Essentials of Employee Engagement
"Making people engaged" is the wrong approach
Tough role for engagement managers. View of engagement is typically something for Managers to solve, which generates another load of initiatives that try to make people be engaged. The harder they try to do things that make people engaged, the less engagement they get. We’ve got into a habit in organizations where the most obvious solution is actually the problem. Hence "Making people engaged" is the wrong approach
You know engagement's important...but how do you actually do it?
The importance of employee engagement and the link between an engaged workforce and the bottom line has long been established. But what does employee engagement look like in practice?
• Establishing employee action teams to create an active, two-way communication program
• Using Appreciative Inquiry to construct inspiring and energizing views of the organization
• Creating message maps to communicate clear, credible and compelling messages to your audiences
• Introducing storytelling to get to the heart of the organization's culture, build trust and develop powerful new communication platforms
Let’s try to avoid the "parent-child" pitfall
By trying to make people feel engaged, rather like trying to motivate them, we end up in a typical “parent-child” relationship.
Typical engagement interventions are designed to help people be more adult, engaged and self-directing. The bane of experience is that they subtly and unconsciously continue to teach people that someone else is responsible or making them happy, motivated and engaged.
The natural reaction to under-performance is to intervene and take responsibility. Over the years, senior leaders can become habituated as the people to make decisions and send out directives. “The more they tell people, ‘Be empowered’, the less power these people have to fail.” The difficulty in this situation is that the least powerful people in the dynamic are not able to make the first move – because it would be an act of revolution.

Creating engagement is down to the top
The only people who can make the first move are the ones in power – the one who give directions. We have to back off and start to let people fail. That’s why engagement is really tricky. Many of us seniors would like to see a fundamental shift in people’s mindsets, but we don’t want to go through the pain barrier. Everyone of us likens this to wanting your children to go from being 12 to 25 without going through the teenage years.

Paradoxically, senior leaders can be creating a culture of non-engagement by owning it too much. If you’re an engagement manager, it’s almost impossible to take on your own board at such a fundamental level of philosophy of how to be in the organization. I believe that engagement managers have to become internal coaches, but I do recognize this is sometimes difficult but certainly not impossible. That’s why they pair up with people like us. The construction of a project often says, ‘We have to make our employees engaged’, but this is the wrong construction. Instead it should be, ‘We have to teach our seniors to allow people to be adults’. As soon as they change the pattern then it’s a natural phenomenon for people to be engaged.
Have your say
Anyone involved in employee engagement these days seems to be extremely busy. The big question is, “How to work with senior leaders to create a culture of true engagement?” Many engagement managers could have an impossible task on their hands. Creating true engagement is more than initiatives – rather, it involves a fundamental change in leadership philosophy.
To what extent have we as an executive team understood that?

What's is practical?
• Employee action teams
• Message maps
• Storytelling
• Appreciative Inquiry
• Need for spelling organizations' approach to employee engagement
Which function is responsible for engagement?
How do we measure engagement?
Which engagement techniques are being used?
What are we planning to introduce in the next 12 months

Some essentials to follow
1) A predisposition to setting high, lofty goals. Top achievers are people who won't and can't settle for the status quo. They see average as a place they want to keep in the rear-view mirror. Instead, they continually look for ways to stretch themselves, to get better, to do better, to be better! They set their sights on goals that others have never even thought of. They want to shoot so high that even if they miss, they go higher than everyone else. This is what makes them top achievers.
2) An ability to focus intently upon reaching their desired destination. Many people can set high goals, but just as many people get sidetracked by one thing or another on their way to those goals. High, lofty goals usually take a while to get there so there will always be plenty of time to be tempted to stray away from the road that is taking you to those goals. Often, those things that sidetrack people are good things, but not the best things. Top achievers do not get sidetracked. They stay focused. They know where they are going. They have an ability to say "no" to the good things in order to get to the best things.
3) The willingness to personally sacrifice in order to get to their goal. When the going gets tough, many people quit. When the going gets tough personally, most people quit. When the going gets tough for top achievers, they remind themselves of the high, lofty goals they have set for themselves. They remind themselves of what an accomplishment it will be for them and that the reward is worth pushing through the momentary trials. They are willing to sacrifice personally in the short-term in order to get the reward and the prize long-term. Keeping their eyes on the big picture enables them to persevere through any personal pain they may experience.
4) A predisposition to tenacity.
Tenacity is the ability to "keep on going." Tough times? Keep on going!
Financial troubles? Keep on going!
People are suspect? Keep on going!
You will look like a dreamer? Keep on going!
Tired? Keep on going!
Want to quit and take it easy? Keep on going!
Just remember this: Keep on going!
The prize is ahead! Many people quit just before they were to get the reward, so keep on going!
5) The ability to see available resources and to use them accordingly. Those who are top achievers know that they cannot be lone-rangers on the way to the top. No one makes it by himself or herself. Top achievers recognize their weaknesses – the weaknesses that if they don't cover will keep them from becoming a top achiever! They see their resources and they work to get them into a helping position so they can continue the route to becoming a top achiever. And they don't use them, they utilize them. There is a big difference! People, finances, etc., are all brought in to help by the top achiever.
6) A desire to help others achieve more for themselves as well. The top achiever knows that they can make a difference for others by becoming a top achiever. They know that the wealth they make can feed the hungry. They know that the position of influence they achieve can open a door for someone who may not normally get a chance. True top achievers look at how they can bring many with them, not how they can leave many in the dust. People are helped by the top achiever, not trampled upon!

I think if we could get to this the DNA of top achievers, the things we talked about above would be at the core and fiber of their beings.