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Dear Reader,

Psychologist W. Herzberg posited that remuneration which is perceived as inadequate is a demotivator - but that money in itself cannot be considered a motivator. So what keeps individuals engaged with their work? Ernie Turner shares with us some reflections emerging from his experience on this topic.

Enjoy the reading!

Isabel Rimanoczy
Editor

INCREASING WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT:
THE NEW FRONTIER
by Ernie Turner

Imagine this - you have just been hired as the new soccer coach for a team with the following 'scorecard':

• only 4 members of the team are ever sure at any given time which goal is theirs and why they are playing the game anyway;

• only 2 are enthusiastic about being on the field;

• only 2 feel that they are trusted by their coach and management;

• only 2 feel that they have been adequately trained to do their job;

• only 2 understand how their role 'fits' with the other roles on the field;

• only 2 are trying to play as a team;

• and only 1 feels accountable^[1].

If you're the kind person who sees the cup half empty you might be inclined to decline the job and save yourself months of frustration and migraine headaches. Or if you see the cup half full, you would probably be excited at all the improvement opportunities facing you.

The fact is that this is a graphic picture of today's global corporate reality. And a recent Gallup Poll study^[2] provides similar findings:

• 29% of the workforce are actively engaged in their work;

• 54% are not engaged;

• 17% are actively disengaged.

The 17% who are actively disengaged represents 22 million in the USA alone and accounts for over $300 billion in costs to those companies and to society - poor service, bad quality of goods, re-work, lost customers, lost hours, sickness, sabotage, criminal behavior, getting fired, etc.

Increasing workforce engagement is definitely a new frontier for improving productivity and morale. In fact, several companies today are actively investigating what they can do to make a difference in this wide open field. A few weeks ago, two of my LIM colleagues based in Hong Kong and I were invited to design and facilitate an engaging 4-hour conversation with 80 Hong Kong bankers from a global financial institution on the topic - "Nurturing Engagement in the Workplace". Using a number of large group techniques including Open Space^[3] and Reflection and Dialogue^[4] we had a wonderful experience exploring many related questions.

I would like to share three of the questions we discussed and just some of the key lessons we extracted.

Question # 1: What engages individuals?

• Feeling that they add value; they are able to make a difference; they are important;

• Having a few colleagues and friends at work with whom they can relate and make meaning;

• A supervisor who is supportive, fair and clear.

A few years ago LIM designed and delivered an Action Reflection Learning leadership development program for a global bank. As part of the ROI study conducted several weeks after the program, the individual conducting the study discovered that 4 of the participants, all investment bankers, had been contacted by headhunters prior to the program and they were seriously considering leaving the bank. However, after the program they all changed their minds. When asked, "Why?" their responses were almost identical - 'because senior management demonstrated to us in this program that they valued what we thought by giving us real business challenges for us to solve as part of our development'.

Question #2: What disengages individuals?

• An ineffective supervisor - someone who doesn't listen; isn't clear; isn't fair; says one thing and does another;

• Lack of clarity - around mission, vision, strategy, role, responsibilities and norms.

• Poor alignment between performance and rewards.

A few years ago there was a survey conducted in Europe with several hundred middle managers. They were asked to identify the most important characteristics of a 'good' boss. The number 1 response was - someone who will really listen to me.

Some years ago I was working with a team leader who received feedback that she was not clear in where she intended to take her team and her organization. She listened to the feedback and prepared a vivid and very compelling picture of where she thought the team and organization could be in 3 years time if everyone were engaged. Her clarity helped turn her team around; they were committed and enthusiastic about the vision and stretch targets.

As an example of the need for clarity around norms, another team I was working with had not explicitly agreed upon its team norms. As a consequence they were behaving as they saw fit. Several team members were turned off and feeling very frustrated with 'little' things like coming late to meetings, not responding to e-mails in a timely way, using blackberries in meetings, not following through on commitments, etc. After a norm-setting session these behaviors improved dramatically.

Question # 3: What are some practical things you as leaders can do to engage your people?

So what good will these things do to increase employee engagement? Plenty! As John Heider's The Tao of Leadership teaches us - "Few leaders realize how much how little will do. Good leadership consists of motivating people to their highest levels by offering them opportunities, not obligations."