Developing ownership among non-owners

There is no ownership. This is statement I hear over and over again. Whenever I conduct assessments of the biggest challenges that leaders face, lack of ownership in employees is in the top three of their headaches. “They just do not care. ” “They treat work as burden. ” “What to do about the indifference of people who are only interested in their pay cheque. ” “It is shocking how they take office facilities for granted. ” This is a widespread malaise. It is a virus that quickly infects an organization. It is known as INMJ virus, i. e. , “It’s not my job”. This attitude is a bug that eats up employee productivity and engagement. The INMJ bug is like a bed bug. They bite almost unnoticed on exposed skin, often arranged in lines or clusters. Because bed bugs inject a mild anesthetic while biting, you may not feel the bite, and symptoms may take a few hours or even up to 14 days to appear. The INMJ bug (It’s not my job) is not just an irritant, it sucks the very blood of the organization. This attitude sucks out creativity and innovation. The “dump and run” culture starts to take over. People do not take responsibility. The “passing the buck” game starts. Tasks assigned are delayed. Delays are dumped on other people. Other people pass the blame onto other people. This results in an environment that becomes so irresponsible and toxic that people want to escape the office and duties to just breathe. Imagine employees treating the organization as a transit place. They are barely fulfilling their JDs. These frustrations are the main pain points for leaders. While discussing them with me they say “employee loyalty is a thing of the past. These people, especially Gen Z are hoppers to the next best offer”. This is debatable. While it is easy to blame the employees, the question leaders need to ask is not “why are they not loyal to the company, but what have we done to increase their affiliation and attachment to the company? ” The reply will include the salary, increments despite the business not doing well, perks, etc. Fine. These are important. However, they only create a competitive standard. The “stake” of the employees remains at base level with these monetary rewards. These monetary rewards are easy to copy and beat. The infamous negotiations that companies have to make when the employee presents alternative offer letters are a typical example of the lack of ownership they create. Owners have stakes in the companies. Employees do not have financial stakes but can have psychological stakes that make them engaged and loyal to the company. That is where leadership style and behaviour counts. While leaders may say that they have limited authority to increase the financial stake of the employees, they have total authority to enhance other ownership stakes. Some of these are: Stake#1-Pscychological safety and comfort- People spend more time in the office than anywhere else. If they feel unsafe and fearful, they will not last. The leader has to ensure that employees feel psychologically safe and comfortable. They feel they have a voice. They feel they have freedom of expression. They feel they are heard. They feel they are valued. These are the stakes that make them feel at home. These are the stakes that create ownership. These are the stakes that create bonds with the organization. This requires that the leader builds in a culture of the seniors listening to juniors. This requires leaders to own up to their own shortcomings. This requires that systems need to track if the workspace is creating trust or destroying trust. This means that leaders need to not only give feedback but seek feedback. This means that the feedback given to leaders needs to be taken methodically. This means that leaders need to own up to mistakes and take responsibility. All of these steps need to be transparent and open where the feedback giver and taker feel safe, welcome and valued. Stake#2-Emotional affiliation and attachment-The second biggest stake is the positive emotions that an employee feels when he is working. Is there a sense of pride? Is there a feeling of being cared? Does the employee take pains on saving company cost? These questions have a simple answer- an employee will take company pain if the company takes employee pain seriously. Leaders who have empathy and discern employee feelings will behave differently. They will connect to the employees not just on the professional level but on a personal level. In a recent venture company where employees take pains over the most out of JD tasks, the story was telling. One of them said, “He asks about my family issues, my mother’s sickness, helps me get appointments from doctors for her, what more can I ask”. Another one said, “he asked me of my most passionate wish of working with my role model and arranged a meeting with him”. This is the emotional stake that is difficult to break. These personal acts create a “heartfelt” stake that is sticky. Stake#3-Intellectual stimulation and empowerment-Another relationship deepener is the ability to learn, create, develop given to the employee by the leadership. One employee would say, “He would take me to these important meetings and give me so much exposure to ‘how does the top management think’? ” One of the most empowering ways of creating an intellectual stake is to involve employees in a brainstorming session that involves some creative thinking. The employees are called consultants who would in their own areas of expertise give inputs. Another sure bond-builder is the delegation of assignments and the recognition on achieving them. An employee told me, “I was so touched by the way by leader posted my achievement in every group, every relevant mail. He just went on and on about how I had made the impossible possible”. These are such strong touch points that engage the memory to revel in these moments long after they happen. Stakes normally mean financial stakes. Shares normally imply stockholding. Employee stock ownership schemes are few but rarely available. Some organizations get employees to sign legal bonds that they will not leave. What is totally available and in the hands of leaders are intellectual, emotional and psychological stakes. These are the invisible yet impactful bonds that are more powerful to retain employees than legal bonds. As they say, the way to employee loyalty is through his heart and mind. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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