Engagement
by Andrew Bryant
Director of Self leadership International
As you read this, consider the question, "Are you engaged by your work?" Or if you are a manager / leader, "Are my employees engaged by their work?"
Engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to the company. They drive innovation and move the company forward.
Not-Engaged employees are essentially "Checked out". They are sleepwalking through the day, putting in time but not energy.
Dis-Engaged employees are not just unhappy at work; they're acting out their unhappiness and undermining the efforts of engaged employees.
Last week, I was asked by friend and colleague Dr Peter Hosie (author of Happy-Performing Managers) to speak to his Learning and Development Class at Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI). I gave a presentation on learning techniques as applied to corporate training and strongly emphasised my belief that, 'Zero Engagement = Zero Learning'.
Peter reminded me of the work done by the Gallup organisation on engagement in the workplace. Gallup research shows that within companies, employee engagement can vary widely from workgroup to workgroup, in large part because managers have a tremendous influence on worker engagement. Lack of engagement costs billiions of dollars - therefore managers and companies that want to promote employee engagement need to pay particular attention to employee needs, which include:
- Role clarity: Employees know what is expected of them at work.
- Talent utilisation: Workers have opportunities to use their talents in their roles every day.
- Recognition: Employees receive recognition regularly and feel cared for.
- Communication: Workers receive ongoing feedback on their performance and have regularly scheduled progress discussions.
- Bonding: Employees have strong bonds with their coworkers.
- Development: Employees have opportunities to learn and grow.
At Self Leadership International we are passionate about engagement and include techniques to foster it in our in-house Executive Development Programme and our public events such as 'Coaching for Managers' and 'From Technical Professional to Manager Leader'.
As we enter the holiday season, this is actually a time to dis-engage for a few days. If you are taking a break, take a break! Leave the laptop at the office and switch the blackberry off - you will return from your break refreshed and ready to re-engage!
So happy holidays from all the staff at Self Leadership International - see you in 2007!