership within your team, You know, think about how you can make it their unit. And, sure, you might not be the overall in charge. You know, you might not be the CEO or commandant of whatever you’re working out of, but how can you instill that it’s your whatever within your team? So just a quick example of how you might do that. Let’s let’s pick let’s say you’re a regional sales manager, and you have, like, five local sales managers under you with teams. You know they’re all in different parts of the country state province what have you okay spare with me but they’re all going to be different Right? Where I’m from, like, Canada, my god. Like, each province is completely different.
Scott McCarthy [00:12:57]:
You go from one side to the other side of the country, and, like, it’s night and day. So what works in one space won’t work in the other. So this is where you can go ahead and say, hey. It’s your area. It’s your region. It’s your whatever. Yep. I’m gonna push down some direction to you.
Scott McCarthy [00:13:17]:
I’m gonna give you some some guidance. I’m going to tell you some things that are offside, but you know what? Take these things and apply it, adapt it to your local area, and run with it as you need to. Hey. Maybe your people in your area don’t like cold calls during the workday and for whatever crazy reason, they like them in the evenings. Alright. Shift your team’s schedule. Maybe one product line isn’t that, you know, hot, but another one is. Push hard for that product line that is hot.
Scott McCarthy [00:14:00]:
Enable your local people to take ownership and maybe, you know, get to know their clients deeply and to know them. Almost befriend them. You see, these are how you make it. It’s your unit. You enable them to be a part of the decision making process on how they’re going to execute based on the desired end state that you have. Think about that moving forward. You know, there’s plenty of things that I can’t do. But I can enable my team to take ownership of what it is that we can do to enable the organization to move forward.
Scott McCarthy [00:14:56]:
So that is a way that I using a military tradition with a little bit of leadership insight to instill ownership within your team. And that is it for today, ladies and gentlemen. And just a final quick wrap up point. If you’re not sure how you’re doing, you know, we talk about the three domains of leadership here at the p Performance Leadership Podcast, and those three domains are leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization, and you’re like, I’m not too sure how I’m doing. I have a great tool for you to find out. That’s my assessment. Scorecard. It’s just a quick 20 quick questions.
Scott McCarthy [00:15:50]:
Go through it. It’ll take you less than five minutes guaranteed, and you will get a personalized personalized report on how you’re doing, where you need to improve, and how you can improve. No strings attached. Just go to leaddon’tboss.com/assessment, and you’ll be taken there, fill in your email address, and away you go. So go check it out. Lose those blind spots. Figure out where you’re doing well. Figure out where you can improve and most importantly how to improve across those three domains.
Scott McCarthy [00:16:29]:
Again, that is leaddon’tboss.com/assessment. Love you as always. Thank you for tuning in and until next time, leave don’t boss. Take care now. And that’s a wrap for this episode, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast. But you know what you could do to truly support the podcast and know that’s not leaving a rating and review.
Scott McCarthy [00:16:59]:
It’s simply helping a friend. And that is helping a friend by sharing this episode with them. If you think this would resonate with them and help them elevate their performance level, whether that’s within themselves, their teams, or their organization. So do that. Help me help a friend win win all around and, hey, you look like a great friend at the same time. So just hit that little share button on your app and then feel free to fire this episode to anyone that you feel would benefit from it. Finally, there’s always more. There’s always more lessons around being the highest performing leader that you can possibly be, whether that’s for yourself, your team, or your organization.
Scott McCarthy [00:17:47]:
So why don’t you subscribe? Subscribe to the show of the movingforwardleadership.com/subscribe. And until next time, lead, don’t boss, and thanks for coming out. Take care now.