How to Turn Disgruntled Employees into Passionate Stakeholders

The following is adapted from Scaling Culture by Ron Lovett.

Make no mistake — your company has a culture whether you are intentional about it or not.

Corporate culture is ground zero for your organization. It’s the foundation of acceptable behaviors that drive business results — your company’s cumulative personality. If left to chance, it falls to the lowest common denominator or the loudest voice; it can be inconsistent or even downright volatile and unpredictable. Culture is critical for building a resilient, high-performing organization. To scale your company, you have to scale your culture. To do that, you need passionate stakeholders.

Passionate stakeholders are your company champions and cheerleaders. They’re A-players who are dedicated, loyal, and will do anything to see the company succeed. They’ll fight to the death for the organization and sing its praises from the mountaintops. They make decisions in the best interest of the company. Always. And especially when you aren’t there. These are the people who will protect and embody the company’s culture at all times.

Most of us don’t have a lot of passionate stakeholders lying around — instead, we may have a ton of neutral or even disgruntled employees. These are the types of people who start drama and blame others for their mistakes. They’re the teammates you have to babysit. These people are disruptive (and not in a good way), poisonous to the culture, and make company growth painful if not downright impossible. Disgruntled employees must be converted into passionate stakeholders or removed at all costs.

Ashwani — The Legacy Employee

If you’re doing it wrong, passionate stakeholders are hard to come by. Even if you are doing it right, your company will change and grow over time. To keep those passionate stakeholders, you will have to adapt. And what if you acquire a new company and inherit all its employees? You will have to adapt to convert them to stakeholders, too.

In 2014, our small security company, based in Halifax, Canada, won a large bid. It was for a trucking facility outside of Toronto. Overnight, we had to scale to support the new business — we needed to hire and onboard Toronto-based employees who were 1,000 miles away.

In the physical guarding industry, whenever new owners come in, legacy employees get nervous. Processes may change, the workload might increase, and the pay could decrease. You might even get fired and replaced. This makes the workplace a breeding ground for disgruntlement. Change makes a lot of people anxious, and pretty soon your pissed-off employees get worse, and your passionate stakeholders run for the door.

Once this happens, the organization’s culture deteriorates, and the business stagnates.

I knew this risk before we won the new contract, so I wasn’t surprised when a few weeks later I got a call from the trucking company’s corporate security manager. He wanted me to speak to one of the legacy employees, a site manager named Ashwani.

“Ron, these guys don’t know you from a hole in the wall. They’re nervous about what this is going to look like for them. Can you give Ashwani a call?” he asked.

Our new contract hadn’t started yet, but the word was out. The employees were anxious because they didn’t know what to expect. Ashwani was the only link to the employees on the ground.

“Sure. I’d be happy to talk to him,” I said.

From Disgruntled Employee to Passionate Stakeholder

A week later, I was on the phone with Ashwani. He sounded nervous.

“Hi, Ashwani. This is Ron Lovett.”

“Oh, hello, sir! Congratulations on winning this contract.”

“Thank you.”

“Sir, I have a question for you before we begin.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“What kind of vehicle are you planning to buy for the site?”

Ashwani knew we planned to purchase a vehicle to use at the facility. He knew the lay of the land and rough terrain that surrounded the property. And he knew it a lot better than I did. For his employees to be successful, the right vehicle was necessary.

“That’s a great question,” I said. “You’ve been at the site for fifteen years, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then why don’t you tell me what kind of vehicle you think we should have?”

There was a long pause before he started naming off attributes.

“Well, sir, it needs to be newer so it doesn’t break down, and it should have four-wheel drive because of the winter. We have to move things, so it should have space in the back, too. Oh, and we should be able to put lights on the roof.”

I could hear the passion swell in Ashwani’s voice and could almost feel his energy through the phone. He didn’t sound nervous anymore.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “If you go and find the right vehicle and get us a good deal, I’ll pay you a $300 bonus.”

There was another pause, even longer than the first. You could almost hear a pin drop. I thought he had hung up.

Then, he suddenly exploded. “I will find you the right vehicle! The BEST vehicle! I will not let you down, sir! You will be impressed! Just wait and see!” he said.

He was thrilled. When our company controller (let’s call him Mr. Old School) heard about this arrangement, he came to talk with me. “It’s my job to procure new company equipment,” he said, annoyed.

“But you’re in Halifax, and he’s at the site in Toronto,” I said.

“Yeah, so?”

“Do you really think you can find a better deal sitting behind your laptop here than he can on the ground over there? Plus, he’s passionate about it. You should have heard him on the phone.”

“It’s my job, Ron.” He was even more frustrated.

“Okay. If you can find a better vehicle for a better deal, I’ll give you the bonus.”

I was humoring him because I already knew what the outcome would be. Ashwani’s energy went into high gear when I empowered him to help find the right vehicle for his site. He was excited and passionate about it. Mr. Old School’s job was to find and acquire assets, but two weeks later, it was Ashwani who found the best deal — a used SUV that was six years newer and $3,000 cheaper than the one our controller found online.

And it didn’t stop there. Six months later, I visited the site in Toronto, and while I was there, Ashwani paid me a visit. He had his laptop with him.

“Good to see you, Ashwani,” I said. “How’s the new SUV treating you?”

“Excellent, sir. It runs perfectly,” he said.

“That’s great.”

“Sir, I was hoping I could talk to you about something. I have an idea for the future of the company.”

Did I hear him right?

“Sure,” I said. I followed him to a table and sat down, and he opened his laptop to show me a PowerPoint presentation he had created. It was a business model to expand Source Security into India.

I couldn’t believe it. When we first met, he was nervous and distrusting of me and Source Security. Six months later, he had transformed into a passionate stakeholder with an idea for international expansion. It was a dream come true.

Passionate Stakeholders

When Ashwani was empowered to find the perfect vehicle for his team, that was his first step along his journey to becoming a passionate stakeholder. He worked tirelessly to find the best vehicle for the best deal because it was important to him. He had a sense of pride. So much so, that he went on to create a business model for company expansion. Talk about passion!

Empowered, passionate employees work tirelessly to grow and strengthen the organization. They’re proud of what they do and how they contribute. They are the backbone of resilient, high-performing corporate culture. It was because of passionate stakeholders like Ashwani that our small security business was able to grow into a 3,000-employee company across Canada.

To learn more about organizational culture, you can find Scaling Culture on Amazon.

Ron Lovett is an entrepreneur and globally recognized author, speaker, and corporate culture thought leader who is passionate about change. He transformed the physical security industry when he founded Source Security, a national firm that grew to more than 3,500 staff and enabled Ron to exit at a 24x multiple. His unorthodox leadership style is characterized by going back to the drawing board, disrupting the status quo, and acting swiftly on new information. He lives in Nova Scotia with his wife and their three children.