Whose Work Is It?

The story: The monthly theme was ownership. He rewrote her report. She was furious. He said he was taking ownership. She said — of my work? Ownership to him meant stepping in and making things better wherever he saw an opportunity. Ownership to her meant being responsible for your own domain and not crossing into someone else's.

What it means for organisations: Ownership is one of the most loaded words in team culture. It can mean accountability, autonomy, initiative, or stewardship — depending entirely on who's using it. When a team adopts it as a value without agreeing on what it permits and what it prohibits, one person's ownership becomes another person's overreach.