by Joan Cook
Employee engagement seems to be a hot topic these days (along with talent management). To our way of thinking, employee engagement is the key to having a competitive edge. The Gallup Q12 survey and the Marcus Buckingham book based on it, First, Break All the Rules, distill what the best managers do to create an engaged organization. It boils down to three simple needs on the part of all employees:
1. The need for inclusion
2. The need for significance
3. The need for openness
Inclusion means: Do I belong? Am I in or out? Am I known? Significance means: Do I matter? Do I make a difference? Am I important? Openness means: Is it ok to tell the truth? Can I be honest in front of management/my boss?
When we work with organizations on employee engagement, we oftentimes approach getting answers to these questions by asking managers to list what they think they do that demotivates employees and causes them to feel NOT included, NOT significant, and NOT able to be open. Then we talk about what they need to do to rectify the situation.
Inclusion means communicating information, including people in planning, involving them in decision making (particularly on those decisions that directly affect them) and as a manager, being available. Significance means appreciating people, praising them, asking them for input, paying attention to what they say (no sending emails or shuffling papers while they're talking), and getting their buy-in. Openness is created by showing appreciation, listening (without an agenda and without thinking about what you're going to say next while they're talking!), asking for feedback, being interested in people and not reacting negatively to mistakes or bad news, but using them as learning and/or coaching opportunities. Creating an engaged team depends a great deal on these competencies; can you imagine an organization of engaged teams, all pulling in the same direction?
There's a lot of nuance to this work and we frame it differently, with different activities, depending on who we're working with. But the essence is the same: engagement = competitive edge. Smart companies invest in engagement and reap the rewards.
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