Employee Engagement: 26 Keys from A to Z

David Zinger has issued a challenge to all members of the "Employee Engagement Network" to list 26 keys from A to Z for employee engagement.  You may find the network and make your connection at http://employeeengagement.ning.com/

Here are my 26 keys to employee engagement from A to Z.

Ask.  Asking is key to reflection and learning.  To engage employees, lead them in re-asking the critical questions for "How are we doing?" both individually and collectively.  These are the questions that supervisors are asking but modified so as to relate to frontline daily operations.

Beneficiaries.  Everyone must be aware of whom the groups efforts benefit.  Typically in an enterprise this would be the 'Customers' but in classroom settings for instance it is often, to a large degree, the group members themselves.

Commitment.   As one of the five principle ingredients of engagement, people must demonstrate intentions in order to sustain their commitment.  Without commitment one cannot remain engaged long-term. 

Dialogue.  Two-way communication to bring about discussions and share ideas which is an environment that is essential for employee engagement to thrive.

Enjoyment.  A second principle ingredient of engagement.  Without enjoyment one cannot remain engaged long-term.  Happiness is nice but only if you enjoy what you are doing will the activities strengthen you.

Feedback.  We all have a lot of experience with feedback from colleagues and supervisors, but to stay engaged one must learn for their own activities to provide them feedback.  This latter feedback is needed to capture the heart and mind.

Gratitude.  Another of the five principle ingredients of engagement.  Without gratitude one cannot stay engaged for the long-term.  Fostered by the activity of thanking others which in turn provides recognition and appreciation. 

Heart.  Part of the the definition of employee engagement.  Symbolic of one's passion, emotions, feelings, and enthusiasm which inspires, motivates, and strengthens one's efforts.

Involve.  A second part of the definition of employee engagement and the 'foundation' on which engagement can build.  Involvement requires that challenges and skills remain somewhat equal.  Everyone has the abilities to perform the tasks they need to perform.

Justify.  When we are involved with heart and mind, we justify our experiences and activities.  One of the most important ways, and least talked about, is demonstrating intentions--we get into trouble when we try to manage intentions but we can lead them.  Everyone knows what these people stand for, what is important to them, what they are about--they commit themselves.

Know.    Knowledge leads to action.  In leading engagement just as with managing people is it actions which get results.  Here are five actions we suggest you practice to sustain the engagement of everyone in your group.  Thank, Invite, Ask, Feedback, and Share.

Learning.  One of five principle ingredients for employee engagement.  No one can remain engaged without continuing to learn.  Asking fosters reflection which stimulates learning. 

Mind.  The third part of the definition of engagement.  Represents the thought processes of the brain.  One of the largest and most exciting areas of current research into human performance.  Helping people think, reflect, learn, focus, and experience.

Non-verbal.  To sustain employee engagement we must lead everyone with activities which are also non-verbal for as groups mature most learning and communications becomes informal and non-verbal.

Ownership.  Engagement is about maintaining those critical connections between customers and those providing products and services on the frontlines of daily operations.  We call this the 'entreprenurial ethic' as it creates the cyle of employees engaging customers and in turn being reengaged by the customers themselves.  Accomplishment, recognition, and appreciation flow back up the organization!

Process.  Merely a set of steps or actions which may occur anywhere or anyime within the organization.  May be a part of a program but does not need to come from the top down.  A 5-step process, or recipe, for employee engagement!

Question.  A prerequisite to help employees think for themselves and create the "ah ha" moments for self-realization and inspiration.

Recognition.  Key to building the connections between Employees, Customers, and Stakeholders in the organization.  Facilitated by the pivotal step in the practice of 'Thanking' which builds momentum.

Share.  The fifth of the 5 steps in the process, or recipe, in building employee engagement.  Sharing helps build and maintain the people connections which create enjoyment for everyone involved.  The other critical result of sharing is to facilitate assessments.  Assessments are nothing more than opinions but, unlike measurements, they foster a dialogue or two way discussions among all parties.

Thank.  Key to recognition, appreciation, and gratitude.  Beneficiaries of your groups efforts will not remain engaged and reengage your group members if they are not thanked both verbally and non-verbally.  The pivotal step or action for any group leader to lead the engagement of their members.

Unconcious.  Every successful group leader must understand that a large percentage of learning and communications (the majority in a mature organization) is 'informal' or unconcious.  This is human nature.  The group leader can choose to help everyone thank, invite, ask, get feedback from their own daily activities, and share with everyone the connect with to move toward engagement.  Few employees consciously choose to not be engaged or worse yet to be actively disengaged.  Most simply respond to previous habits, learning, instruction, and beliefs.  If you started ten new employees today three would show up engaged, five not engaged but very receptive and willing to follow all instruction, and two would simply not get it from previous bad habits and training.

Visualize.  There is an exciting new movement toward helping others picture in there minds what could happen with their participation and efforts.

Win.  More corectly win-win-win for customers, employees, and stakeholders of the organization.  This is the acid test for all activities on the frontlines of daily operations!

X-Ray.  Examine (a mental picture) why  we take any action on the frontline of daily operations.  This needs to be a coorinated effort among team leaders, line managers, and their supervisors (middle managers) on a continual basis.  And do not forget to thank, invite, ask, get feedback from the activity itself, and share with everyone--everyday!

Yourself.  Practice, help, and expect changes, or movement towards full engagement, from within each and evey person (customers, employees, and stakeholders) on each and every day.  It will be gradual but just like organizations, each individual gradually increases or decreases--never accept or assume a static.

Zone.  Everyone is in the 'zone', or as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes it as "Flow".  This is the time when you performed a task or job when your abilities and challenges were so well matched that time flew by before you realized it.

 

Comments

[David Zinger]

I love the list and it offers a very impressive lexicon of ideas from A to Z.