Best practices?

[David Zinger]

What do you believe the best practices are in engagement?

[Brent Shaw]

A few of beliefs that I've gained over the years with engagement:

1. While there are numerous factors that drive engagement levels, the 1st line manager is the most important.
2. When employees see action being taken on engagement survey results, it has a positive impact on their engagement. This means the frequency of any survey effort should be based on how quickly action can be taken. Don't conduct another survey if nothing has been done yet with the last one.
3. Engagement begets engagement. In other words, if you haven't engaged your leaders, don't expect them to engage employees.

[Judy McLeish]

To add to Brent's comments:

I believe that it is essential that the company translates the stated customer experience inside. Employees must feel that they too are important assets that are valued and appreciated.

[Courtney I]

This advice is going to sound hackneyed, but here we go...

I think a best practice in every industry would be effective communication. It does not mean MORE communication (Lord knows we have enough information coming at us from every angle), but should contain all these components.

Thoughtful communication: the message leaves out extraneous information and includes all the important pieces. It flows well, and is proactively sensitive to the concerns of the company, customers, and the workers.

Honest communication: This should go without saying, but nothing destroys engagement like dishonest communication.

Timed well: the message is delivered as soon as it is solidified, but not before (so no "waffling"). Continually uninformed communication can be almost as bad as dishonest communication.

A consistent message: You can ask anyone from the CEO to your direct manager to the janitor of the company, and all will repeat the same themes of the message. Communication filters down from the top.

Confident and positive communication: The message does not leave coworkers whispering to one another over their cubicles, wondering what you meant or complaining about minor aspects of your plan, because you were positive and confident. Even negative messages can be delivered with confidence...your folks may not feel great about the message but at least they will not be confused about it.

Yeah, easy enough to say, right??

Communication may not be the end-all of engagement but I feel companies CANNOT be engaged without it. Also might be nice for companies to communicate like this with their customers!

[Catherine Harwood]

I believe that engagement starts with purpose, a reason to get up in the morning and get out there and do your thing. In an organisational context, this means creating a vision that provides meaning for everyone involved so that everyone has a sense of how their role is an essential part of the whole, regardless of their position in the business.
Successful organisations of the future will find a balance between delivering value to their customers, and building an internal culture where people can thrive and contribute to their full potential. This means flatter structures, authentic leadership, and great ideas arising from anywhere in the system.

[Andrea Vienet]

I think that it is important to understand within your company - what are the key drivers of engagement? There are some common ones (like career development) but we shouldn't assume that they'll be the same everywhere. To then be able to target programs of work around those drivers ensures that HR remains relevant to the rest of the business.

[Zane Safrit]

Honesty, humility, sustain the ear-to-mouth ratio (listen twice as much as I talk), accountability, consistency, transparency (no secrets, no silos, no favorites), use a wiki to keep the communication open and documented, get comfortable admitting mistakes, regularity (it's a daily, even hourly, habit that builds momentum), patience, decisiveness (move quickly to remove obstacles to engagement), be adaptable (what works for one person/company/day...doesn't for the other.) and most important...humor ( Keep laughing. You're going to have fun...always, eventually).

[Tara Burton]

I think that informing leaders of the role they play in faciliating the engagement of their employees is first and foremost. Most leaders do not understand that it's the little things that count. Such as telling your employees that they did a good job (sending them a 'bravo' email), or asking them what they think about a certain project - involving them as much as possible. And also giving them ample opportunities to learn formally and informally. Employees will reciprocate such learning opportunities in terms of greater motivation to succeed and greater effort toward their work. Lunch-and-learns are also a great way to bring people together to learn in a fun environment. These are just some things.

[Ken Krings]

I just launched a Manager Toolkit to drive engagement between managers and their employees to 4000 world wide managers across Yahoo. There are six booklets and I'm starting to get very positive results from our managers. The small easy to read fold out boolklets cover six topic areas: Have you Checked in Lately ( Manager Self Assessment, Have You Shown Appreciation Lately ( easy ways to recognize your employees), Have you Energized Your Yahoo's Lately ( inspiring your employees), Have You Developed A Yahoo's Career Lately ( career development tools), Have You Strengthened A Team Lately? ( ideas and tips to make teams stronger), and finally Have You Welcomed New Yahoo's Lately ( onboarding new hires)....... I am now working on an employee toolkit to reverse the messaging so we can drive engagment from the top down and bottom up.

[John Nicholls]

One of the ways which is often overlooked is the induction process. To engage staff when they first join an organisation is crucial yet often that induction is sterile and mechanical. It is at induction that staff should meet the colleagues they will have key relationships with and have time to make a personal as well as professional connection. Time should also be given to developing enthusiasm for the role and its purpose - rather than a quick slide about the companies mission statement. I also believe each cohort of new staff should have access to regular meetings and training which can meet their shared needs and give them collective social support.

[Derek Irvine]

Adding to a couple thoughts already posted by others -- make sure employees know how the are working WITH your company, not just FOR it. It is absolutely critical that every employee understands how his or her direct actions and behaviors help the company achieve its strategic objectives. Now more than every, leaders need every employee concentrating their efforts in such a way. One of the best (and certainly the most positive) way of reinforcing those objectives and how a specific behavior helps achieve it is to recognize an employee when they do so and specifically call out why it is important.