For Engagement and Ownership Thinking – Do These 4 Things
During my 12+ years with New Belgium Brewing, we always knew that culture was a critical part of the business. It was a key feature in our strategic planning and kept the three-legged stool of beer + culture + environment strong and steady in our brand. As a base, in any productive culture, it is critical to wipe out fear and build trust. Once you get that handled you can build real engagement and the ever sought-after ownership culture by focusing on 4 things.
Risks and Rewards
Creating a system with tools that teach and share the entrepreneurial experience is critical. Not every company may be ready for an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), but there are other gain sharing plans that also work depending on the size and stage of the business. But, don’t stop with just implementing the gain sharing pay program – open the books and teach people about the numbers of the company – how they were developed and why they are where they are. The financials are merely a snapshot of the business plan and activities, so teach that plan. Then, don’t stop with reporting the numbers, get more people involved in creating and managing the numbers!
Rights and Responsilbites
Once the books are open, people will want to understand what choices were considered and how decisions are made. By creating a system of rights and responsibilities people can understand the why, who, what and how of business decision making. This structure will provide understanding and build a culture of high road corporate citizenship. This is the unique and dynamic plan of building an open culture with healthy boundaries.
Alignment and Interconnection
Build systems and processes that allow people to align their individual actions to business priorities. We all love task-level autonomy, but never forget that a right to autonomy comes with the responsibility to tie priorities and efforts to the needs of the business. Develop a scorecard that creates clarity for each person on how to align daily efforts to what the company needs. We are all interconnected and when you get everyone rowing in the same direction it creates a powerful competitive force. Interconnect performance through the company through goal setting and 3 simple aspects to evaluate:
- How I show up
- What I am capable of
- What I achieve
Use self-evaluations where each person owns their own performance. Grow responsibility and accountability.
Smash organizational silos and unnecessary bureaucracy at every chance. It’s about what’s important for the collective interest and the values driven success of the business.
Common-Unity, The Community
Get the community together. Make space for it to happen. Unify daily actions to the aspirational values of the company. Share in the hard times and share in the good times. When you create the common attachment to the purpose and serving each other through serving the business, a system of daily motivation arrives. When people understand how personal health, daily attitude, and interconnected success mix together you can reduce the need for bureaucracies often needed in other companies. This is the glue that keeps it all together. The shared commitment and care will carry people forward even if the going gets tough!
Make sure all people in management and leadership ascribe to this more democratic way of leading a company. This is not a command and control, autocratic situation. It is for managers and leaders who can identify needs of individuals and their team and get them what they need at the time – direction, mentoring, coaching, motivating, or more delegation and freedom. This is where servant leadership works best!
Don’t forget why you are doing this work for your business. You are building a better business by opening the minds of the great talent you have hired. The power of we is greater than the power of one. You are orchestrating something wonderful.
You can’t buy a great culture. You build it with attention and intention each and every day.
