Employee Engagement – "it’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine"

If there is one concept or theme that I am encountering over and over again with clients and perspective customers, it’s the idea of Employee Commitment.

At its core Employee Commitment is about gaining the hearts and minds of every person in the organisation so that there is “an environment where people feel motivated, appreciated and fulfilled.” The return for teams and companies is that they get more productive, more innovative and more adaptable employees.

In these times of zero promotional opportunities and pay cuts, it is even more of an imperative, as a leader, that you make sure your employees are not just turning up but are also turned on.

The good news is that pay rises and bonuses are not required to gain this level of commitment. The bad news is it takes time, focus, energy, patience and role modeling

But how do you go about building and retaining employee commitment?

For now, let me just list out a series of steps and initiatives that I have successfully used or witnessed within my clients – I will use subsequent blog postings to explain each in more detail:

- Creating the Vision, and then getting the management team behind it.

- Measure, Measure, Measure employee satisfaction

- Finding out peoples strengths and passions and leveraging these in their jobs

- “Inverting the pyramid” - supporting people to successfully drive initiatives

- Building the Dashbaord – you get what you measure

- Skip level meetings – “hearing and listening are not the same”

- Communicate, Communicate, communicate and …..communicate.

Finally, all this talk about employee engagement got me thinking about the work I do for clients – coaching leaders and high potentials, working with teams, delivering training and helping drive cultural change.

And it struck me – all the work I do is about one thing – its all about Employee Commitment.

Let me know your thoughts, questions or insults.

Colm

"Reassurance, Confidence and Belief"

• I am running a coaching session with K, a young dynamic client of mine. K is leading a large sales team which are in the last month of their financial year. Targets are being chased, clients are nervous about committing to deals in this economic environment and K has also been up to his neck in planning for the new financial year.
  
  I ask K “With four weeks to go to year end, what do you need to be focusing on as a leader of this team?”
  
  K pauses for a few seconds and says “The next four weeks are about me providing the team with Reassurance, Confidence and Belief! Reassurance, Confidence and Belief”
  
  “You have obviously thought about this cause that is a heck of a leadership answer”
  
  “ No. Those words have just come to me. Have been thinking about it but only in answering your question has it become so clear!”
  
  In asking K to explain more about “Reassurance, Confidence and Belief” he outlines the following:
  
  - Reassurance – to communicate to the team what next year will look like so that they are reassured that they have a role in next year and to stop them inventing a dooms day scenario. Remove this distraction so the can focus on closing deals now.
  
  - Confidence – in one to one and team interactions, to keep reinforcing their skills and abilities and the quality of the products so that they know we can close the year strongly.
  
  - Belief – to reinforce that we can get through this tough environment now and in the next financial year .Help them belief in the company, the solutions, the plan, in each other and in themselves.
  
  I cannot think of a more powerful mantra for every leader - in politics, in business, in the community – ensure you provide those you lead with Reassurance, Confidence and Belief
  
  Colm

Captain's Log # 1

As this is my first entry on my blog I would like to provide a brief intro to myself and let you know the kind of things I will be writing about on a weekly basis.

I am a business coach and trainer who, after 15 years in multinationals, went solo in June 08 and started my own business, Dynamic Leadership Development. (http://www.dynamicleadership.ie/)

Starting a business, focused on winning learning and development work from corporations, just as we enter global recession says a lot about my sense of timing. My wife would add that seeing me dance would equally tell you about my timing.

Born and living in Dublin, Ireland, I am a 1 and quarter years away from being 40 and a lifetime away from a respectable golf score.

I plan to use my weekly blog entry to share, discuss and reflect on what I am seeing, hearing and reading about in terms of:

-Leadership Development

-Team Performance

-Business Coaching

-Employee Commitment

Hopefully these key areas will still give me scope to touch upon and incorporate some key personal interests – so expect to see, under any of the headings, references to world politics, history, sport, raising three boys, being a husband, and lots of relevant and irrelevant lyrics from Dylan, Earle, Springsteen & Young (now there is a supergroup!) and many more.

Let me know what you are thinking as you read my entries and..... welcome to my life.

Colm