Fiona is the quintessential clock-watcher. She comes in at 9 a.m. (sharp) and leaves at 5 p.m. (sharper). She takes all of her sick days, and if she does work overtime, she leaves early the next day to “make up for it.” Oh, she does her work, but it’s pretty, well, uninspired. “That’s not in my job description” seems to be her battle cry.
Lauren, on the other hand, might as well not have a clock in her office. It’s not that she is a workaholic—far from it. She works hard and plays hard. But she enjoys her job so much that it almost seems like play. She’s always coming up with new concepts, new products and new ways of doing the same old thing. “How can we do this better?” is her motto.
Does your company have a lot of Fionas? We’ve all dealt with them. They’re the employees who seem to be there only for the paycheck. Perhaps they’re marking time until they find a better job, or maybe they’re simply willing to settle for a ho-hum work life. Regardless, I call them “renters”—as in, this is not my house so I’m certainly not going to keep the lawn mowed or steam clean the rugs.
A company full of renters will keep you from thriving. Employees must feel they’re part of the company in the truest sense. In other words, they must feel like owners. The good news is you don’t have to fire everyone and start over. For the most part, it’s your culture that determines whether your employees are renters or owners. Transform that and your employees’ attitudes will be transformed, too.
My term for companies that inspire that elusive sense of ownership in even the most apathetic cubicle-dweller is “Vibrant Entrepreneurial Organization” or VEO for short. My consulting firm has helped companies worldwide to create productive work-life cultures.
So how can you turn your renters into owners? Consider the following tips:
Share your entrepreneurial vision. If you’re the type of leader who doles out information on a “need to know” basis, you’re in trouble. A VEO leader cannot be secretive. Team members want and need to know what your company stands for, where it’s going and how that’s going to impact their future. After all, they need to be able to buy into your mission and vision, and they can’t do so if they don’t fully understand it. Communicate openly. When events or circumstances change, tell your employees right away. Let them know how it will impact them and the organization. If they don’t know the big picture, how can they own it?
Give employees a real voice in planning your future. No matter how often you tell your employees “this is your company, too,” if they have no real say-so, it’s clearly just lip service. Collaborate with them. Solicit their ideas and contributions. More to the point, actually take their advice and run with it. If you don’t trust your employees enough to help shape your company’s future, why did you hire them in the first place? Why are you doing everything yourself? Letting employees make decisions encourages them to solve problems and seize opportunities. I mean, when you make a decision, it really is yours. You really do “own it” in the truest sense of the word.
Make sure their work is meaningful. No one likes busywork or routine, mind-numbing tasks. Give your employees challenging assignments that stimulate their minds and have a real impact on your organization. Remember, you hired them for their talent. Bored employees are unmotivated employees. They get restless. They lose sight of how they fit into the company and start seeking greener—more vibrant—pastures. If you sense that an employee is just going through the motions, take him to lunch and ask, “What would challenge you?” Ask him to come up with a new product, service or process for your company and then let him be in charge of the project. It’s amazing how few leaders really do this—but it’s a tremendously empowering and inspiring gesture.
Encourage flexible schedules. Remember clock-watching Fiona? She’s a prime example of how entrepreneurs don’t act. Consider a less rigid schedule. Perhaps your employees want to work longer days Monday through Thursday, with Friday off. If they need to pull an all-nighter once in a while, they’ll be OK as long as they know they’re free to take a “mental health day” afterward. Provide flexibility in their schedules when possible. Employees must get their work done, but they’re adults. Self-motivated people don’t need to put in “face time,” and their leaders don’t need to install a metaphorical time clock in the break room. Ownership means you care about your company and your role in it. You’re not going to cheat and cut corners on something that’s yours. If your employees are abusing that, they’ve crossed into rental territory. And you as a leader will have to call them on it.
Respect your employees’ work life/home life balance. This is the other side of the “flex-time” coin or perhaps the driving force behind it. Do not become a tyrant, forcing your employees to work 60-hour weeks with no time for fun, family and friendships. That’s sure to drive them back into rental mode. Healthy human beings need to strike a balance between work and personal time. And that means you, too, by the way! As a leader, you set the tone. When employees see you staying in the office ’til 8 p.m. every night and working through lunch, they feel a not-so-subtle pressure to do it, too. But more important than that, you’re burning yourself out when you do that. You can’t be a vibrant entrepreneurial leader if you’re running on empty. Everyone will suffer for it.
Bring joy into the workplace. Renters see work as an eight-hour stint to be endured before the “fun” part of life can kick in. Owners see work as part of an integrated life. While they accept that there will be stress, disappointment and challenges, they expect a healthy dose of laughter, camaraderie and plain old fun. So seek out ways to make work joyful. Use your imagination. Schedule an occasional lunch at a nearby restaurant. When the files and office space need to be cleaned and organized, hold a purge party, complete with pizza and drinks. Hold a “Bring Your Kids to Work Morning” that segues into a day at the zoo. Laugh loudly and often. You’ll find that as morale skyrockets, so does productivity.
Of course, a VEO takes time to come to fruition. Your employees may have to “rent to own” for a while, but eventually they will buy in. The important thing is to start moving in that direction—now.
Renters can pull up stakes and move overnight, taking their innovation, creativity and untapped potential with them. But worse than the threat of their defecting to a competitor is the fact that you never had them to begin with. You had their bodies sitting in a cubicle eight hours a day, but you never had their hearts and minds. And that’s the source of your prosperity, after all. That’s what sets you apart from all competitors. Your people are your culture—and your culture is the one thing no one can replicate.
Joanne G. Sujansky, Ph.D., CSP (certified speaking professional) has 25 years of experience helping leaders increase business growth and profitability. She is a highly sought-after speaker for keynote addresses, seminars, conferences and workshops worldwide, and has authored numerous articles and books on leadership, change and retention. She is the founder of KeyGROUP, a consulting firm that works with various organizations to create VEO frameworks.
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