Employee
Engagement:Is
this the right fit for me? Scott Constantine of Performance Link NZ shares a series of plain truth articles about creating a highly engaged workforce.
In
this series of articles I've put a lot of
emphasis on the environment that employers
provide for their employees. I've
also put a lot of emphasis on employees
being able to be their true-selves.
But I'm not suggesting that employers
can necessarily cater for the needs of
every employee. Employees
may be offered a high level of involvement
in determining what they do and how they
go about it, but it's important to
remember that employee engagement is relative
to the pursuit of key organisational goals.
It's not just about self determination
and self actualisation for the sake of it. Inevitably
there are times when the needs
of some employees and those of the
organisation do not
match. When
this is the case I would argue that it is impossible for an
employee to passionately immerse
themselves in their work and to be totally true to
themselves at the same time. It
would therefore be impossible to have
high engagement in this scenario.
In trying to address employee engagement
levels it is worthwhile to consider
organisational, job and environmental fit.A
view of fit from an engagement
perspective. Fit
in relation to engagement is not simply about
whether the person can do, has done, is
doing, or will do the job at hand. In
contrast, it is do with a degree of fit
that exists at a deeper level and that is
framed by the psychological drivers of
engagement. A
different way of determining fit.
Consider the following: Does the individual find both the nature
of their work, and the nature of the
organisational goals / vision meaningful
and worthwhile? Are they passionate
and inspired about either or
both? Do they have the opportunity
to do what they do best and to deploy it
in the pursuit of the organisation's goals
/ vision? Is the organisation
capable and willing to provide the level
of recognition required by the
individual? Does the organisational
environment provide the level of
psychological safety required by the
individual? This includes the right
amount of safety in
interpersonal relationships, group and
inter-group dynamics, management approach,
and organisational norms and
culture. What is the fit between the
levels of cognitive, emotional, and
physical resource that the person
has to offer and the level of these
resources required by the job? The
Po!nt: "Employees may have the right
skills and competencies for their jobs,
the right experience for their jobs,
demonstrate that they are able to perform
the job to acceptable levels, display high
levels of commitment, and yet still not be
highly engaged, nor authentic to
themselves. A different
perspective on the fit between
individuals and organisations is required
if the impact of fit on employee
engagement is to be understood."
 www.performancelink.co.nz
Vol.
2, No.
9 February
1,
2008
Copyright ©
2008 S.R. Constantine All Rights Reserved.
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