A high-performance corporate culture is hard to define. However, most people will instantly recognise it when they experience it. It can be an incredible feeling to work in an environment where you feel like everyone around you is motivated and pulling in the exact same direction. It just clicks.

If we are forced to put only one word on that feeling, it would be “ownership”. Ownership meaning a complete sense of belonging to a team where failures and successes are shared and not limited to individual contributors. Sadly, there is no easy way to achieve an “ownership”culture overnight.

But incentives work. For some people, simply picturing themselves lifting the Wimbledon trophy will be a sufficient incentive to invest tens of thousands of hours in hard daily training. Even if only for a tiny chance to taste that moment in real life. For most of us, the potential to achieve greater economic security for ourselves and our loved ones is that same carrot. Companies need to become better at leveraging their employees’ inner competitive spirits to build real ownership behaviours in the workplace.

Recent initiatives such as Ownership Works, a non-profit supported by KKR and other leading sponsors, are an important step in the right direction. These organisations have understood the benefits of shared ownership. It can create significant value through improved employee engagement and performance in the companies who dare to implement it. At the same time, it has the potential to reward employees economically and share in the additional value they have created.  This is not zero sum, everyone can benefit.

The paperwork and manual administration which is required to put shared ownership in place has been a key barrier to adoption of shared ownership, especially in complex private equity structures. Dealstack’s platform is designed specifically to overcome this. It enables programmes with an unlimited number of employees, without any extra effort.

Broad employee ownership will be a central value creation lever in private equity in the years to come. We believe it will drive superior returns and distinguish the good from the great. Join the movement today!

Schedule a demo below and we can tell you more.