Keeping your people engaged and excited about EO
It’s not rocket science. For most of us, the connection we feel to our business is as important as the work we produce. In fact, the quality of the two is often linked.
So if you’re an EO company looking to maximise your potential by strengthening your employee owner engagement, what practical steps can you take?
The first is to recognise that effective employee engagement doesn’t only reinforce your ethos and values – it unlocks commercial benefits too.
That’s because knowledge and awareness can drive positive behaviours such as collaboration, sharpening the focus on key business goals.
In today’s tough economic climate, sharing key challenges such as margin and profitability will always be time well spent.
Communicate openly with your employee owners
As Lisa Fryer, JGA’s Operations Manager and Associate, points out: ‘It's easy to talk about revenue and income targets, but how often do employees hear about margin and profitability? And do they understand the link with employee services and benefits?
‘Openly sharing figures will support your employees’ wider education about their business and can positively impact your ability to achieve commercial goals.’
Lisa speaks from experience. In previous commercial roles, she saw how enabling her team to understand their contribution changed behaviours and added value to the bottom line.
Keep employee owner engagement on the radar
Yet focusing on employee owner engagement can quickly slip off the radar post-transition, especially if other change is afoot. Even without the pandemic’s impact, energy can drift.
Reaching the point of transition can also leave companies feeling they need to step back and draw breath.
Lisa offers this advice: ‘If your business plans to pause, make one commitment, set a deadline for when you will give more attention to culture and stick to it. Explain to employees why there’s a break and when EO will be back on the priority list.’
Refresh your employee owner engagement as you grow
So is it ever ‘too late’ to start engaging your employees in your EO? ‘Definitely not!’ says Lisa.
‘In fact, keeping your employees informed and engaged in your EO is something you need to revisit and refresh over time to ensure your approach is still fit for purpose – so set a review point to check in.’
It’s easy to think that because you have an employee survey with encouraging results, it’s ‘job done’. ‘But if you’re facing into wider commercial or cultural challenges, it can make a huge difference when everyone feels involved and engaged with the changes and goals,’ Lisa explains.
‘We often advise organisations to see their transition as the start of a longer journey, so there’s no need to run headlong into lots of activity right at the start. Instead, pace yourselves and identify the areas of your culture that will have the biggest impact over the longer term first. As your business evolves, other things will naturally change too.’
Practical tips for effective employee owner engagement
So how can you keep your employees informed, engaged and excited about EO? Lisa shares these practical tips.
1. Be clear about your purpose, so employees understand your ultimate focus. This provides a point of alignment and something they can test business successes and decisions against.
2. Establish a strong set of values. These will clarify expectations, help with decision-making and support external stakeholder relationships too. Don’t have them? Involve and engage everyone in shaping them for the longer term.
3. Explain your governance structure, each element’s responsibilities and how they support/challenge each other. Raise the profile of the teams involved and equip them with the skills and information to engage your whole business.
4. If you’re establishing or reinvigorating an employee forum or council, be clear about roles and responsibilities. In smaller companies, it’s usually more effective to hold informal group meetings, such as a bacon butty breakfast for all!
5. Support your middle leadership. They’ll be feeling squeezed as the shift in ownership will change attitudes and expectations. Equip them to be more empowering EO leaders to accelerate embedding your EO.
6. Communicate well and through several channels, investing in new tools or people if needed. As employees share more and influence bigger decisions, the language and culture will shift anyway.
7. Define the key indicators of business success and share regular performance updates. Ensure these cover more than sales and profit, so every employee feels connected to your overall success.
8. If not already a member, join the Employee Ownership Association. Get involved in their activities, networking and learn from others’ best practice, while sharing your own.
Secure the right support at the right time
Employee ownership isn’t a label – it’s a different way of doing business that requires energy and focus to bring to life. That’s why our Associates draw on their own experience to enable EO companies to effectively engage their employee owners.
Our employee owner engagement support ranges from EO perception studies, employee representation reviews and mentoring to EO-focused leadership development (with Telos Partners as part of the EOA’s EO Learn) and our free-to-clients networking forum for Employee Trustees.
Want to know more about how we can support you with our range of transition, people and governance services? Get in touch with us now.