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Criticaleye, the UK’s Business Leaders network, approached our Chairperson Laura Haynes, about how to define what employee engagement is and what is the best way to create it.
CE: What does employee engagement mean to you?
LH: If you look at your strategy through your people, can you be certain that your people all have a clear and consistent view of what your organisation stands for? Do they have shared values that are relevant to each of their roles and do they work and behave in a way that will support and add value to your organisation’s goals, ambitions and commitments?
We’ve noticed a growing awareness of the need for new thinking (and acting) about culture. Internally, in moving from “the way things are done around here” to bringing people together around common purpose and a set of values that help create connections and foster a sense of ownership and commitment, delivering value.
But the route to a better brand culture also requires leadership and innovative strategies, tailored and relevant to the organisation. It helps to rapidly drive change largely because the process of review and involvement creates a renewed energy, ambition and a greater sense of direction.
The key to success always lies in your people, and the chief task is to unlock unique and compelling reasons with which they can support and connect. Of course, this is not easy, not least because of a level of cynicism and resistance, which exists in all organizations. Reaching out and involving even the most hardened objectors is important and often requires expertise, tools and techniques to successfully harness a cultural opportunity.
CE: Where do executive teams tend to go wrong and lose touch with / alienate employees?
LH: By missing the opportunity of co-opting and engaging at an early stage and throughout the process. Putting distance between boardroom and shop floor in areas where it need not exist. Of course senior management is responsible for corporate vision, strategy and direction, but this does not mean that employees at all level should not contribute to the thinking or at least understanding of the values, culture and behaviour of the organization.
When people participate in the co-creation/articulation of values, purpose, proposition, they get it. If they get it, it will stay with them. People cannot unlearn what they have learned. By placing some of the responsibility for authoring a cultural framework within the wider employees spectrum, execs can ensure that a sustainable culture is created. One that is meaningful because it is owned by employees.
Real leadership is about leading from within, encouraging contribution and seeking consultation/ validation of the executive strategy for all employees. When employees are presented a fait accompli, it undermines their pursuit for a meaningful purpose and under-values their role within the organisation. Fulfilling the need for self-worth is a crucial element of the development of a successful brand culture.
Too little is made of cognitive science when communicating to employees. The goal is to achieve a state of intrinsic motivation (e.g. “I want to do this”). Telling is about information, not achieve engagement. Instead, we need take employees through the gates of understanding, making a connection that leads to lasting commitment. This can be achieved through an effective and ongoing process of investigation, definition, validation and embedding, coupled with unique, creative and meaningful communications.
CE: What have you found to be effective in terms of engagement and motivation?
LH: It is important that your people, wherever they are, buy into a common set of standards based on integrity and delivering recognised behaviour. The key to a healthy and successful modern business largely lies in its people and their commitment to better business practices, integrity and their contribution to communities and social welfare. It’s not about one or the other. It’s about all of these things.
There’s a movement towards ‘doing better business together’, from competition to cooperation, from individuals to groups. The psyche of today’s employees is moving from being ‘consumer’s’ to being ‘citizens’ and their motivations are changing accordingly. It is not just about thinking more sustainably in terms of the impact their business has on its community and the environment, people are first and foremost concerned about other people.
Successful engagement occurs when the business aligns with a greater sense of humanity, injecting some ‘love’ and ‘purpose’ back into the business. We’ve come a long way towards thinking of employees as human beings not just cogs in the wheel of commerce, but there is still a long way to go. Focusing on these ideas, engages and motivates people to take action and make a difference.
Modern brands are increasingly concerned with the social impact – and value – that they create. At the heart of this value is how the organisation does business. Cultural legacies, for good or ill, are notoriously varied, which poses a corporate reputation risk. In developing clear and relevant integrity guidelines, you can grow whilst addressing these challenges, rather than having to deal with the consequences after the event.
CE: What advice would you give to a new CEO who has to make significant strategic and operational changes to a business?
LH: The need for CEOs to positively report on high levels of employee engagement to the investment community is increasing, and the spotlight is clearly shining on governance and how directors respond to and manage change. Change initiatives always fail if organisations attempt to install rather than evolve them.
Those that work, work because they’re collaborative.
They require the development and implementation of programmes that:
– Start by engaging people in group and self-directed ways
– Build widespread commitment to the vision by nurturing organisations as communities of shared purpose
– Create a broad (but integrated) range of talent and engagement initiatives that enable and energise their people to deliver against the vision
– Encourage a sense of collaboration, appreciation of different points of view, working styles, and national cultures, and helps to build relationships within a company that are strong enough to transcend difference.
To see the full Critical Eye article on employee engagement please go to