Build ownership by extending psychological standing and asking for 100% accountability

A regional call center had a quality problem: repeat calls about the same issue. The operations head, Maya, kept hearing, “That’s the product team’s fault,” or, “Support can’t fix that.” In meetings, shoulders went up, eyes went down, and nothing moved. On a cool Wednesday morning with the HVAC humming, she changed the script. The next stand‑up opened with a slide that read, “Engineers and agents, together,” and she said, “If you touch the customer, you’re in the circle.” It sounded small, but the shift extended permission to act across groups.

Maya then asked for something unusual: “Tell the story as if you’re 100% responsible.” A support lead admitted they never flagged repeat tickets in a way product managers could see. A product manager confessed their team asked for email once and never validated it. Two levers appeared: a second email field with instant validation and a tagging convention for repeat issues. No villains, just handles.

The first week, engineering added email confirmation and a self-serve resend button. Support piloted the new tags and posted a “Top 5 repeats” note on Fridays. Calls about missing confirmations dropped by 40% in ten days. In the kitchen, someone taped a sticky note to the coffee machine: “Move your chair.” Silly, sure, but the tone changed. The wins weren’t spectacular, they were steady. That’s how culture moves—from defensiveness to joint authorship.

Psychologically, this works because people hesitate to act when they feel they lack standing. A simple inclusive label grants legitimacy. The 100% exercise reduces attribution bias and focuses attention on controllable context, not fixed traits. And environment tweaks beat exhortations: change the field, not the person. Ownership grows when people see their fingerprint on the next better version.

Draft one sentence that explicitly invites the people you need—by name, not implication—and put it on the next agenda or channel post. In your next meeting, run a 10‑minute round where each person shares the “I’m 100% responsible” version of the story, and listen for levers you can pull this week. Write a small plan titled “Move Your Chair,” listing two context changes you control and who will do them by Friday. Keep it light and practical. You’ll feel the mood shift once permission and responsibility are shared out loud.