No matter the state of the economy, technological
and global developments, or the competitiveness of the business climate,
staying committed to investing in your employees remains crucial for surviving
and thriving your business. Keeping your workforce inspired, motivated, and
engaged is one step in this process.
Numerous studies such as the Gallup Engagement
Survey of October 2011 show that only about 30 percent of employees are
actually engaged at work. I am sure you can picture some of the many consequences
of non-engaged or, even worse, the effects of actively disengaged employees.
Many managers, business owners, and corporate
executives know from experience how difficult it can be to consistently inspire
and engage the workforce so that they are willing to give the organization
their best and more. The variety of motivations and inspirations of employees
complicates this task even more. No two employees come to work for the exact
same reasons. One employee might be looking for stability and a good life-work
balance while someone else is mainly focused on an international career and yet
another teammate is working towards quick upward movement, which in itself can
be driven by different motivations.
Engagement, however, is not the only step. A recent
research by Towers Watson, a leading global company that helps organizations
improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management, reveals
that to generate a climate where employees contribute at a consistently high
level of their capacity, you need more that just engagement. They refer to this as the “three E’s: engagement, enablement, and employee well-being. Engagement
refers to the commitment of an employee to give it their all and go above and
beyond in their job. Enablement provides the tools and resources necessary to
excel in the job. This is what is often referred to as ‘leaders need to create
the environment and conditions for success’.
Emotional and physical well-being is the third of the three E’s and
refers to a state of emotional and physical wellness, and, as Towers Watson
describes it, “The belief that senior management genuinely cares about their
employees.”
I am sure it makes a lot of sense to invest in increasing
an employee’s willingness to succeed and excel as well as the necessary tools
and equipment combined with a ‘well state’ to deliver that high level of
performance, personally and in collaboration with others. Neglect in any of
these three areas will decrease any positive effects created in the other two
areas. With the three E’s being clear, what is it that mostly needs attention
to increase engagement, enablement, and emotional and physical well-being of
employees? I suggest four focus areas:
1. Creativity
- IBM’s 2010 Global CEO Study, which surveyed more than 1,500 chief executive
officers from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide, concluded that
creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in
business. It stated that creativity even outweighs competencies such as
integrity and global thinking. The CEOs told IBM that today’s business
environment is volatile, uncertain and increasingly complex. Because of this,
the ability to create something that’s both novel and appropriate is top of
mind. So the advice is to create the conditions for employees to
strengthen their creative thinking capacity. This enables your people to see
beyond limitations and to approach problems and their solutions in more diverse
ways. One plus one is not necessarily three. One plus one could easily be Q or
B. There are good programs for increasing the creative beliefs, thinking patterns,
and skills of people and a great book on the topic is Imagine – How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer (2012).
2. Diversity
- Make “thinking different hats and different perspectives” as well as thinking
in terms of ‘and’ rather than ‘either-or’ the norm, with everyone in a leading
capacity an active role model. This
increases the likelihood that employees use their integrative thinking skills
and that they continue to learn and grow and
see the benefit of working with people who view the world and the business
differently and thus approach everyday situations and challenges in different
ways than they do. Adopt an outsider’s perspective and the world and it’s personal
and business challenges might look quite differently from before. Two great
books on this topic are The Third
Alternative by Stephen Covey (2011) and The
Opposable Mind by Roger Martin (2009).
3. Emotional
Intelligence - Provide group and individual coaching to increase emotional
intelligence of every single employee. An employee’s awareness of himself and of
others as well as interpersonal skills and
skills to manage himself are crucial for personal effectiveness and for effective
collaboration. A great book on this topic is Primal Leadership by Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) or other
books by Goleman.
4. To top
it all off, the easy but frequently neglected one: genuine and frequent praise
and encouragement is often the thing that motivates us the most. It takes little
time once you know your people, their circumstances and their motivations, and it
costs nothing. So managers, leaders, CEOs and supervisors, let’s get on with
this easy and free give-away that means so much to your people.
My focus on these four areas does not imply that factors
such as a sense of belonging or following a compelling mission and purpose are
not important. I believe the above four factors, however, to be much discussed
but often little understood and even less acted upon. What are you going to
discuss, decide, and implement in order to improve engagement, enablement, and emotional
and physical well-being of yourself and your employees?
