Employee engagement and employee advocacy continually come up in our conversations with business leaders; let’s face it ‘’Employee Engagement’ is trendy and a bit of a buzz phrase. With the increased use of specific platforms for measuring engagement and the advertised “big wins”, they’re right to be interested.

Engagement in the workplace is nothing new, if you’re supporting the basic needs of your employees (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 1950s) and working to improve the way people feel about their place of work, this will substantially affect their performance and as such, the performance of the organisation.

In a meeting last year, the topic of engagement came up, the businesses HR Manager had been instructed by the CEO to run an employee engagement survey and drive engagement as a key focus area. We were asked to come in to consult on the project ensuring they deliver on expectations, discuss the project plan and agree next steps.

Their main question…Is it as simple as sending out a survey and getting people to complete it?

Engagement is a long term journey! Whilst it may be made up of simple concepts (a yearly survey may be part of this) we’re talking about a conscious change to behaviours. A potentially massive change programme which isn’t just about process or operations, it’s about the whole culture of the business and the way decisions are made.

Are the business and the business leaders ready to make significant change?

Consider the following points:

1. How is HR represented on the Board?
2. How is the business held accountable for decisions made by the Board? (and what will the impact on culture be?)
3. How will you drive engagement with the management team?
4. What roles do your employees have?

Having accountability for decisions made will help you limit the unintended consequences of decisions that could negatively impact business culture and engagement.

Driving organisational change from the top needs to be a conscious choice and can challenge even the strongest leadership team. The sheer slog of making the right decisions, that affect your people every day, can be a challenge.

Focusing on employee engagement can provide huge wins with business performance, employee advocacy and longer term cultural evolution!

Want to know more about driving employee engagement in your business? – Visit our page on Employee Engagement Communications for more information.

Last Updated on 4 years by Gary Parsons

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