Pic: IMAGESBAZAAR

It is said that an organisation which creates an inspiring culture within, where each employee is empowered with ownership and flexibility regarding their deliverables and deadlines, is the best workplace.

When employees have the full context about a decision and the options considered, they are more likely to support it regardless of whether they agree with it or not. It has to be understood that employees are not led by plans and evaluations. You must create a sense of ownership which increases their self-respect, excites them and inspires them to work hard as they are now emotionally engaged and committed.

Today's dynamic and volatile environment demands the employees to go beyond the call of duty and demonstrate heightened commitment to customer service. The effort that a company's management puts in developing a sense of ownership among employees determines the commitment level of employees. "Inspiring a culture of ownership within the organisation is definitely the need of the hour. Organisations that build an ownership culture where every employee equally shares failures and successes ensure employee involvement by allowing participation in making critical decisions at all levels. The ownership culture facilitates business development by focusing on customers and breeding entrepreneurial spirit among employees. It also emphasises teamwork and empowerment which are critical to achievement of the business objectives," says Manoj Biswas, geographic unit - HR lead, Accenture India.

Employee involvement is critical in keeping employees engaged and motivated. Involvement is essentially enhanced by empowering employees with a greater sense of ownership. Do employees who are empowered, with ownership and flexibility stay motivated and engaged viz-a- viz those who are not? "Yes they do, however, for this to be true across the board, we have to be extremely careful about who we hire. During our selection process, we are very careful that we recruit people who shall be willing to take charge. Then with proper training and experience we empower them," states Nikhil Kapur, general manager, Ista Hotel.

Helping an employee to understand an organisation's business strategy and situation allows him or her to look and act beyond their role. We may call such employee's as ‘employee-owners'. They exhibit a connect with the organisation's higher cause, exceed the expectations of their counterparts and ultimately demonstrate loyalty with the brand they work with. How are organisations creating a sense of ownership among their employees'? "At Accenture, we have three leadership dimensions that people are expected to contribute on; which are being a Business Operator; being a Value Creator and being a People Developer. In being a business operator, we encourage employees to demonstrate a sense of ownership, accountability and be outcome driven. While being a people developer, we encourage people to learn, teach, nurture, recognise and team with others. And being a value creator is about creating, using and harvesting assets, information and networks innovatively," adds Biswas.

This results in a greater degree of involvement and encourages entrepreneurship at all levels which in turn helps propagate a culture of ownership across the organisation. "Recognition is the key. If we celebrate individual successes that contribute to the overall experience of our guests, both internal and external, people feel a sense of belonging and are motivated to perform better. We run a program called ‘Trailblazers' that recognises individual performances and rewards them," summates Kapur. For organisations that need to diversify their footprints across boundaries, they may find the hike easier if it has like-minded employees with high ownership quotient. This quotient obtained would not be a result of division, but result in multiplication of the company's revenue's and overall retention of its most expensive asset, the employee.

- Manoj Reddy