Pragmatic Approaches to Employee Engagement

The Easiest, Most Practical Way to Engage Employees

November 21, 2011

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is the worth of a genuine “smile“?

Imagine the impact on:

  • A prospective new hire coming into the organization for an initial interview. A smile says,” so good of you to consider us as your career choice. We are happy to learn more about you and how you might fit into our business.”
  • An anxious new hire, starting on the first day. Friendly, smiling faces on the Manager, Supervisor, Colleagues conveys “Welcome, great to meet you and invite you to be a valuable contributor on our team.”
  • An employee being asked to take on a challenging task or assignment. A smile from the delegating leader offers encouragement and confidence in the employee’s abilities to complete the work well.
  • An apprehensive associate participating in the year end Performance Review. A congenial smile from the appraiser implies recognition and appreciation for goals accomplished, and collaboration for solving performance issues or concerns.
  • An exuberant employee on the verge of promotion, career advancement. The smiling expressions of  all involved shouts “Congratulations, well done. You deserve it.”

These are just a few of the many opportunities that abound for engaging employees. Be they significant, or just a brief encounter of “hello, welcome to work today,” the accompanying smile knits a bond of connectivity, of employee to the organization, to the work group, and to the customers or clients served.

If you think about it, it doesn’t take a lot of time, and it doesn’t cost any money, but a genuine smile can be worth thousands of Employee Engagement Credits. These credits convert to retention, productivity, high morale, and customer satisfaction.

Engage your employees and colleagues with a smile, and expand the credits for “High Potential Employees.”

Category:

Employee Engagement, management

1 Comment

Tagged with:

Employee Engagement, Practically Speaking

October 31, 2011

So much has been said and written about Employee Engagement and the degree to which it influences business outcomes. Studies have demonstrated its profound impact on Motivation, Retention, Customer Satisfaction, Productivity, and Profitability. For years organizations have conducted Employee Satisfaction Surveys, more recently Employee Engagement Surveys, attempting to measure employees’ degree of contentment and involvement.

A practical definition for “Employee Engagement” is the art of getting the Heads, Hearts, as well as the Hands of every employee in the “Game.”  What is the game? Exceeding customer expectations, every time!

Now Hands are fairly simple to observe at work; hands are productive or idle; in motion, at rest. The pen moves, keys are typed; the boxes are packed, the contracts are signed. Perhaps, in the last century companies could survive with Heads and Hearts ‘left at the door.’  Why not today?

We have New Rules for the Game –  Today we must:

1.)  Compete globally
2.)  Satisfy customers who want it better, quicker, and yes, cheaper.
3.)  Hire talent who have a totally different life experience than their ancestors.

Getting employee Heads in the game means stimulating their thoughts on:

- The Vision, and the valuable role each employee has in securing this Vision
- The Customer, and how to perfect the customer’s experience at every point of contact
- The Product or Service, and how to improve it or replace it with better
- Their own Development, to excel in the current role, and prepare to reach for their dreams

Getting employee Hearts in the game means igniting their feelings of:

- Care, stewarding the organization’s resources
- Commitment, being fully onboard with goals and plans
- Responsibility, being faithful to their job duties and standards
- Accountability, for actions and behaviors, and the ensuing results

Our bi-weekly Quest is to discover and share practical ‘hows’ for stimulating these thoughts, igniting these feelings. I invite you to contribute your comments, your stories, and your tips by following and commenting frequently.

Next Post - The simplest and easiest way to engage employees.

Wishing you all joy and prosperity in your daily work,

Wayne Owens

Category:

Employee Engagement, management

1 Comment

Tagged with:

The Quest Begins

October 27, 2011

This blog is dedicated to sharing practical experience, stories, and tips with/by readers and followers who wish to enhance Employee Engagement. Be you an Executive, Manager, Supervisor, HR Professional, or student of the Management of People, my hope is to engage you in an ongoing quest to unlock the full potential of the workforce.

Recent studies conclude that about 31% of surveyed employees report to be fully engaged in their work. My own polls, with thousands of participants who have attended my Management/Supervisory trainings and workshops through the years,  indicate leaders get about 40% performance potential from their direct reports. 60% of their natural and acquired talent, as well as their motivation is being withheld or blocked at work. No wonder many of our organizations suffer from “the lows” –  low productivity, low quality, low customer satisfaction, low retention rates, and low job satisfaction.

So I invite you to join me in this quest. Together, let’s explore a pragmatic approach to curing these lows, replacing them with the “Benefits of High Performance, ” by engaging the full-potential of employees, work groups, and our organizations.

Wishing you all joy and prosperity in your daily work,

Wayne Owens

Category:

Employee Engagement, management

Leave a comment

Tagged with:

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.