The miracle of ownership thinking

Do a mental survey of the perspective most workers have about their identity in the workplace and it won’t take too long to observe that majority of employees view themselves as one-dimensional in relation to their company as a business analyst, Human Resource professional, or line manager.

But imagine the possibilities if everyone in your organisation started thinking and acting like entrepreneurs like owners of the business. Imagine if every employee shared the same beliefs, both in their abilities and in the purpose of your business, and focused all their energies on making that business successful knowing that they, in turn, would become successful as well. Wouldn’t that be something?

Building an ownership culture is critical to the engagement and retention of employees in an organisation. As line managers or supervisors, if you desire to have engaged employees who are constantly thinking like owners, feel good about the organisation and exercise discretionary effort in ensuring that the organisation does better, we would have to be intentional in changing the way they see the organisation.

Creating an ownership culture among your team, unit or organisation has to become part and parcel of your deliberate effort. If we don’t expect individuals to become great doctors, lawyers, engineers or even bakers by default then we must not expect employees to own their roles accidentally. Success belongs to those who take the bull by the horn and deliberately create the kind of workforce they desire.

What every line leader and supervisor should be after is to get their subordinates to care as much about the business as they do.

And why would we want that? Because when employees see the organisation though the lens of ownership, they become engaged and ultimately more productive. They become great customer advocates and tremendously add to the bottom line.

We must purposely:

• Create and sell a provocative vision & values of the organisation,

• Create opportunities for employees to grow personally and professionally,

• Assist team members find the purpose in their work by helping them see how it contributes to the goal of the organisation,

• Effectively communicate (listen and express your thought) with employees,

• Give adequate feedback,

• Introduce meaningful, memorable (and measurable) recognition.

• You should deliberately let them see you care about their well being.

We would have been successful in creating a culture of ownership in our people when they are as concerned about the growth, development and well being of the organisation as much as we are.  These are the kind of employees who make systems work effectively.

Is ownership thinking thriving at your organisation?

Ngozi Adebiyi