When you think of that word engagement, what comes to mind? When you think about all those interactions that you have with people, even as a consumer, you know the difference when someone is engaged. You know what it feels like, you know when they go above and beyond, you know when they meet and exceed expectations that you have. So what brings engagement? We all know, when we think about the environments that we are in every day, whether we are a leader, or manager or an employee, what that engagement means to us. Everybody has different and varying levels of engagement and what that definition means. But we really need to think about what does that means from a whole level and all of our responsibility towards that.
From an organisational perspective, there are all these videos and books and everything out about engagement, and really thinking about the impact that an engaged employee or engaged workforce has, which is really about more productivity, less [staff] turnover, happier people, and at the end of the day happier customers for everyone.
And so we all want that in our own way, we all want that as consumers, we all want that as employees. there are many different ways that we do want that. So we really have to think about our role in that. And so we look at all those different pieces and we think about leadership and we think about organisations, but first we have to think about building that culture of what does it mean to be engaged, and what does it mean to walk in the doors or work at this company, and what does it feel like.
When we are a manager we have to think about the different things that we do in a management structure. Are we giving feedback and do we even want to be a manager? I think that’s the biggest thing for a manager to think about: “why am I here in this role? And I have a responsibility of doing something?” But are you really engaged as a manager?
So when you think about that management role, I think that something that’s critically important to think about as a manager is your responsibility to think about what you give to your people every day. The organisation creates the support and the structure but the organisation as a whole those leaders can’t touch every employee. That manager and supervisor role is so critical because we take the communication down from the big picture, down to each individual. That’s the only way engagement can be done.
So that role is critical. First, that leader devising the vision and creating the environment, then managers creating the local culture with each group of people.
That is so critical, but managers have to think, “is that what I want to do?” Employees, every time you walk in that door what are you here for? What are you here to do? We all want everything when we are consumers, but are we giving our best? Are we giving our all as individuals to what we do every day?
Are we engaged and making every interaction positive? I always say every interaction has three things: it’s either positive, negative or neutral. and if you do your best to create a positive image every day of yourself, can that happen?
Can you really think about “I’m the one that can make that happen? Or do I not have the right manager? Or do I not have the right leader? Or am I really in the right role?”
Those are big questions for all of us. We all have responsibility to think about our society today. We really have some challenges in our society when we think about it. We have a large part of our population that is actively disengaged and when we think about that there are many of us in the work environment that aren’t happy, but whose responsibility is that? That’s ours. So we think about our society today and what we all want. We also have to think about what we are all giving and that is critical.
Our society needs to be more engaged. we have too many addictions, we drink too much, we eat too much, we spend too much money, we have too many divorces, too many challenges with families, all of that because we spend 75 per cent of our life at work. And for many of us that life isn’t the greatest. I can’t say that for me.
“I love what I do but it’s because I have taken some time to think about it. And there are lots of you who have and are really focused on that but it takes all of us to work together to think about what engagement means because we all want to make the best for ourselves, for our families, and at the end of the day for everyone.
“I want you to think about what engagement means to you, and second, what are you doing every day to show up engaged.
• Lori Stohs is a human capital consultant, facilitator and coach from Nebraska, United States. She will be the guest speaker at the Barbados’ Best Employers (BBE) 2016 Awards Luncheon at Hilton Barbados on June 21 and a breakfast seminar the following day.
