How engagement and strong relationship management creates the glue between people and results.
Engaging and engaged workplaces and their people don’t happen by good luck and good intent. They are nurtured by people who respect good values, diversity and relationships and above all appreciate the people who work for and with them.
And while the sweet spot where people and engagement meet is the foundation for successful and sustainable companies it takes continuing commitment and passion from the lunch room, meeting room right through to the board room to make it happen and last.
Engaging workplaces are formed and shaped by diverse personalities, robust conversations, commitment to a set of values and behaviours that focus on high performance and results, often by- passing ego and the obsolete. They are geared up to be the drivers of change and prepared to challenge the predictable patters of behaviour so people are encouraged to truly engage in thinking and doing opportunities - both analytically and globally.
So what does this mean you can do in your organisation? On a micro level it means HR managers are in a unique position to be the conduit between staff and the connection to their work. This connection enables them to develop professionally as well as personally so that they understand how their work fits into the context of whole organisation and has the spin off effect to connect people internally.
On a macro level, it means there is a need for leaders in business and organisations to provide resources, tools and the overall environment that supports that engagement and the work of the HR Manager. Engagement is everyone’s responsibility.
But here’s the cold hard facts in reality with figures from the US in a BlessingWhite Report ( 2008) stating that “depending on what is happening around them, only 24% of employees are engaged at work and only 18% perform at optimum level while they are in the honeymoon stage of employment".
It indicates that when “sameness” occurs, error rates, illness, accidents and stress levels soar causing huge loss of revenue, productivity and often staff.
So what can HR do to create an engaged and engaging workplace? Well, short of having a golden egg to spend every time people need something and a crystal ball to see what will be happening in the future, here are some simple, low cost or no cost strategies that you and HR can put in place.
Checking alignment of employees values against the values, goals and aspirations of the organisation is a good starting point! If this is checked at recruitment stage, it will be quickly and easily identify if the candidate is a good “engagement match” not just a good skills match. And while HR is also busily recruiting on ability, it’s a good time to assess historically what the career path of that person has been like and then define whether the company can actually offer opportunities the person will aspire to. If there is no career path, save yourself the trouble!
And if it’s not hard enough at the moment to stay focused anyway, just consider the constant interruptions from mobile phones, texting, twitter, face book, pressures that take people away from engaging with a sense of flow and completion!
Therefore there has never been a more important time in the wake of the GFC to protect and respect the time, place and value of staff so they can contribute to the success of the organisations as well as their own financial future.
Having said that, it is also now harder for employers to engage staff as each generation at work has been influenced by different and differing factors, which contribute to the way people think, behave and ultimately respond to. Many employers across Australasia will also agree now that unless there is a strong top down engagement culture that provides a variety of opportunities people will walk with their feet to other organisations that engage hearts, heads and hands.
The key therefore is to be in the moment and recognise where and when people need and want to develop and almost pre-empt the next tipping point for them and the organisation – thus get ahead of the curve.
This is significantly different from years gone by when the employer controlled the environment and the conversations. Today, engagement begins with having courageous and involved conversations at all levels, it means opportunities for staff to contribute to the organisation’s vision, work and to connect with senior management and leadership.
It’s not easy when there are so many different cultures, races, positions, ages and backgrounds to consider but in many ways, this diversity are the things that make workplaces engaging. Imagine how uninspiring a workplace would be if everyone was the same – so rather than thinking that engaging different people is hard, flip the mindset to see that difference is exactly what makes it better.
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