How to Get Your Team to Own Their Performance

You’re not looking for another “feel-good” speech.
You don’t need a motivational boost that fades by Monday.

You want impact.

You want your team to stop coasting and start owning their performance.
You want them to play at their A-game, to take responsibility, to win.

But here’s the problem.

Most teams settle.

They do just enough to keep their jobs. They avoid accountability. They wait to be told what to do. They work inside their job descriptions, never beyond them.

You see the potential.
But something is holding them back.

Here’s how to fix it.

1. Make It Clear That “Good Enough” Is Not Enough

The standard you set is the standard they’ll follow.

If “good enough” is acceptable, people will stop pushing. If average work is tolerated, excellence will never be achieved.

One company I worked with had a productivity problem. When I asked employees what success looked like, their answers were all over the place. No clear standard. No clear expectations.

So, I asked leadership, “What do you truly expect from them?”

They hesitated.

That was the problem. If leaders aren’t clear, teams stay lost.

↳ Set unmistakable standards. Define what great looks like. Make it so clear that no one can misunderstand.

↳ Challenge people to step up. Ask, “Is this your best work?” If the answer isn’t a strong yes, push for better.

↳ Make winning normal. When high performance becomes the expectation, people rise to meet it.

2. Stop Letting People Hide

Mediocrity thrives where there’s no ownership.

In one organization, managers kept blaming “the system” for slow progress. Employees blamed “management” for unclear direction. Everyone had an excuse.

So, I asked, “Who actually owns this result?”

Silence.

Nobody wanted to claim it.

↳ Remove the hiding spots. Assign clear accountability. If someone owns it, they’ll move it.

↳ Ban blame culture. No more pointing fingers at the system, the process, or leadership. Great teams take ownership.

↳ Make responsibility public. People perform better when they know their name is attached to the outcome.

3. Turn Every Employee Into an MVP

The best teams don’t have “employees.” They have MVPs—people who play to win.

An MVP doesn’t wait for instructions.
They don’t do the bare minimum.
They find ways to make things better, faster, smarter.

In a workshop, I once asked a team, “If your job was a sport, would you be an MVP—or just another player on the bench?”

Most hesitated. Because deep down, they knew.

↳ Help people see themselves as high performers. Set personal and team-level goals that challenge them.

↳ Track progress like a championship team. Scoreboards, leaderboards, performance metrics—make it visible who’s excelling and who’s slacking.

↳ Reward ownership, not effort. Don’t just recognize people for working hard—reward them for getting results.

4. Make Execution Non-Negotiable

Talk is cheap. Plans are worthless without action.

I once worked with a team that spent months in strategy meetings. Their ideas were brilliant, but their execution was nonexistent.

One simple shift changed everything:

↳ Every meeting ends with action steps. No discussions without decisions. No ideas without owners.

↳ Shorten timelines. When deadlines are months away, urgency dies. Compress them. If something takes 3 months, challenge them to do it in 3 weeks.

↳ Make speed a habit. Fast teams win. Slow teams get left behind. Train your team to move quickly, adjust as they go, and keep momentum alive.

5. Create a “No Excuses” Culture

I once met a CEO who had a simple rule:

“If it’s important, we find a way. If it’s not, we find an excuse.”

That became the company’s mindset.

No excuses. No “we’re too busy.” No “that’s not my job.” If something mattered, they found a way.

↳ Teach your team that obstacles aren’t stop signs. They’re just problems waiting for solutions.

↳ Kill passive language. No more “I’ll try.” No more “We’ll see.” Replace them with “I will” and “Here’s how.”

↳ Lead by example. If leaders make excuses, so will the team. Show them what ownership looks like.

6. Make Agility Part of the Culture

A slow team is a dying team.

The best organizations don’t just work hard—they move fast, adapt fast, and execute fast.

I’ve worked with companies where decision-making takes weeks. Endless approvals, unnecessary meetings, layers of red tape.

Meanwhile, their competitors? They move. They adjust. They win.

↳ Empower people to make decisions. If everything needs approval from the top, you’re slowing down growth.

↳ Encourage quick experiments. Test ideas fast. See what works. Pivot when needed.

↳ Eliminate bottlenecks. If something slows your team down, fix it. Fast-moving teams stay ahead.

7. Teach Discipline Over Motivation

Motivation gets people started. Discipline keeps them going.

A lot of leaders rely on rah-rah motivation speeches. The problem? Motivation fades.

Discipline? That’s what builds high-performance teams.

↳ Create systems, not just moments. High achievers don’t rely on “feeling motivated.” They rely on habits, routines, and structure.

↳ Normalize high standards. Expect consistency. Make discipline the baseline, not the exception.

↳ Hold people accountable to their commitments. No excuses. No slipping back. Excellence is a daily practice.

8. Inspire, but Demand Excellence

Your team doesn’t need another feel-good speech.

They need clear expectations, relentless follow-through, and leaders who won’t let them settle.

↳ Expect excellence. If you accept average, you’ll get average. If you push for great, you’ll get great.

↳ Give people a reason to care. If they don’t see how their work matters, they won’t give their best. Show them the bigger picture.

↳ Never let your team get comfortable. The moment they stop pushing, they start falling behind. Keep raising the bar.

You Don’t Need More Time. You Need More Ownership.

Most teams have the talent, the skills, and the opportunity to win.

But they stay stuck because they haven’t been trained to own their performance.

Set the standard.
Eliminate excuses.
Turn every employee into an MVP.

Because the best teams?

They don’t just show up.

They show up to win.

Want More on Building a Culture That Refuses to Settle?

Read How to Break a Culture That Settles Next.

Because when good enough is eliminated, greatness takes its place.