It’s generally considered a bad term, but its the secret weapon for extreme ownership. Jocko Willink doesn’t mention it in his books, but he has brought it up a few times in podcast, and I’ve found it a useful concept.
If you exercise extreme ownership on a project, then you are taking ownership over the performance of your subordinates. As such, what are your tools for making sure they do the job, especially if they aren’t measuring up?
First and foremost, you have to make sure your expectations and standards are clear. If the objective is not clear, then how can they make the mark?
If the direction is clear, then you need to resort to micromanaging, working with your colleagues step by step until you’ve built up the trust they can do it right. I guess you can also call it coaching or training, but ultimately you need to get hands on until you can step back and given them a level of freedom as professionals.
Funny thing, this same two step process also works with your superiors. If they are the one holding you back from performing your task, you need to ask lots of questions to clarify the objective, and if it’s still not clear, you need to ask questions in detail so you can make sure you are meeting their expectations.
The process is simple, the hard part is doing it in a way that keeps the team motivated and doesn’t suck all the initiative out of the room.