Welcome to this week’s blog that considers the working world, what we do,

and what it takes to work with purpose, lead with impact, and engage with people in a way that really makes a difference. In our ‘Work Unplugged’ podcast last week, Amrit spoke on why just focussing on employee engagement isn’t enough to change cultures across organisations. To get employees to not just clock in but instead buy in fully to what an organisation is trying to achieve is game changing. And you don’t get it by running an engagement survey once a year.

If you have worked with Amrit, it is likely you would have heard him say ‘people join organisations engaged, disengagement is what we do to them’. People join a job with hope. Hope to use their skills, to learn, to be part of something, to contribute to the mission and vision of a company. Now, we do talk a lot about mission and vision in the corporate world, and these things are important, and while they may feed into engagement and the strategies around it, without people really choosing to buy in to them, they mean little to people and have little impact.

For years, we’ve talked about employee engagement as the holy grail to get people’s buy in. We run surveys, gather feedback, and hope the numbers go up. But here’s the truth: engagement is fleeting. It’s a mood, a moment, some days it’s there, some days it isn’t. And that is even with making sure we are asking the questions that matter (which in our experience is rare!). And if I’m being candid, engagement being fleeting is as true for me as it is for anyone else, and I love my job! It is transient, and reliant on so many factors that are forever changing shape, and not always to do with the organisation.

We don’t even have a standard definition for engagement. Ask ten people, get ten answers. Sure, we all want the same outcomes, better performance, loyalty, commitment, but the path to get there is far less clear. And too often, what we call “engagement” is just a tick-box exercise. We ask for feedback, but only on the safe stuff. In fact, the stuff that really matters, the things that make-or-break people’s days, we don’t often discuss. Why? Because it feels to risky or exposing for people. And it is unlikely they will get a chance to mention it in the annual survey. We involve people, but only when the big decisions are already made. It’s like letting someone steer the ship after we’ve already set the course.

So, what if we aimed higher? What if, instead of chasing engagement, we focused on creating a genuine sense of ownership? Not just share schemes or legal ownership, though those can help, but psychological ownership. That feeling you get when something really matters to you, when you feel it’s yours.

In the work we do, we have a saying – “we will treat your organisation as if it is our own”. And that is how we work. We believe it. The minutes we spend getting to know people, hearing their experiences, thinking about how best to serve them, these are minutes of our lives that we give, and they will mean something. They will make a difference. We own it!

Behavioural economics calls this the endowment effect. We value things more when we feel they belong to us. Amrit invited us to think about our favourite mug at work. If someone else uses it, we are annoyed, not because it’s the best mug, but because it’s ours. Now, imagine if people felt that way about their organisation.

I remember in my own career, the times I truly felt I owned the company’s success, even though I wasn’t the owner or a shareholder, were the times I worked the hardest, cared the most, and pushed myself further. It wasn’t about a job description. It was about pride, connection, and responsibility to the people around me, and working hard to ensure that their minutes weren’t wasted or taken for granted.

So why don’t we do this more often? Partly, because it’s hard. It means giving up some control. It means asking for feedback on the things that really matter, even the performance of the senior leadership team. Imagine if every employee had to give feedback, twice a year, on how well the most senior leaders lived the values and contributed to the culture of the organisation. That would be a real shift in ownership, wouldn’t it? People might believe their voices mattered.

If you’re a senior leader reading this, you might be breaking into a cold sweat. But think about the upside: genuine accountability, a culture where everyone feels their voice matters, and a leadership team that’s truly in touch with the organisation. Where the gap between say and do is miniscule, and everyone is swimming in the same direction.

We’ve tried the box-ticking exercises. We know they don’t work. It’s time to do the hard stuff: ask the big, fundamental questions, and really listen to the answers, even when they’re uncomfortable. That’s how we create the endowment effect at scale. That’s how we move from “this is just a job” to “this is my company and what I do here matters.”

And when people feel that sense of ownership, it’s not transient. It doesn’t come and go with the weather. It’s deep, it’s lasting, and it shapes everything, from how people behave, to how they treat each other, to how hard they’re willing to work for the organisation’s success.

So, how do we create a culture of ownership? Is it about asking better questions, listening more deeply, or maybe even opening up those senior leadership feedback channels? Whatever it is, let’s stop settling for engagement as a tick-box exercise. Let’s aim for something deeper, something more meaningful, true buy in, real ownership, and a culture where everyone feels they have a stake in the success of the business.