If your team is not doing what you need them to do, you first have to:

• A. Look for external factors
• B. Blame the team
• C. Increase pressure
• D. Look at yourself

Answer: (D)

Taking ownership as a leader means you start by examining your own actions and leadership before blaming others. When the team isn’t meeting needs, the most effective first step is to look inward: review how you’ve defined the mission, clarified tasks, set expectations and deadlines, and ensured the team has the training, resources, and support to succeed. Reflect on your communication cadence and whether you’ve provided clear direction and accountability. By adjusting your approach—your plan, your instructions, and your follow-up—you remove obstacles you’re responsible for and establish the conditions for better performance. This creates a baseline for true accountability and often reveals the real root causes before considering external factors. Blaming the team, increasing pressure, or focusing on outside factors without first aligning your own leadership tends to undermine trust and productivity.