Discovering and capitalizing on employee engagement's golden key.

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Discovering and capitalizing on employee engagement's golden key.
We've all heard the saying, "its simple but not necessarily easy." The "golden key"
that instantly engages and motivates your employees is very simple and even easy to
implement. Unfortunately, at the same time, changing the negative attitudes some
managers have toward their employees is neither a simple nor easy task. For them,
there's no point or worth in putting forth the effort to engage or motivate anyone.
Their behavior is habitual. Successful employee engagment resides in looking at how
your employees experience their workplace. Are employees experiencing
advancement toward their work goals? Are they encouraged toward steady work
improvement in an atmosphere that supports safety, dignity and purpose? This is the
golden key.
Can you answer the following questions in the affirmative?
Are you recognizing your employees' small wins? Does your workplace provide a safe haven to present new ideas
and take risks? Do your employees feel that their dignity is being protected and their voices heard? Do you recognize
and reward real progress?
Understanding how to use this golden key will reduce employee turnover and boost your overall employee
performance. Here are some pointers.
Teacher, author and workforce coach, Diane Ingram shares this personal observation. "When I was president of the
NYC chapter of World Runners, I had the opportunity to witness, first hand, the power of engagement in action.
We were raising money as our contribution to end hunger. As the chapter's leader, I decided to create and nurture a
safe haven for brainstorming, creativity and the contributing of ideas toward our goal. We were able to inspire and
achieve innovation by making it clear to all that everyone's ideas had value. With room for any idea to be considered,
even the wacky ones, which by the way, are often the best ones ultimately, people felt free to play, explore and
discover—the exact ingredients necessary to create an atmosphere of empowerment and purpose. We raised a
bunch of money!"
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The real meaning of employee engagement.
The sad fact is few employers are able to define, measure and manage this quality within their workplace. It remains
essential to business success yet it still remains largely misunderstood and misapplied.
Simply, its the interest, emotional involvement and commitment your employee has in their work and your
organization. Thus, an engaged employee is highly interested and enthusiastic about what they do at your company.
They will act in a way to further support your company's direction.
"Employee Engagement is a measurable degree of an employee's positive or negative emotional attachment to their
job, colleagues and organization that profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work". notes
one of the longest operating employee surveying companies in the world, Scarlett Surveys®
You lead people by supporting their desire to do what is necessary to support the continuous high performance and
success of your enterprise. Employees will be aware of their attitude and emotional state developed from
experiences in the workplace. Experiences are the "drivers" of engagement. Use the golden key to create positive
employee experiences. This will stimulate your worker's natural desire to do their best work.
Lets be clear. Cleaner kitchens or bathrooms or extravagant awards in themselves, do not structurally improve
engagement or performance.
If you are a horrible, unaccountable boss you are wasting your organization's time even reading this article.
Command and control approaches to squeeze out specific work is Neanderthal. Thousands of years ago bosses used
the club or the whip to motivate workers. You may not be using the real thing but make no mistake, your clubs and
whips come in the form of demoralizing individuals through psychological intimidation. Changing the manner in
which you carry yourself will make using the golden key simplier, easier and dramatically improve your company's
performance.
How you uplift everyday work-life and build workplace human connections is another component of the key that will
boost spir-de-corp and participation.
One way you can help yourself to define and measure engagement is by asking your employees to participate in
surveys from time to time. Structure your survey with the purpose to gather helpful information leading to better
engagement practices.
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Some employee survey questions can include:
*What do you want to personally get out of working in our organization?
*Please share an emotion and a motivation you experience after a day of work?
*Do you feel safe and encouraged enough here to share your ideas and creativity?
*Do you feel a sense of steady improvement or advancing?
*Please share some of your goals and how working here provides you with a sense of getting ahead?
*Who do you feel is in control of your career, you or your boss?
*Does the work environment support your recovery from any emotional setbacks such as making mistakes or
failures to achieve desired goals?
*Do you feel in control of your day to day activities as soon as you walk in the door?
*Please describe any level you are experiencing of burnout?
*Please provide any comments and suggestions you feel will improve your work experience here?
Asking your employees to describe their deep interests can act as a valuable peek into what engages them and why
they joined you in the first place. You will be able to better calculate your engagement approach from the answers
you receive from those surveyed.
Reap the benefits of a correctly defined and managed engagement initiative. Lower direct supervision costs, boost
performance, invite new ideas from employees and achieve higher customer loyalty.
You might also consider a Peer to Peer recognition program.
Win in the marketplace by reorienting manager behavior toward celebrating employee small wins, risk taking,
dignity and innovation.
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"Enthusiastic employees excel in their work because they maintain the balance between the energy they give and the
energy they receive." notes Prof. dr. Arnold B. Bakker
As former Campbell’s Soup CEO, Doug Conant put it, “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”
I am very impressed with the research on this subject by Teresa Amabile, professor of business administration at
Harvard Business School.
In her book, The Progress Principle, co-written by Steven Kramer, she defines the best leaders as those "who use
their power to build up employees to have great inner work lives, positive emotions and strong motivation." The book
goes on to help managers guard against the undermining, demoralizing and disengaging impact of employee
setbacks.
Capitalizing on the golden key starts with acknowledging your people's value and learning how to encourage
employees when work gets difficult.
The key is about striking up a new contract where HR and senior management invest emotionally in their workforce.
If done right, employees will make a similar emotional investment. A sort of “discretionary effort” is brought into
their work that often translates into loyalty and superior performance. I heard it described by a colleague as: "our
organization will do things designed to make your jobs (and perhaps your lives) more meaningful. In return you bring
your hearts and minds to your work."
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Discovering and capitalizing on employee engagement's golden key.

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Discovering and capitalizing on employee engagement's golden key.