Breeding the Ownership mentality among your staff

If you have ever worked with a team where everyone appears to be working but not much is getting done, then you have seen a team with no ownership mentality. In a typical scenario, you simply notice that employees do the bare minimum (just enough to avoid getting sacked), but do not necessarily go the extra mile to get things done faster, better, or in a more efficient manner. Some might not even be bothered to do their tasks at all, or in time.

If your startup or business will grow at the pace you want it to grow, then you should have more staffs who have the ownership mindset than those who do not.

According to her, the attendants would not attend to her simply because it was not yet 9:00 am and they had not commenced sales. She explained the urgency of the situation and offered to pay cash for the item so that they could scan it and record the sales at 9:00 am. They declined. She pleaded for more than 5 minutes and they still would not bulge. They insisted that their sales only commenced at 9:00 am. She had to leave and go look for other options and ended up late to work on a Monday morning. (You can guess how the post ended of course. She swore she would never go near that mall in her lifetime).

Let’s not talk about the negative image this post gives to that business, but let us take a look at the ownership mentality that was obviously lacking among the attendants. They could argue that they were following instructions, but in truth, we know that they could have handled the situation better. Businesses spent monies on advertising and publicity, just to make sales. An advertising or publicity expert can give you a better idea of the cost of getting one client, in a world that is now very competitive. Yet, a staff (or staff) could afford to turn away a customer who came to buy an item.

The cost of their action is way more than the little money that lady was to spend on her sanitary towels. The real cost is the number of customers she will keep turning away from that brand because of her sour experience. The real cost is the bad image that the brand will now have, among her circle of friends. And like we know, bad news spreads faster.

Business owners and entrepreneurs must do more to breed the ownership mentality among staff. One way is to have high expectations and share the same with your team members. Make it clear that whatever KPIs you have set out for them is the minimum you expect of them and not the maximum. And, encourage them to do more for the business, and reap the benefits that come with doing more. Let them know that you have faith in them. If you do not convince them that you have faith in them, then chances are they will not have that drive to better their performance.

Another tip is delegating tasks and responsibilities without micromanaging them. Make them accountable for every task entrusted to them. Let them know that the task has been assigned to them because they are most qualified and most suited to do it. It should be clear to them that if they fail to do the task, it will remain undone. Having other employees fill in for one person’s inefficiencies always does not create a sense of accountability. The message is that “you are expected to do the work assigned to you, perfectly, and deliver in good time. If you fail, you will be letting down the entire team”.

Another tip: try out incentives. Offer incentives for exceptional work and extra milestones achieved. If there is a trophy to be won, people will run. It does not have to be huge – a 2-5% performance bonus, a coupon, a gift, a promotion, etc can be used, as and when appropriate. And please, do not be the employer that says “the reward for work is more work”. People naturally run away from work, but gravitate towards rewards, acknowledgments, and higher positions. Use them appropriately.

It’s another week to push further.