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RE: Article: Linking the dots between true-self and the organisation

I hope you found my latest article, Connecting the dots between true-self and the organisation thought provoking and relevant. Please feel free to comment and post questions.

Submitted by: Scott Constantine Date: 2/24/2009

RE: Article 9. At the front-line simple things matter

I read your article about engagement and for the most part I follow your checklist with my staff. I am interested in their development and learning and provide them with enough challenges however I have a staff member who is 'seemingly' very engaged. They come to work early and leave late, they are eager to please me, they always ask before doing something unsure of they try to go out of their way. The problem I am faced with is they do not perform although they are very engaged how do I now burst their bubble and get them out I have tried everything to improve their performance and through performance managing them the engagement has increased but the productivity is the same.

Submitted by: juliamcg Date: 6/22/2008 2:05:00 PM

RE: Article 9. At the front-line simple things matter

Hi Julia, thanks for the comment. Im not convinced that what you are describing is necessarily a highly engaged employee. Maybe what you are observing is an employee who is trying hard, or at least displaying behaviours that we would generally associate with ‘effort’ or commitment. These have relationships with engagement but are not the same thing. From your description, I suspect this person is motivated. What I can’t tell is whether that motivation is all due to extrinsic (external) motivators. The need to keep one’s job to pay the mortgage, and the positive and negative consequences of your performance management intervention are examples of this. So there might be an incorrect assumption there. Regarding tactics or interventions, I don’t think you can externally ‘drive’ engagement in the same way as a performance objective or KPI. It comes from within as a result of a complex dynamic between a person, their job, and their work environment. A telling strategy might be to explore whether this person really ‘passionate’ about their job and the organisation, and also to find out what this person is really about... what makes them tick? It's worth pointing out too, that sometimes people are highly commited to things that aren't truly them. I hope that helps shed a little light on what the next steps might be. Although it is easy to do, I think we all need to check that we are not arbitarily interchanging performance, effort, and commitment as they are each different from one another. Julia, thanks for sharing this scenario - it's a really good example.

Submitted by: Scott Constantine Date: 6/22/2008 6:05:00 PM

RE: Article 9. At the front-line simple things matter

Hi Scott, Nice simple easy to follow article, with some basic and essential guidelines. I like it! There is one aspect I see here and want to comment on, as I see it commonly. When I picture all this happening the "boss" is central, like a hub and spokes. Seems to me that if managers and leaders (at all levels) are seeing their world in a more organic network kind of manner then they need to also be asking questions about how they are, for example, creating a space for mutual listening (everyone gets good at listening vs just the manager!), how they are engaging their team in creating vision and being aspiration (vs being clear about vision handed down)...and so on. In this way it is more like virus...capacity gets enhanced all round and impact as well as engagement are probably much more likely to be exponential. Cheers..carry on the great articles!

Submitted by: Lisa Markwick Date: 6/23/2008 7:14:00 PM

RE: Article 9. At the front-line simple things matter

Hi Lisa, thanks for the feedback and adding further to the ideas. I agree that this is not just about the manager (even though that was certainly focus of this article). The more participative, involved and better at actively contributing within an engaged community each team member is, the higher the engagement level will become. Of course this also improves the type of interaction between team members and so as you point out the gain is exponential. In other words it becomes somewhat self propagating once there is a critical mass. I'm actually seeing this in practice on my current assignment where the organisation's engagement level is at the 87th percentile world wide. Pretty much everybody acts in ways that help naturally build engagement all of the time even when they are not thinking about engagement.

Submitted by: Scott Constantine Date: 6/23/2008 9:30:00 PM

RE: Article 8. Employee Engagement: Is this the right place for me?

Interesting topic Scott and I believe should be considered with an angle on Self Awareness and Reflection. If the fit is wrong, how does the Organisation or the individual surface this fact? If the process is initiated by the Organisation and the employee is oblivious or in denial of the situation, how do you recommend the subject be approached? Many other issues come to mind: personal security, self awarenes etc. What are your thoughts on handling 'wrong fit' scenarios?

Submitted by: Maree OLeary Date: 5/18/2008

RE: Article 8. Employee Engagement: Is this the right place for me?

Maree, thanks for your questions - In a nutshell … The best approach is to have managers and their teams meet periodically and for the team themselves to identify what things would (a) enable them to work in ways that would help achieve better work outcomes (generally for customers and with respect to the organisation's goals), and (b) create a more envigorating or rewarding work experience for them. It's generally much better if the team members identify the issues, prioritise them, and determine their action plan. This gives the team ownership, so the process itself even helps improve engagement. I emphasise, facilitate discussion so that the team can identify its opportunities for improvement and facilitate them to reach agreement on the priorities.

Submitted by: Scott Constantine Date: 5/19/2008 9:30:49 PM

RE: Article 8. Employee Engagement: Is this the right place for me?

Maree - More detailed response: Dealing with person-environment 'fit' issues specifically in relation to engagement is fairly new ground and certainly surfaces some dimensions that would not normally be the focus in a traditional HR Management approach. Things such as meaningfulness, psychological safety, passion, authenticity and flow are things that can't easily be managed in a purely mechanistic / linear way. I think the only way issues of person-organisation 'fit' can be appropriately dealt with or even identified, is through open, honest and non judgemental exploration at a reasonably local level - at team level and individual level. This requires skill sets and mindsets that support open, honest and genuine 'dialogue' and exploration, and an ability to be assertive whilst empathetic to each other's best interests. If there is an issue and there is sufficient desire to address it, then one or other party needs to have the courage to surface it. However I stress that trust and genuineness in both directions are essential if this approach has any chance of working. This is not about over selling, control or manipulation. I believe that for real progress to be made, organisations and people need to do all they can to increase self awareness and also personal development, particularly around the skill of dialoguing and non judgemental exploration - at least then people will be better equipped to have the right conversations. I just don't think we can remove 'personal skill' or 'personal integrity' from this equation and these personal attributes relate to employees as well as managers.

Submitted by: Scott Constantine Date: 5/19/2008 10:04:33 PM

RE: Article 8. Employee Engagement: Is this the right place for me?

Scott, an interesting article but it is very broad and I don't know what's my fit. Please give to me some examples to help me understand what you mean.

Submitted by: Elke Steiner Date: 5/20/2008 11:08:42 PM

RE: Article 8. Employee Engagement: Is this the right place for me?

Dear Elke, here is an example of one type of fit issue I'm referring to. Example 1: A person (Person 1) is really passionate about their area of expertise, for example data analysis, teaching or team leadership. They really believe in the type of work they do and see that it is capable of adding great value. At the same time they do not agree with the organisation’s direction or philosophies, maybe they do not even like what the organisation is trying to achieve. In this instance there are a number of factors that affect meaningfulness. The person is doing the right sort of job and believes it is a very worthwhile endeavour – this provides a level of meaningfulness. On the other hand their dissenting views about the organisation’s direction or philosophies mean that they also see their efforts wasted or even used for the wrong purposes – this reduces meaningfulness and the two competing factors cancel each other and the result in a moderate or even low level of meaningfulness (which in turn affects engagement). Worse still, it could even lead to them thinking that their good skills and attributes are being misused. Yet another person (Person 2) in exactly the same scenario might really agree with the organisation’s direction or philosophy and believe that it is very worthwhile, this combined with their view that the job itself is really worthwhile will lead to a much higher level of meaningfulness. If Person 2 then also recognised or rewarded for their contribution, they conclude that they must be valued and valuable which in turn leads to a very high level of meaningfulness, and subsequently a big positive impact on engagement. In this example Person 1 is in the right job but probably in the wrong organisation. They may have the right skill, competencies and experience, and may be performing reasonably well at their job. Are they likely to be happy in this organisation or really passionate about being in this organisation? Are they likely to be actively engaged in helping the organisation achieve its goals? My bet is NO they won’t be. In this instance there is a mismatch between Person 1 and the organisation and this is to do with core values or philosophies. This will affect the person’s sense of value, which will affect meaningfulness and in turn, engagement. It’s possible that neither party is “wrong” it’s just that there is a mismatch which is ultimately going to affect engagement levels and probably the employee’s quality of work-life or even wellbeing. Thanks for your question, I have started writing an article which will also provide some other examples to help make this subject a bit clearer for everyone.

Submitted by: Scott Constantine Date: 5/21/2008