Dan Schneider

The Stakeholder Culture Gift: ‘Tis the Season
December 17, 2007

If you’ve been “Number One” in your organization for any length of time, you’ve probably put together some type of team. Maybe your team includes some holdovers from the previous “Number One”; and, then again, maybe it doesn’t. The real test of your team, blended or otherwise, comes down to two simple questions: Do they think and act like stakeholders or like employees? Does it make a difference?

Let’s begin with the first question: Does your team think and act like stakeholders or like employees? To know the answer to that question, you have to know the difference between a stakeholder and an employee. In a nutshell, the employee is coming to work for $14.05 an hour (or whatever the pay rate is). The stakeholder is coming to work for the company.

Over the years, we’ve found some other differences between these two groups. Here’s a matrix that shows some of the more important ones, at least in our clients’ eyes:

Now, we’re not passing any kind of moral judgment on either group. But, we do know that high performing organizations have a “stakeholder culture” that rewards and fosters the behaviors and attitudes on the left hand side of the matrix. And, we do believe that people change when it’s in their best interests to do so. From a practical standpoint, that means rewarded behavior is repeated behavior. 

So, how do you create individual motivation to move people from an “employee mentality” to a “stakeholder mentality?” The basic steps include:

1. Identify the behaviors and attitudes important to success in each job.
2. Recruit people internally and externally who have those behaviors and attitudes.
3. Make sure your existing staff has a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
4. Draw a connection between Owner Motivation and Perspective and the specific purpose of the position/job they currently perform.
5. Base raises and promotions on results (Business Performance) rather than activities and seniority.
6. Use Strategic Planning to create a compelling picture of where the business is going.
7. Use Operational Planning to link unit goals to company goals. No “special team” goes to the Super Bowl by itself.
8. Share relevant results. Share relevant results. Share relevant results.

Next time: Stakeholder or Employee: Does it Make a Difference?

Posted by Dan Schneider on December 17, 2007 | Comments (0)