Ownership. I call this the highest level of employee engagement. When an employee acts like an owner. They own the customer experience, the outcome, the brand, quality control, the vision for the future and will fight with everything they have to help the organization succeed.
As a person who loves food, wine, small restaurants and local business, I was proud to find this new little restaurant about a mile from my house, Cucina Vanina. An unassuming Italian Restaurant in a suburban strip mall. On each visit, Don has been my server. He greets us like we are best friends, is proud to tell the history of the restaurant, talks about the owner as if she walks on water, and is committed to ensure each table has the best possible dining experience. Donovan has a recommendation and advice on every food category, is quick to learn the names of his clients and just makes you feel welcome. You might think it is HIS restaurant!
As a leader, how can you have employees as committed to your success as Don seems to be?
Connection: People have a deep need to be connected – to each other, to a larger group. Help them connect. Treat your team as people, engage them first, see if they engage you back.
Purpose: Similar to connection, your team wants to feel like they play a role in something bigger – there is relevance between their role and the purpose of the organization. Donovan knows his job is to make the customer’s day, which makes them happy and ensures they come back – and tell friends. At some level he knows that the busier they are, the more tables that are full of happy people the more successful the restaurant is and the more money he makes.
The B-School driving purpose behind any company is to drive shareholder value. And sure, if you do business well that is the result – Shareholder value increases as you do business well. That means growing the number of customers, selling them more ‘stuff’ while controlling the costs to deliver that ‘stuff’. The driving purpose of the company cannot be to drive value, but to do business well – whatever that is to the company. As a service firm, if you deliver great service, while controlling your expenses, shareholder value will increase. That great service becomes your marketing tool. It keeps you employed with existing engagements and drives future business. Current business (Selling more stuff to the customers you have) and future business (getting more customers) drives shareholder value. It is no different in a product-based business. There is a distinct difference in defining the purpose of the organization as doing business well, and in driving shareholder value. On Don’s first day at the restaurant, if he were told his only job is to make money for the owner he likely would not approach their menu with such passion.
A simple model: Create a cadre of happy, engaged employees who are proud of their work, who act like “Owners”. They will create Happy Customers, a quality product or deliver exceptional service. Customers will buy and take care of your top line. They will tell their friends, who will tell their friends. Revenue will grow. Take care of your operating costs and shareholder value will grow.
Authored by: Zack Clark, MBA
Zack is a Senior Consultant and one of the founding partners at Five Degrees Consulting. This is a blog we share between several of the Consultants at Five Degrees, guest authors and colleagues. We work with companies large and small on People and Organization strategies. Our work specializes in organizational development, leadership effectiveness and executive development. With a focus on working with leaders at all levels to create an intentional corporate culture, we help organizations increase employee engagement, energize working teams, develop critical leadership competencies and enhance strategic communications for more information about our services, please connect with us.