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Employees first, customers second was probably one of the early concepts that were aimed at empowering the workforce. It emphasises on the fact that customers can be delighted only if employees are delighted and,hence, committed to your cause.
One cannot take away the fact that the success or failure of any business, to a large extent, depends on its employees. With this renewed emphasis on a companys workforce, a relatively new concept in India, employee as partners has slowly started to seep into the business culture of companies. However, the concept is still nascent in India. While some companies have talked about it, very few have actually followed through.
The tendency of companies is to view their employees as order-takers rather than partners as people who follow the orders and instructions that are topdown. There are times when employee contributions fall into the trap of the expected and routine and their potential as a valuable business partner is not explored to the extent it is possible. Yet, in the pursuit of new approaches to be more competitive and innovative in todays market, a beneficial change that companies can make in their business is to view their employees as thinking contributors rather than executors.
The reason for this is simple treating employees as partners leads to an understanding among the workforce that they have a shared purpose and a common goal that everybody is working towards. All employees irrespective of the role they play have valuable inputs for the business. Leaders must remember that these employees are equally impacted by the outcome of the work they do as well. Business leaders, assuming the role of benevolent dictators, need to start believing that employees have insights that are critical to a companys success and start incorporating this into the organisational framework. Such recognition fosters a sense of ownership and encourages collaboration within different departments and nurtures innovation.
Some of the most essential elements in getting the philosophy of employees - as - partners right are:
Treating all employees as partners: It cannot be restricted to a certain set of people alone but has to be consistent across the entire workforce. It is important to consider each and every employee from the bottom line to the top line as partners. In fact, employees who are treated as an important part of the organisation are more likely to contribute to its growth, irrespective of their designation.
Help employees feel as if they own the business: In order to get this right, it is important for leaders to educate employees on the strategic line of thinking of the company, its core mission, history and vision. This leads to employees having a greater connect with the company, a sense of pride, identity and a clear understanding of how they can contribute to the organisations strategic goals and overall growth.
Treat employees as experts: In most cases employees know the situation in their offices, plants, call centres, etc. better than the corporate team or even their management. Therefore, it is important to ask employees to focus on the places they work and the systems they interact with to uncover opportunities. The bottom line: If you hire top talent, then believe in them and their expertise and create opportunities for them to come back to you with recommendations.
Listen and acknowledge: It is important to create a transparent mechanism by which employees can talk to you, share their feedback, concerns and accomplishments. It doesnt matter from whom the feedback/recommendation comes. What is important is to treat each recommendation on its merit. After having listened to the recommendation, however small or big, appreciate the fact that they voiced their opinion and encourage them to come back to you with more.
Act: Figure out ways and means to action feedback that employees give you. When employees see you seeking their feedback, it motivates them to care more about what they do. If, due to any circumstances, you cannot act on the feedback, it is important to acknowledge and explain the reason for the same. This helps manage and set realistic expectations among your talent.
Involve employees in decisions and execution: As far as possible, involve employees in the implementation of their ideas. This ensures collective buy-in and can help overcome roadblocks and resistance that might arise when plans seem to be imposed from the top-down.
Employees - as - partners as a concept is well executed in the West. Several companies have tested this concept with positive results. While this is still in the nascent stage in India, there is immense potential for this concept to become a gamechanger of sorts. However, before companies intend to take this route, it is important for them to assess their current employee state, and decide for themselves whether or not the investment of time, resources, the effort of developing a closer relationship between employees and management is an objective they intend to pursue. When a company decides to go down this path, it is important to ensure that the decision is not taken lightly.
Once you start down the path of greater employee participation and involvement, internal perceptions of deviation from that course are likely to cause strong negative reactions. If the leadership does not have the will to persevere, to stay the course until this succeeds, and the commitment to continue the effort even after you succeed, its better not to begin at all. Paying lip service to employee involvement is worse than not having employee participation at all.
Empowering employees does not do away with accountability on the side of management. It is a democratic process but at the end of the day, the management still needs to steer the course of the business, providing strategic guidance to employees, helping them grow as true business partners.
Aparna Ballakur
Chief People Officer, Flipkart
