The Elevare Edge · Issue 24 · October 7, 2026
Her team kept asking for more ownership.
So she gave it to them. Bigger projects. Fewer check-ins. Her trust.
Then the updates stopped coming.
She leads 30 people with no managers in between. When a deadline slid, she asked for a status. The answer came back fast, just not the one she wanted.
"You're micromanaging us."
She tried letting the team hold each other accountable. That didn't work either. Many of them had worked side by side for years. Friends cover for friends.
In our session, I asked her one question. What does ownership look like on your team? Written down. Specific.
For years, nobody had defined it. The team had gone a long time without real leadership, and the old habits stuck.
So we built a standard. Three things, checked every month. A short status update by the 5th business day. A report on what was delivered. Progress on each project. Each one gets a simple mark: on track or off track.
No more chasing. No debate about tone. The standard does the asking.
In 40 years in financial services, I've seen this more times than I can count. People don't push back on standards. They push back on surprises.
When you ask for an update nobody agreed to give, it feels like an attack. When the team agreed to it up front, it's just part of the work.
Most teams that "resist accountability" aren't resisting at all. They're guessing. And every check-in tells them they guessed wrong.
If your team wants ownership but bristles every time you ask for an update, then give them a standard they can own. I built a free Team Playbook Builder that helps you set one, scorecard included, in about 10 minutes.
Build your team playbook:
https://www.elevaredynamics.com/team-playbook-builder
To your success,
Rene Madden
Elevare Dynamics
https://www.elevaredynamics.com/
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