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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWorkshop: Employee Ownership and Governance: How Putting More Power in Employee Hands Affects Performance in Turbulent Times<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Moderator: Christian Rangen<\/strong> CEO & Co-Founder, Strategy Tools and Engage \/\/ Innovate. Faculty, strategy & transformation <\/p>\n\n\n\n Toshio Got\u014d<\/strong> Research Professor, Japan University of Economics <\/p>\n\n\n\n Christian Stadler<\/strong> Professor of Strategic Management Warwick Business School<\/p>\n\n\n\n Radoslaw Kedzia<\/strong> Vice President of Huawei CEE & Nordic Region<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moon J\u00e9rin<\/strong> Co-Founder- Chief Marketing Officer at Vlinder, Industry Associate at UCL CBT<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This article is one in the \u201cshape the debate\u201d series relating to the 13th Global Peter Drucker Forum<\/a><\/span>, under the theme \u201cThe Human Imperative\u201d on November 10 + 17 (digital) and 18 + 19 (in person), 2021. I have always found the most inspiring roundtable talks to be those where the speakers have diverse perspectives on an issue that is critical, even existential. That was the case for the digital workshop on 10 Nov at the 13th<\/sup> annual Peter Drucker forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The official title was \u201cEmployee Ownership and Governance: How Putting More Power in Employee Hands Affects Performance in Turbulent Times\u201d. The existential question is: What is the impact when employees have strong influence in decision-making? The answer from the workshop is resoundingly positive: It helps organizations thrive, from both financial and human dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Underlying themes of the conversation reflect deep changes needed in order to wisely benefit from employee power:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It came up early in the discussion that the top leaders of organizations are not necessarily the strongest vectors for change and building value in today\u2019s turbulent times. Incidentally, this corresponds to my own data over many years of surveys about the organization in the digital age<\/em> where one of the top obstacles has been and still is senior management, rated in 2021 as a \u201cserious concern holding us back\u201d by 18% of the organizations and another 35% calling it a \u201cmanageable concern requiring special effort\u201d. https:\/\/www.netjmc.com\/senior-management-holding-us-back\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A widely publicized attempt to reform organizations starting from the top was carried out in 2019 by CEOs of major corporations, members of the Business Roundtable, who redefined the corporate mission to give it a stakeholder orientation after years of shareholder dominance. They stated that companies needed to invest in employees and deliver value to customers, protect the environment and deal ethically with their suppliers. However there were few specifics in the statement. The real impact of this initiative is debatable, as doubts emerge whether or not member companies have lived up to their joint mission statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020 US Conference Board did a study with 1316 CEOs from 44 countries around the world that confirmed that the corporate mission was still lacking in relevant focus: Over 60 percent agreed that “redefining the corporate mission for the benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders” is a post-corona major issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I prefer a stronger term than \u201cissue\u201d which I consider to be an easy way to avoid confronting problems head on. Issues are concerns with agreement and disagreement, and that\u2019s not the case here. We have a clearly defined problem and need to look at how we can re-orient the focus of business from shareholder to stakeholder and to the employee in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several approaches were proposed in the workshop discussion. They are not options to choose from, but rather approaches that potentially fit together and can help organizations reach higher goals beyond what we traditionally call \u201cdoing business\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As cited by one member of the workshop, \u201ccompanies are made by and for people\u201d. The people dimension has long been neglected in decision-making in most companies and countries. We need to reach the higher levels in the Maslow hierarchy of needs: sense of belonging, recognition and self-actualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the answer is to include employees in strategy discussions and process. Strategy and implementation are usually separate but if we open up and involve people, the separation is no longer there. People can think \u201cwhat do I have to do in my spot, in the role I\u2019m in, to make the strategy operational?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a tangible, monetary approach, employees can be shareholders, actual owners of shares in the company. From an intangible, but equally, if not even more powerful approach, employees can be direct participants in the governance structure. This may be from being part of decision-making bodies as well as having employees elect board members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations that genuinely involve employees reap benefits through better organizational performance. An example discussed was that of Huawei, a company that is owned and governed by the employees through their Representative Commission, its highest decision-making body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The search for purpose has emerged more than ever before because of the pandemic. It may be that people are reflecting about the why<\/em> behind their work. Many have had a new vision of their work since, often based at home, they have reconnected with family more, and avoided long commutes. Some may have simply rethought what they want from their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They may have decided to re-orient their work lives, which is not easy inside companies organized by functions and operational units. Most organizations do not encourage people to learn new skills in new environments or disciplines. You may call it reskilling or upskilling but whatever the term, giving people the freedom and opportunity to evolve is a means of keeping them motivated and committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These three short words sum up the focal points of the deep and fast-moving discussion about putting more power in employee hands. I only wish we could have continued the conversation longer! I\u2019d like to close this brief summary by combining two quotes from Peter Drucker. The first, and theme of this 13th<\/sup> annual conference is \u201cManagement is about human beings\u201d from The New Realities<\/em>, published in 1989. The second is \u201cThe task of management in the knowledge-based organization is not to make everybody a boss. It is to make everybody a contributor\u201d from Post-Capitalist Society<\/em>, published in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two quotes meld beautifully.Instilling a means of involvement, a sense of ownership and a context to live one\u2019s purpose will result in people becoming genuine contributors, which will in turn ensure their organization thrives in turbulent times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n About the Author:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jane McConnell<\/em><\/strong>, author of The Gig Mindset Advantage: A Bold New Breed of Employee<\/em>, has conducted 12 years of research on organizations in the digital age, and has worked as a digital strategy advisor with large global organizations for 18 years. She can be reached via her website https:\/\/www.netjmc.com and @netjmc on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This article is one in the \u201cshape the debate\u201d series relating to the 13th Global Peter Drucker Forum<\/a>, under the theme \u201cThe Human Imperative\u201d on November 10 + 17 (digital) and 18 + 19 (in person), 2021. I have always found the most inspiring roundtable talks to be those where the speakers have diverse perspectives on an issue that is critical, even existential. That was the case for the digital workshop on 10 Nov at the 13th annual Peter Drucker forum.[\u2026]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"categories":[313,297],"tags":[116,314],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3534,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3530\/revisions\/3534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Drucker Forum 2021<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>
#DruckerForum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nEvolving from shareholder to stakeholder value: the talk is not yet walked in most cases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Involve more voices at the table when defining strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ensure that people have a sense of real ownership<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Enable the purpose mindset<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Involvement, ownership and purpose<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#DruckerForum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"