“Be Elite” Series: How To Take Ownership On The Field

Some of the most successful people have mastered skills and strategies that have helped propel them to their peak performance. Whether they perform as an athlete, business leader, or in another type of field, this set of skills spans across professions.

In this series of articles, I'll break down the most-used mental performance skills of the elite. If you missed the first two articles in this series, read through "Be Elite" Series: How To Be Present On The Softball Field and learn how the best performers master the art of mindfulness. Also, check out the second article, "Be Elite" Series: How To Be Intentional On The Field.

In this article, I'll share how the elite-level skill of taking ownership can help you perform at your best.

At its simplest form, to take ownership is about taking initiative, assuming responsibility, and being accountable. Taking initiative means you act first in a situation. You don't wait for others to act or to tell you what to do. You may be the leader when you take initiative in a group.

Assuming responsibility means you take on the responsibility of completing the task from the start all the way to the finish. The term accountability is the "obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for your actions, decisions, and performance" (Merriam-Webster, 2026). Accountability involves your willingness to answer for the outcomes of your actions/decisions/performance (good or bad) to others. A keyword in this definition is to "accept responsibility."

Accepting responsibility for things you've said and done means you proactively assume full responsibility for your actions (or inaction) and the results. Proactively accepting responsibility means you take ownership (you own up) to your actions, decisions, performance, words, and inaction. The term "proactive" means you do not wait for others to emphasize or "call you out"; rather, you intentionally identify your influence on outcomes.

This sounds simple, but did you know that many people shy away from taking ownership of themselves? Taking ownership of yourself or a situation is hard! It makes us feel uncomfortable. We may feel less confident and embarrassed when we make mistakes or things don't turn out the way we had hoped; however, taking ownership is an elite-level skill that can help you be a top performer.

Taking ownership has several benefits that can help you level up your game. Keep in mind, ownership is a three-pronged action. Ownership involves taking initiative, assuming responsibility of the task, action, thought, and accountability for your influence on the outcomes.

The more you take ownership, the more you build your drive to not only complete a task, but to also go above and beyond it. You learn not to wait for someone else to get the job done, but rather, you get going, and you want the best results possible. This mindset helps build the skill of initiative and improves performance because you're not just trying to get the baseline results (you seek above and beyond) because you are taking on the responsibility of the work.

The work becomes important to you because you feel personally responsible for it. When you hold yourself accountable for the outcomes (positive, neutral, and negative), you are building trust with others and creating a reputation of consistency and integrity. Talk about building trust with your teammates and coaches! If they know you will hold yourself accountable, they will trust you more.

Taking ownership makes you better because it builds your self-awareness and highlights your strengths and weaknesses. You're more likely to know what you need to improve and commit to strengthening those areas when you take ownership. This self-awareness also leads to better decision-making skills. You're more equipped to make decisions that will help others and your team vs. just yourself. And finally, taking ownership helps boost your confidence by giving you the feeling of having more control over yourself and the situation (Pierce et al., 2020; Vad Baunsgaard, 2024).

Learning how to take ownership is a skill. This means it can be taught and can be learned. That's good news! Like all skills, you have to practice taking ownership to get better at it and more comfortable with the uneasiness that can come with it.

One way to develop your ownership skills is to break down the components of ownership and work on those components individually. For example, practice taking initiative in situations. Act first. Taking ownership requires a proactive approach (i.e., initiative) to get ahead of situations. For example, plan out two weeks' worth of individual practices on your own instead of waiting for a parent or coach to give them to you, or ask your parent or teammate to go get some extra practice in before they have to ask you. Practice doing things without having to be told. Practice being the first to speak up, to apologize, to initiate conversation. Be proactive.

To practice taking on the responsibility of a task (or your actions and thoughts), work on following through. Work on being intentional with what you're doing and how you're doing it. Go above and beyond what the bare minimum requirements are to get the job done.

Let me pause here and state, you don't always need to go above and beyond for various reasons, however, consider when going above and beyond may stretch you and enhance the outcome. For example, go above and beyond in the effort you put toward practice sessions, or pick up 20 balls instead of the 10 each your coach asked of you.

Finally, work on taking accountability. This one can be the hardest of all, but it can also be the most rewarding. Accepting accountability for the outcomes includes both positive and negative outcomes. This means you want to practice owning up to mistakes, failures, or negative outcomes (own up to your part in them), but it also means practicing accepting compliments and positive recognition.

You may not like taking ownership of outcomes that aren't favorable, but you can still own them. Work on recognizing this won't be comfortable, and push through that discomfort by speaking up or changing behaviors as needed. So what are you waiting for? Go out there and own it!

Dr. Megan Buning is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (C.M.P.C.) with over a decade of experience training the mental game.

Pierce, J. L., Li, D., Jussila, I., & Wang, J. (2020). An empirical examination of the emergence of collective psychological ownership in work team contexts. Journal of Management & Organization, 26(5), 657-676.

Vad Baunsgaard, V. (2024, July 14). How taking ownership of your life will make you a better leader and manager. Management Magazine.