Understanding employee ownership isn’t enough on its own.
I’ve worked with organisations where employees could clearly explain the ownership structure, understood the role of the Employee Ownership Trust and knew how the governance arrangements worked. Yet despite this, many still felt disconnected from ownership in their day-to-day experience. They understood ownership intellectually, but didn’t necessarily experience it in practice.
That’s because ownership is about more than knowledge. It’s also about participation.
People need opportunities to contribute, challenge, question, influence and shape the future of the organisation. They need to feel that their perspective matters and that ownership is something they actively do, not simply something they have.
In the previous article in this series, we explored Ownership Literacy — helping people understand how the business works and what employee ownership means in practice. That’s an important foundation, but it isn’t enough on its own.
This is where Voice and Influence become so important.
These two words are often used together, but they’re not quite the same thing. Voice is about having the opportunity and confidence to contribute. Influence is about having the ability to shape thinking, decisions and outcomes.
Many organisations have mechanisms for voice. They run surveys, hold town hall meetings, create employee forums, establish employee councils and encourage people to share ideas and feedback. These can all play an important role in helping people contribute their views.
Yet it’s not uncommon to hear employees say they don’t feel heard.
At first glance, that can seem contradictory. After all, if people have opportunities to speak, surely they have a voice?
I often hear leaders say, “We’ve got an employee council, but hardly anyone brings ideas forward.” Equally, I’ve spoken to employees who say, “We can raise things, but nothing ever seems to happen.”
Both groups are often describing the same problem from opposite sides.
The organisation has created opportunities for voice, but somewhere between contribution and decision-making, influence has been lost.
Over time, people begin to disengage. Not because they don’t care about the business, but because they’ve concluded that speaking up is unlikely to make any difference.
One of the misconceptions I occasionally encounter is the idea that employee ownership simply gives people more rights.
In reality, ownership also brings responsibilities.
Owners aren’t passive observers. They have a stake in the future success of the organisation and a role to play in helping shape that future. Sometimes that means contributing ideas, or identifying opportunities for improvement. Sometimes it means raising concerns, asking difficult questions or challenging assumptions that no longer serve the business well.
Seen through this lens, Voice and Influence become about much more than engagement.
They become an expression of stewardship.
Influence isn’t about everyone getting their own way. It isn’t about decision-making by committee, nor does it mean that every suggestion is adopted.
Rather, it’s about ensuring that contributions are genuinely considered, that different perspectives are explored and that people can see a connection between the conversations they have and the decisions that follow.
When that happens, trust grows. People may not always agree with the outcome, but they can see that their contribution mattered.
When organisations struggle with Voice and Influence, the issue is often assumed to be confidence or psychological safety. Sometimes that’s true, but in my experience the picture is usually more nuanced.
Voice and Influence depend on two complementary capabilities.
The first is the ability to speak up. People need confidence, clarity and the willingness to contribute their perspective. They need to feel able to ask questions, challenge ideas and offer alternative viewpoints. This can be difficult, particularly when discussing sensitive issues or challenging more senior colleagues.
The second capability is the ability to listen, and this is often where the greater challenge lies. Most leaders would describe themselves as good listeners, yet genuine receptivity can be surprisingly difficult in practice. When challenged, it’s natural to want to explain, defend or justify our position. We all carry assumptions about what is right, what is important and how things should be done. Hearing a different perspective can sometimes feel uncomfortable, particularly when we are under pressure.
As a result, people may technically have a voice while still feeling unheard.
I’ve worked with employee-owned businesses where leaders genuinely wanted more challenge and participation, yet employees remained cautious about contributing. When we explored the issue more deeply, the challenge wasn’t that people were afraid to speak. It was that previous contributions hadn’t visibly influenced decisions. Over time, employees learned that while speaking up was permitted, it wasn’t necessarily impactful.
Voice is not solely the responsibility of those speaking. It is also the responsibility of those listening.
Many organisations focus significant effort on creating opportunities for participation. Fewer pay attention to the quality of the conversations that take place within those opportunities.
Yet this is often where the real difference lies.
The healthiest ownership cultures aren’t necessarily those with the least disagreement. In fact, some of the most productive discussions I’ve observed have involved people holding very different views about the best way forward.
What mattered wasn’t the absence of disagreement; what mattered was how the disagreement was handled.
Could people challenge ideas without attacking individuals?
Remain curious about perspectives that differed from their own?
Could they separate the quality of an idea from the status of the person expressing it?
Would leaders hear challenge without becoming defensive?
When organisations get this balance right, something powerful happens. Challenge becomes a source of insight rather than conflict. Different perspectives strengthen decision-making rather than slowing it down.
Employee councils, trustee boards and representative forums all have an important role to play in employee-owned businesses. However, governance structures alone don’t create ownership culture.
It’s created through thousands of everyday interactions.
It’s shaped by conversations in meetings, discussions between colleagues, questions raised in forums, ideas shared with managers and the willingness of leaders to listen when different perspectives emerge.
Ultimately, Voice and Influence are about whether people believe their contribution matters. If ownership is about more than a share structure, if it’s about creating a business where people genuinely think and act like owners, then Voice and Influence isn’t simply another cultural competency. It’s one of the ways ownership comes to life.
Perhaps the real test isn’t whether opportunities to contribute exist, but whether people believe those opportunities matter.
Because voice without influence eventually becomes frustration.
If you’re curious about the ideas explored in The Power of Ownership Culture, or you’d like to ask a question about employee ownership and ownership culture, you can do so via our AI assistant:
Ask Alli about The Power of Ownership Culture
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