Do your team members act like they own your company or organization?

ByDoug Buma

A better question to ask may be “do the leaders of your organization treat team members like owners”?

As a leader, I always wanted my teams to act like owners because, when they did, in general they made the right decisions. When my team’s acted as owners they were making the most significant cultural impact on our organization. They were creating, and reinforcing, an ownership culture.

How can we initiate, build, and reinforce an ownership culture? Here are several things I implemented as President and part owner of a company, to help instill an ownership culture throughout the entire team: 

  • Gave quarterly company updates to all employees, informing them of what was going well and what wasn’t, and where we wanted to go the next quarter.
  • Intentionally spent time with the broader team reviewing the basics of company financial statements and how they could impact them. 
  • Established team KPI’s that reinforced the financial goals of the company.
  • Gave quarterly bonuses based on the profitability of the company to every employee.
  • Initiated an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan).

Even if you can’t offer an ESOP to every employee, you can actively develop an ownership culture. Here are some ownership traits that can be adopted into your team’s culture today:

  • Owners are trusted with making decisions.
  • Owners know how the company is doing financially.
  • Owners love great ideas, regardless of who initiated them.
  • Owners often have lower salaries with more pay at risk, reaping financial rewards when the organization performs well.
  • Owners strive to make sound decisions that will positively impact their performance. They are looking to reduce costs, increase sales, improve profitability, and enhance cash flow.
  • Owners pick up trash. They tidy up in the lunchroom or bathroom without being asked. They take pride in how their company appears to clients, prospective employees, vendors, and the broader team.

When my entry-level employees were voicing possible impacts to their bonus in decisions that they and we were making, I knew that we hadn’t just won a cultural battle. We had won the war.

Here are some questions to help you enhance your ownership culture:

  1. What next practical steps can you take to improve your ownership culture?
  1. How can you show that you trust your team with making decisions?
  1. Is there a business 101 class you can share with your entire team so that they can better grasp how they can impact the team’s performance?
  1. An ownership culture should impact who we hire and how we hire. Should we be looking for candidates who are entrepreneurial?
  1. Have you communicated the “Why” to your team, showing what happens when the team succeeds? Financial rewards, new position opportunities, etc.?

Start treating your team like they own the business and they will begin acting like they do.

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