An article by our partner Michael Zroback

“What does an engaged workplace look like? It’s an interesting question. If you walked into an unfamiliar workplace, would you be able to ascertain within a short time whether or not the employees were engaged employees? What clues would you look for? How would you know?

Firstly, you could just listen…. and hear the sounds of the workplace. Do you hear a busy ‘hum’ – the muted sounds of busyness, of employees conferring with one another as they go about their work, sounds that have a serious tone, yet are friendly, helpful and encouraging all at the same time?

What if you were to speak to a few of them about their organization’s vision, mission and values? What would you learn? Firstly, you would know whether or not they actually knew what those things were. Perhaps that would not tell you much about the workers, though. I mean, anyone can memorize their company’s vision, mission and values and parrot them back to upon request. You would need to probe further. Ask them whether or not, and in what ways, these concepts had inspired them, had informed their work, had shaped their attitudes toward the company and see what they answered.

Only the truly engaged employees will tell you how these concepts had fired their imagination, had drawn them to this particular company, had made them feel a part of something bigger than themselves, and had brought out the best in them.

And if you were to speak to them further and ask about what they were working on at the moment, what they hoped to accomplish this year and possible the next one, what would be their response? A truly engaged employee would tell you about his/her current and future projects and how they contribute to his/her department’s deliverables and to the company’s overall initiatives. If you pressed him/her further, s/he would describe the many tasks involved in accomplishing each goal and the deadlines involved as well as the frequent meetings s/he has with his/her manager. And s/he would describe those meetings as supportive and helpful.

S/he thinks these frequent meetings are a tremendous improvement on the yearly ‘performance reviews’ s/he had at his/her previous company. Every month (or sometimes two), s/he knows what her manager thinks of her performance and what s/he needs to do to improve. What a difference from his/her previous company. In fact, s/he often wonders why every company doesn’t do this!

As s/he warmed to the conversation with you, s/he would also mention that s/he and the manager are planning develop her skills further to prepare for a position in the future, one that s/he finds exciting, one that will enable him/her to make an even greater contribution to the organization’s goals than his/her current job. In the meantime, s/he is able to shape the current job to take advantage of her interests and strengths, S/he and her manager call it ‘job crafting’ and it keeps him/her even more motivated to do a great job and to stay with the organization.

The one thing s/he cannot tell you is how all this came about. S/he cannot tell you that this workplace was not always this way. It was like many other workplaces until the CEO decided it was time for a change. If his company were going to be competitive in its business sector, it had to do something to improve its ability to compete. After examining his options, he decided that the best choice was to improve Employee Engagement because his research showed him that employee engagement influences everything. As engagement increases, a lot of really good things begin to happen and a lot of bad things stop happening. For example there is:

  • increased profitability
  • increased productivity
  • increased team collaboration
  • improving quality
  • improved employee performance
  • increased team collaboration
  • employee retention strategies
  • improved work environment
  • reduced absenteeism
  • reduced employee turnover
  • accidents decrease
  • complaints/grievances decrease

It was a ‘no-brainer’!

Michael Zroback”

Light a Fire Inside Employees Instead of Trying to Light a Fire Underneath Them!

Interested in learning more? Contact us:

The Momentum Group | jschneid@sympatico.ca | (416) 638-2050

Michael Zroback and Associates | mzroback@primus.ca | (647) 444-3502

Engaged2Perform | dbrown@engaged2perform.ca | (519) 656-1066