In a recent episode of the hit sitcom The Office on NBC, I noticed on Michael Scott’s bookshelf a copy of the 1999 best seller First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. In a nutshell, this book makes claim to the impressive impact that managers make on the overall level of engagement, loyalty, and commitment of employees to their organization; and in turn on the overall performance capacity of the organization. Employee engagement is created when managers are able to establish structure, stability, and direction while allowing for flexibility. Michael Scott, as much as I love you … I have to say you are falling way short in your ability to create an atmosphere that is conducive to building engagement. My advice – read the book and get your employees engaged!

For several years now, ‘employee engagement’ has been a hot topic in corporate  circles. It’s a bit of a buzz phrase that has captured the eyes and ears of business leaders around the world. While employee engagement is regularly talked about, it seems like few really are able to articulate the true essence of the topic, even less could create a clear picture of how they are measuring or building engagement in their organizations.

In 2006, The Conference Board published "Employee Engagement, A Review of Current Research and Its Implications". According to this report, twelve major studies on employee engagement had been published over the prior four years by top research firms such as Gallup, Towers Perrin, Blessing White, the Corporate Leadership Council and others. This is considered to be the foundation of understanding on the topic.

Each of the studies used different definitions and, collectively, came up with 26 key drivers of engagement. For example, some studies emphasized the underlying cognitive issues, others on the underlying emotional issues.

The Conference Board looked across this mass of data and came up with a blended definition and key themes that crossed all of the studies. They define employee engagement as "a heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work".

In the practical application of employee engagement, we define it as, “The reciprocal relationship between an employee and their employer that defines the extent of loyalty, commitment, and satisfaction of the employee and the extent to which the employee contributes to organizational objectives.”

For Michael Scott to have a better chance at growing the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. he needs to do a better job of providing his team with structure, stability, and clear direction. In other words, give to the employees in anticipation that they will reciprocate with their full engagement.

More wisdom for managers from First, Break All the Rules:

1. Know what can be taught, and what requires a natural talent.

2. Set the right outcomes, not steps. Standardize the end but not the means. As long as the means are within the company’s legal boundaries and industry standards, let the employee use his own style to deliver the result or outcome you want.

3. Motivate by focusing on strengths, not weaknesses.

4. Casting is important, if an employee is not performing at excellence, maybe she is not cast in the right role.

5. Every role is noble, respect it enough to hire for talent to match.

6. A manager must excel in the art of the interview. See if the candidate’s recurring patterns of behavior match the role he is to fulfill. Ask open-ended questions and let him talk. Listen for specifics.

7. Find ways to measure, count, and reward outcomes.

8. Spend time with your best people. Give constant feedback. If you can’t spend an hour every quarter talking to an employee, then you shouldn’t be a manager.

9. There are many ways of alleviating a problem or non-talent. Devise a support system, find a complementary partner for him, or an alternative role.

10. Do not promote someone until he reaches his level of incompetence; simply offer bigger rewards within the same range of his work. It is better to have an excellent highly paid waitress or bartender on your team than promote him or her to a poor starting-level bar manager.

11. Some homework to do: Study the best managers in the company and revise training to incorporate what they know. Send your talented people to learn new skills or knowledge. Change recruiting practices to hire for talent, revise employee job descriptions and qualifications.

 

 

 

Engagement Summit

This two-day event is designed to build employee engagement through an experiential series of group activities and training modules.  Increasing employee engagement is about getting employees to be passionate, loyal, and committed to their organizations.

Throughout the Engagement Summit, we refer to the broad scope of data showing a positive relationship between employee engagement and business outcomes such as productivity, profitability, customer loyalty, and staff retention.  We also draw clear connections between the needs of your organization and the direct impact that employee engagement has on your organization.

Of primary importance for participants is to leave the Engagement Summit with an increased connection tot he organization and commitment to moving the organization forward.  Our encouragement to participants is to return to their organization and get others engaged in their jobs.  We begin this process by getting participants engaged!  The Engagement Summit is fun, yet full of information, tools, and resources that can be applied immediately.