John Smythe was invited to the University of Greenwich to deliver a keynote for their Big Picture Lecture Series.

1. Employee engagement – why it
may matter to you
Greenwich 19 11 14 John Smythe
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2. Communication and engagement – the same
thing right?
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Communication
• Making connections
• Sharing meaning
• Influencing mood / climate
• Setting context
• Reinforcing status quo /
hierarchy
Engagement
• Opening decision making and
change to the right groups to:
- add value
- accelerate execution
- broaden ownership and
sustainability
• = Power sharing
• Disturbing status quo /
suspending hierarchy

3. Why will people turn up every
day to work with you/for you?
Why will people give you
their creativity?
Do/will they feel part of the
mission?
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4. Why now? – the social context (UK example)
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5. 1990s empowerment
6. Loyalty for security contract
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1. Sweat shops 2. Victorian 3. Skyscraper capitalism
philanthropists
4. Internal marketing
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5. Velvet revolutions
Lech Walesa at Gdansk Shipyard addressing workers
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Coincidental social upheavals?
Protestors gathering
in Tahrir Square,
Cairo, Egypt
Demonstrators
marching through
Habib Bourquiba
Avenue, Tunis
Political dissidents in
Sana’a, Yemen
demanding the
resignation of the
president
Protests in Duma,
Syria
The Arab Spring
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7. Q) WHAT BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN YOU?
 Think of a project/period outside or at
work where you were immersed, 100%
committed and inspired to make
something a success
 What was it that you did and what did it
feel like?
 What were the factors and conditions
that enabled you to really commit?
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8. Which workers are most engaged and
productive?

9. Those on a mission – what’s your compelling purpose?
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10. How would you recognise an engaged
person/group?
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11. What do engaged people do?
 Enjoy their work whatever they do
 Innovate & disrupt status quo
 Risk speaking upwards to challenge and innovate
 Make it safe for people to challenge up
 Self organise – less need for costly supervision
 Take responsibility
 Collaborate within & beyond their ‘border’
 Resolve difficulties locally
 Awareness of personal limits
 Are generous with time and skills.
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12. Generalists solve complex problems
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13. Business case? – UK 25,000 workers YouGov/EfC
Mercenaries
3%
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Hostages
28%
Fence-sitters
Disconnected
20%
16%
Apostles
33%
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14. Engaging people in real work drives engagement
CBI: engaged employees take 2.9 sick days/disengaged 6.19 days
Towers Perrin: operating margins 3x higher in engaged workforces
M&S: stores with improving engagement delivered £62m more sales
Kenexa: In the US companies with engaged staff have highest customer sat
BAE: engaged staff reduced plane construction time 25%
BAE: same staff found £26m in savings in two sites
Gallup: disengaged organizations have 62% more accidents
Gallup: engaged staff say that work brings their creative ideas – 59% vs 3%
Aon Hewitt: engaged organizations give 22% higher returns to shareholders
Total UK: double digit £ms in efficiency savings + new revenue lines
(Engage for Change data)
Kenexa – increased engagement could add £26B to UK GDP
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(Engage for Success data)
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15. Two key ingredients of effective engagement for leaders
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1 Decision
making
pattern
2 Leaders’
presence
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17. What is decision/decision making?
 Re-affirmation of intent
 A change to previous intent
 An invisible cognitive process
involving one person
 A visible social process
involving many
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18. My decision making pattern – GOD or GUIDE?
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Telling
the many what has
been decided by
the few
OUTCOME
Hooligans or
spectators
Selling
to the many what
has been decided
by the few
OUTCOME
Compliant
collaborators
Inclusion
Driving
accountability
down by
implicating people
as individuals in
execution
OUTCOME
Willing
collaborators
Co-creation
Judging who will
add value if
included in front
end decision
forming for change
& strategy
OUTCOME
Personally
committed
reformers
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19. Choices of approach open to leaders
“There is a 5th way -
they decide but don’t
even bother telling us”
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My decision making pattern
1 2
Decision pattern
3
4
5
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My decision making pattern
1 2
Consider who will
add value if engaged
upfront
Negotiate authentic
agreement about
decision: a shared
story
Consider who needs
engaged
in execution
How to engage & communicate
- method
- style
Learning from
listening /
observing
Decision pattern
3
4
5
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22. Benefits of engaging in decision making upfront
 Better decisions
 Faster execution through/with people
 More head space for you
 More trust for them
 Happier team
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23. Three influences that shape my decision making pattern
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1.Role models I have learnt from
2.Regional cultural differences
3.Organisational cultures

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1 Role models I have learnt from
Jim Schiro
Patrick O’Sullivan
Lloyd Blankfein
Willie Walsh
Armand Hammer
John Wren
Wally Olins
Bob Charlton
Ted Burke
Didier Harel
Val Gooding
Colette Dorward
Valerie Scoular IP Engage for Change 2014

25. Role models who you have learnt from…?
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Sydney
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2 Cultural influences on my decision making pattern
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27. 3 Organizational culture influences on my decision
making
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28. Two key ingredients of effective engagement for leaders
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1 My
decision
making
pattern
2 My
presence
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29. The minutiae of my personal presence
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Manner & manners
Tone
Generosity
Mood & mood creep
Repetitive interactive performance styles
“your legacy
precedes you”
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30. Our engagement styles help or hinder engagement
STYLE LANGUAGE TONE BODY LANGUAGE
EXPERT/ TEACHER
EVANGELIST
ONE OF THE
GANG
MAVERICK
CONFIDANT
movement, engaging
everyone, eye contact
expansive
reflecting
audience
outside the circle
re-assuring
precise, repetitive,
checking
stories, fables
positive
humour
mirrors jargon of audience,
street humour,
challenger
secretive, soothing, low
key
authority, expert
focus on transfer of
knowledge
upbeat, excited
sound bites, passion,
loud
high energy
irreverence,
conspiring, low-key
personal
cocky, irreverent
confessional, neutral,
reflecting audience
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31. Our engagement styles help or hinder engagement
LANGUAGE TONE BODY LANGUAGE
ARBITER
TEASE/
FLIRT
LOBBYISTS
even, firm,
unexcitable, measured
two handed,
embracing hand
movements
coquettish
light
pressing, firm,
melodious
simple
flattering
personal,
humourous
expert words,
jargon, confidential
self confident
attention keeping
BULLY direct clipped emphatic
SNIPER gotcha! smug still until the ambush
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STYLE

32. Our engagement styles help or hinder engagement
LANGUAGE TONE BODY LANGUAGE
STYLE
VISIONARY
TEAM COACH
REPORTER
AUTOCRAT
conviction
friendly but slightly
distant, confident
credibility without
ownership of the
issues
aloof, dismissive,
sweeping
presidential
openness,
embracing
statuesque,
slow motion
rigid, standing
value-laden,
well-chosen,
well-versed,
imagery,
metaphor
accessible,
collaborative,
story telling
straightforward,
unambiguous,
factual
clipped,
no humour
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And finally
Sir Wim Bischoff (chair Lloyds Banking Group) as a senior
sponsor of Engage for Success
“employee engagement will
become be one of the key health
factors to be considered by
shareholders” – the velvet
revolution at work is becoming
main stream
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35. johnsmythe@engageforchange.com
www.engageforchange.com
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