Creating A Culture of Ownership in Healthcare Systems

Five Traits of Ownership

• There are five traits of ownership that are important behaviors to building a culture of ownership in the workplace:
  • Treat the company's money as if it was your own. In true ownership culture, people would not spend money in a way they would not spend their own money.
    • This als means investing money into things that would be good for the company. Spending money in a way that benefits the company is a sign of ownership culture.
  • Extreme prioritization is the ability to identify and invest in what really matters to a company.
  • Ownership culture is rooted in a willingness to experiment, and sometimes to fail.
    • Experimentation is what leads to innovation, and an unwillingness to do so is bad for business
  • Doing more and talking less is another sign of ownership culture. By making distinct decisions, that is taking control of a situation and ownership of it.
  • Always focusing on the short and long term goals at the same time is key to ownership culture. People who are really focused on long term goals, also give attention to projects in development, training, etc. and create a balance for overall success.

Ownership Culture and Employees, Shareholders, and Candidates

• Ownership culture allows people to act like owners, without the risk of actually owning a business. This gives people accountability, as well as a say in the outcome of the business and treating them as a fair partner in the success of the company.
• “Companies perform better when their managers and their employees think and act like long term committed owners”
  • Putting ownership culture in the workplace, and instilling these traits, can deliver more growth, profits, and success for all.
• A culture of ownership starts with caring about all employees and customers. Companies that act with a strong corporate purpose, and think about long term goals, produce better results for shareholders and the company overall. 
• Mr. Milano’s team encourages companies to adopt employee stock purchasing plans to instill more ownership culture in the workplace.  By creating incentives such as profit sharing and benefits that simulate ownership, it can improve the behavior and culture of a company.
• While an ownership mindset is not for everyone, it does help attract and retain potential candidates once they are on board with that framework. Using an ownership mindset throughout the recruitment and onboarding process can also help during this challenging hiring market.

The Role of Accountability

• Accountability is an important part of ownership. Accountability is also more than preventing bad things from happening, but also creating opportunities for your business. 
  • There should be an equivalency for good and bad things in business. If there are risks to something going wrong in the business, and no upsides when something good happens, there is a greater chance of risk aversion. There needs to be a fair amount of risks, and it should be balanced with opportunity.

Transparency and Ownership Culture

• By focusing on improvements, rather than measuring plans and budgets, encourages employees to adopt a stronger ownership culture in the workplace. 
  • Business management measures prevent employees from owning up to their full potential, decreases transparency, and can hinder performance based on a quota.
• Leaders in a company that is trying to implement a culture of ownership need to be mindful of how they interact with others at a company, and encourage not only leaders, but everyone in the company to be transparent. This will allow for the entire company to operate with a greater sense of ownership. 
• Having autonomy in an ownership-centered workplace is also important, and giving departments, leaders, and employees the power to make decisions that they think will benefit the company most. It is also important to provide employees with the tools and training that makes this kind of decision making possible.
  • This autonomy is also dependent on the type of organization that a company is, and it should be measured in approach to still maintain a sense of structure.

Fostering Ownership Behaviors

• In order to build a successful company that is grounded in ownership culture, it must rely on insights, and how performance, growth, and profitability are measured
  • It is also important that this information is given back to employees so they can prioritize doing more of the things that perform well, and change the things that are not doing as well.
• It is important to make a plan for success that is rooted in the data and the insights on the business. By integrating decision making, and implementing strategic resource allocation in order to grow the areas that are performing well.
• By changing incentives and improving behavior, people will feel valued in the work they are doing, will be able to think about their role long term, and provide training and resources to make decisions that impact the workplace. 

Culture of Ownership in the Healthcare Industry

• In order to be successful in any business, it is really important to think about your customers, and in healthcare, patients should be the top priority. Many people go into the healthcare industry because they want to help people.
• In order to build a culture of ownership in healthcare, it is important to create success by using innovative technologies. Innovation is also defendable, and can create meaningful success both financially and in terms of achievement.
• One of the challenges, however, with ownership in the healthcare industry, is maintaining a supportive culture for patient facing employees who undergo a great deal of stress. By prioritizing a workplace that is committed to the best care possible, as well as a supportive environment for employees, that sets up the organization for success while still empowering employees.
• In order to act like an owner in the healthcare industry, you need to have an open mind to change, and to be on the cusp of innovation. However, risk aversion can hinder some of this, which makes ownership culture in healthcare challenging. 

Fortuna Advisors. LLC

• Mr. Milano runs the consulting firm Fortuna Advisors which helps companies with strategy, analytics, and decision making. 
• Through a series of surveys and interviews, Fortuna Advisors gets a better understanding of the culture of a company, and identify gaps for the company to improve/remedy. 

Greg Milano Background

• MBA in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business
• BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Mr. Milano’s career includes work with Grumman Corporation, Stern, Stewart & Company, Clear Value Consulting, Credit Suisse, Fortuna Investors LLC, and The Thomas Matthew Miloscia Foundation, Inc.
• He is currently the CEO and Managing Partner at Fortuna Advisors LLC
• He is also a member of Forbes Business Council and an Opinion Columnist for CEOWORLD Magazine.

Contact

• Mr. Milano on LinkedIn 
• Mr. Milano email: gregory.milano@fortuna-advisors.com