Feel like an owner

According to Jaime Zepeda, Senior Client Relationship Manager at Great Place to Work, she discusses Whole Foods in which team members are not only given a voice, but they are expected to use it. This organization offers an intensive four-day session in which people from all parts of the system including vendors are asked to co-create key initiatives for the next 5 years. During this session they come together to set priorities for the company. Zappos as well includes all employees in the planning process. Dixon Schwabl, best small business in America 2008 & 2010 regularly takes employees to lunch and ask their opinion on the direction of the company. Why would you want employees to feel like an owner? It is a way to engage your people and help them feel heard! This process creates ownership and allows the vision to be maintained by all.

If you want your employees to be invested and take ownership in their work, you need to start treating them like owners. This way they will have some skin in the game and move more into the mindset of ownership. While sitting next to Malcolm Shepherd the CEO of Royale International Couriers, Inc on a flight to LA, he told of how he creates ownership in his employees. His motto is “When the need is urgent the choice is clear.” When I asked him how he got his employees to respond to last minute requests he said, “I do not need to make them do anything, they know their jobs and do it well.” This organization has 14 locations world-wide and has grown into a 100-million-dollar operation!

In order to help you people feel like owners:

• Help them understand the vision and goals of the organization and be specific: As an owner your priority is always the big picture, but your people cannot think like owners if they are not privy to this information. Be honest about the current challenges and help them make decisions accordingly.
• Be transparent: When issues that dramatically affect an organization are only discussed behind closed doors, problems are ignored. Involve your employees in the big picture and use them to problem solve. Share not only why things can or cannot work, but how it influences the big picture, and recognize your people for their ideas.
• Focus on issues: Employees cannot solve what they don’t know exist so be transparent as possible about your companies’ issues. This will help your team to collaborate and bond around a common purpose.
• Empower them to be decision-makers: When employees need to go to multiple sources to get answers it undermines their ability to think like an owner. Give your employees the opportunity to make basic decisions. Great places to work often give employees a small budget to make immediate decisions to improve customer service. This not only empowers the worker but improves the customer experience.

Not only does helping your employee to feel like an owner create a more invested employee, they tend to stay longer. When you give them the tools to think like an owner, they will be more motivated to grow your business and be invested more every day.