Credit: © Philipdyer | Dreamstime.com
Imagine yourself transported to an unknown city by helicopter. A stadium comes into view below you. The chopper descends and lowers you gently into a seat. You are handed a hot dog and a pennant and given one instruction: Cheer for the home team.
You glance at the pennant to see what team you’re rooting for, then start cheering halfheartedly: Uh…woohoo. Go, uh…team! Beat the visitors.
No matter how many foot-longs they feed you, this is gonna get old fast. You can’t plop me down in a random stadium in a random town and expect wholehearted, red-in-the-face cheering as if it was MY team! You’ll go through the motions until you’re full, then all bets are off.
Seems like a wacky scenario, doesn’t it? But take a look around corporate America and you’ll see much the same approach to employee morale and productivity. Employees are expected to be productive and loyal to the company that happens to own the chair they’re sitting in just because it keeps them in hot dogs. And it doesn’t work.The Gallup Report claims that for every $10,000 of payroll, the average business loses $3,400 in productivity due to people being “disengaged.” And they are disengaged for one reason: They feel no sense of ownership. And without ownership, there’s no genuine connection between the actions and attitudes of the employee and the success or failure of the company.
Here are a few simple tips for building the pride of ownership that translates into high morale and amazing productivity:
1. Use the language of ownership. When my hometown Minnesota Twins take the field, the announcer says, “Let’s hear it for YOUR MINNESOTA TWINS!” Not “the” Twins, but YOUR Twins. Do your internal communications use phrases like “the company” or “the bank”? Changing these to “OUR company” or even “YOUR company” can go a long way to building a sense of shared purpose.
2. Tie individual objectives to corporate objectives. The connection between each individual effort and the success of the company should be evident. Spell out the connections between personal goals and the company’s mission and vision at every opportunity.
Recognize, celebrate, reward! This, my friends, is the Holy Grail of employee engagement, and it can’t be hit and miss. You’ve got to build a system of celebrations and rewards—quarterly, weekly, daily—and follow through like your company’s life depends on it. Because it does. Train your managers to start meetings with each person sharing one success, followed by applause. Create rewards for meeting quarterly objectives. Recognize progress and celebrate the daylights out of it. Thank people for the work they do.
It isn’t rocket science, but you’ll think it is when your company starts heading into orbit.