What is the advantage of the owner’s mindset among employees and how to form it in your team

Employees are the backbone of a business. Therefore, the growth of the company depends on what thoughts and beliefs are spinning in their heads. Building an effective team is a task best done from the day the firm is founded, but it's never too late to start if you feel the time is right. Let's figure out together who the employees with the mindset of the owner are, what they give the business and why it is important to start with yourself.

What is meant by employee mindset

The demand for such thinking can be clearly seen in the story of Henry Ford. Walking around his factory, he found a paper clip lying on the floor, picked it up and asked the director: “What is this lying here?” He answered in confusion: “Well, how? You see, it's a paperclip." To which Henry Ford replied: "No, it's my money."

And if your team members also see the company's money in the paperclip, then this indicates that they have developed an owner-like mindset.

Such employee:

• He perceives the financial difficulties of the company not as “losses from some uncle”, but as personal losses. Therefore, he does everything so that the business does not sink.
• He sees himself as a part of the company for a long time: he approaches tasks not from the position of “I’ll do it for show, and come what may”, but looks at the future.
• Emotionally ready to accept personal defeat in favor of company victory. For example, to forego the annual bonus if the year was financially difficult, so that this money goes to marketing and other funds responsible for business growth.
• He tries to fulfill his functions in such a way that the business grows, because he understands what this will bring to him personally in the future. Here everything is as in experiment with children who chose a marshmallow: one, but now, or two, but later. An employee with an owner mindset bets two marshmallows later.
• At his own request, he does more than is formally required of him.

Why everyone needs employees with an owner mindset

First, simply because they act in the same way as owners. Or at least in the general interests, and not in personal ones. And they are guided by the goals of the owner, and not just their own.

Second, the owner mindset of one employee can set the tone for the entire workforce. team. It turns out that you may not be at the workplace, and people will behave as if they are.

As a result, the thinking of the owner of the employee "includes" in their behavior attentiveness, responsibility, empathy, faith in the goals of the company. And, like light from a lamp, around them too. And so gradually the whole team begins to feel: "My personal results are part of the overall victory." They understand that the result of each employee affects the overall performance of the business.

Also, the owner’s mindset increases the involvement of a person – the results can instantly grow by 30-300%.

If your revenue stays in one place or falls for 2–3 years, this is a sign of a shortage of such personnel. Someone will say: you just don’t have enough leads or the conversion is low. This is true. Only the fact that you have too few applications, you will learn from employees with the mindset of the owner much earlier than from the reports of the analytics system.

What gives such thinking

It affects many aspects. For example, in a company, the owner mindset of employees provides:

• Sustainability and stable profit growth.
• An unlimited source of quality ideas for the development of the company.
• A faster pace of development than competitors whose employees do not have an owner mindset and treat the business as someone else's business.

It also shortens:

• Employee turnover because employees identify with the company. Compare: "This is Vasily Petrovich's company" and "This is our company."
• Expenses — recall the example of the paperclip and Ford.
• Lost customers and gaps in the sales department - because every customer is perceived as important.
• Manufacturing defects and equipment damage. Have you noticed that furniture in public places usually falls into disrepair much faster? The point here is not only in traffic, but also in relation to "mine - someone else's."

And here is what the owner’s mindset of employees gives the owner of the business:

• Team confidence. If the manager is not in place or he is sick, then the workflow will not suffer from this.
• The ability to exit the operating system in 3–4 months You will be able to delegate all simple and repetitive tasks — from hiring employees to buying supplies - and start using this time for more useful affairs.
• Constant influx of ideas to improve the business. Moreover, ideas "from the fields", very close to reality.
• More free time and the ability to safely go to vacation.
• Peace of mind for business and its prospects.

Employees with an owner mindset attract the same kind of people to the company. This, by the way, enjoy such IT giants as VKontakte. The company has always considered candidates based on the recommendations of employees. And last year they also launched the function of external recommendations. Top specialists want to work in a top team.

If, on the contrary, the entrepreneur allows the "victims" and everyone except themselves, then employees with an owner mindset will leave because they will be disappointed in the values ​​of the business.

How to shape the owner mindset of employees

The mindset of the owner is firmware. And it can be “installed” only in the brain of someone who is happy to work. Therefore, the main goal is to make employees happy. Here are the steps to take for this.

• Give opportunities for development. The employee must understand that your work is a platform for the realization of his life and career goals, whatever they may be. Then a person will become an adherent of the company, because it is a springboard to his personal dreams.
• Explain your purpose and find common ground. Don't invent. Be honest. It is important to explain to the employee how your goals fit with the goals of the company and the employee. You need to captivate him with your dream. This will give him the motivation to complete tasks.
• Create a "cultural code" for your team. Write down your values ​​and make sure the whole team agrees with them. For example, “Results are more important than time spent at work” or “If you yourself do not grow, no one will force you, but we are unlikely to tolerate the lagging behind.” Make sure that the code does not become a piece of paper in a nightstand. He is the basis through which the employee understands: “I am the same as them. We have common values. We are a pack." When the collective shares the values ​​written in the code, 1 + 1 becomes 11, because "individual fingers become a fist."

It is also important to increase employee engagement. This question will help:

• Regular management — hold meetings, celebrate winners, track goals.
• Hiring the right people - Pay attention to personality traits, not to a beautifully written resume.
• Culture of Continuous Growth and accepting mistakes as part of it.
• Creation of an adaptation system, with which a new employee can enter work in a week without distracting colleagues.
• Sincere involvement of the owner in the business. This does not mean working 24/7. It means to believe in the goals and the team.

Why the owner should start with himself

If the owner is convinced: “If you want to do it well, do it yourself”, then he will constantly intervene in the processes and affairs of the staff. As a result, employees will begin to feel like “children”, waiting for an “adult” to come and decide everything for them.

If the company owner has the beliefs “I'm the smartest here” or “employees only need money”, then he will find confirmation of them in real life. Accordingly, his employees will be either stupid or greedy.

It is important for the owner of any business to track his beliefs and see what kind of reality he creates because of them. Spoiler: the reality that surrounds you now is 95% created to confirm your own beliefs.

If you want employees to be involved in a common cause and work not only for money, but also for the sake of a common idea (and this is not the case now), you will have to start thinking and acting differently.

Without the transfer of total responsibility, the employee’s mindset cannot be developed. But the first step here is to take responsibility for yourself. Therefore, remember to work with your beliefs: they strongly influence the results of the company.