What books are you currently reading that discuss employee engagement?

[David Zinger]

I am very interested in books on employee engagement or related topics. What are you reading? Do you want to start a discussion on a specific book? Do you have a recommendation?

[Art Bingham]

I'm so pleased to see others mentioning "The Dream Manager" by Matthew Kelly. I think it's a great book and love the concept. When I've mentioned it at work, however, the response is usually one of cynicism. So, it's great to learn that I'm not alone in enjoying it.

Although it wasn't written specifically about employee engagement, I think that Don Beck's "Spiral Dynamics" adds insight into what motivates people and can shed light on what "would" keep them engaged (depending on their meme).

[Loretta Donovan]

Art -

The Dream Manager may be receiving cynical responses among your co-workers because they are reacting to Matthew Kelly and haven't read the book. I recently attended a lecture he gave at our church. I have the book and think it can leverage conversations about motivation and engagement. Kelly certainly falls in the category of motivational speaker - not expert consultant. With no formal background and using his own enlightenment, he launched his writing and speaking career. People, who are used to business books from management gurus in HR or OD, may find the book a useful addition to their library. As far as what Kelly has to offer beyond this, I'll take a pass.

[George Reavis]

I really enjoyed "Quiet Leadership" by David Rock. A review is on my blog here on the Network. You can find a link to a podcast at CEORead where the author discusses the subject. There is also a link to one of Strategy + Business magazines most popular articles on Neuroscience in leadership which David co-authored.

Since the book has come out there have been a number of conferences and a website created devoted to a new discipline called "NeuroLeadership"

[Susan Stamm]

I just finished reading "Love'Em or Lose"Em: 26 Engagement Strategies for Busy Managers" by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans. The book was fun to read and filled with great resources. I interviewed the authors last week on Bookends, a monthly meet-the-author podcast...if you want to listen here is a link: http://teamapproach.com/bookends/lovelose.asp

[John Kmiec]

The Savvy Manager: 5 Skills That Drive Optimal Performance
By Jane R. Flagello and Sandra Bernard Dugas
ISBN: 978-1-56286-532-0
Publisher: ASTD Press

This book is all about the people side of performance. The concepts and principles are extremely practical, firmly grounded in research, and presented in a clear and concise manner. At the same time, the authors offer plenty of opportunities to practice the five skills and to reflect on lessons learned. It's like having your own personal coach. This should be required reading for all managers interested in furthering their leadership skills in ways that enhance interpersonal communications, build trust in relationships, and engage people in ways that foster ever higher levels of performance, on and off the job. The best part is that by the time you reach the end of the book, you may find that you have become your own personal coach in the five skills, and will continue to grow with it.

[Phil Gerbyshak]

I had to pick just 1 book to recommend, it would be Pat Lencioni's 3 Signs of a Miserable Job, for it offers 3 real things you can use to engage your team more.

The 3 things are:

• Immeasurability - Not measuring the right things
• Irrelevance - not tying goals to making a real impact on people
• Anonymity - not being know for anything other than what your job role entails It's written in fable form, and it's definitely worth a read.

I wrote a little more about this great book in an article here if you want to learn more about it.

[Susan Stamm]

David, I just finished "Community: The Structure of Belonging" by Peter Block. An amazing book with very interesting ideas about leadership, context, and the restoration of teams and communities. I will be interviewing Peter Block next week on Bookends- and walking through this book with him. All are invited, attendance is free, but requires registration. Here is a link:http://www.teamapproach.com/bookends.htm

[Anja Schuetz]

I have only just started to read Sephen R. Covey's "The 8th habit" but I'm already using quotes and ideas from the book in my work! The book is about "Finding your voice and inspiring others to find theirs" and about seeing employees as "holistic persons" and not just workers.

On page 3 he gives statistics about how many of the staff in an organization have a clear understanding of the organization's goals, how many are enthusiastic about them, how many feel trusted, how many have cooperative working relationships with their colleagues/other departments etc. and he drives his point home with this metaphor:

"If, say, a soccer team had these same scores, only four of the eleven players on the field would know which goal is theirs. Only two of the eleven would care. Only two of the eleven would know what position they play and know exactly what they are supposed to do. And all but two players would, in some way, be competing against their own team members rather than the opponent."

I am hooked to that book!
Anja :)

[Peter A Hunter]

The majority of books about engagement concern themselves with what we must do to engage people, as if engagement was a thing that we as managers choose to bestow on our workforces.

Being engaged is the natural human condition, we don't do things that we have no interest in.
When we start a new job we are engaged because we have made a choice about how we want to spend our time while we earn money.

We want to be engaged but we become disengaged because of what happens to us at work,

Engaging the workforce is not about finding the magic button to push that will engage them, it is about finding out what it is that we did to them that disengaged them.

Alfie Kohn in his book "Punished by Rewards" identifies the reward or incentive scheme as one of the major contributors to disengagement.
His book and his logic are brilliant.
There is a review at http://www.breakingthemould.co.uk/?q=Punished%20By%20Rewards

Peter A Hunter
www.breakingthemould.co.uk

[Robert Morris]

I have just read Jason Jennings’ most recently published book, Hit the Ground Running: A Manual for New Leaders. The CEOs featured all demonstrate a total understanding of how to get most of those in their workforce actively and productively engaged. Obviously, few business books focus specifically on employee engagement and fewer yet include the term “employee engagement” in their title or subtitle. In fact, some of the best books on the subject at no time invoke the term. Fort example, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. I urge all EEN members to check out the aforementioned Jennings book. Here’s a brief excerpt from my review of it for Amazon.

“The the focus in this book is primarily on the first-year performance of nine CEOs: Patrick Hassey (Allegheny Technologies), Marshall Larsen (BF Goodrich), Frederick Eppinger (The Hanover Group), Howard Lance (Harris Corporation), Jeffrey Lorberbaum (Mohawk Industries), Ronald Sargent (Staples), Keith Rattie (Questar), Mike McCallister (Humana Inc.)… my opinion, one of Jennings' most important points is indicated when he discusses how and why high-performance leaders (including the exemplary CEOs) view themselves as stewards. Their decisions are guided and informed by the Golden Rule or an equivalent thereof, they are authentic and humble, their ego is so healthy they do not hesitate to acknowledge their own limitations and ask others for assistance, they are purposeful listeners, they surround themselves with as many talented people as possible, they empower others to lead and sincerely and enthusiastically delighted by their success, they focus on what is most important now and will continue to be important in the future, they trust but verify, they never preserve their neutrality in a moral crisis, they are allergic to waste, (as Einstein suggests) they make everything as simple as possible...but no simpler, they always set an example for personal accountability, (invoking a football term) they "move the chains" toward each objective, they cultivate and sustain "a fierce sense of urgency," and they follow what Bill George characterizes as their own True North. As George explains, it is "the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you, your most cherished values, your passions and motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership."

[Robert Morris]

I have just read Jason Jennings’ most recently published book, Hit the Ground Running: A Manual for New Leaders. The CEOs featured all demonstrate a total understanding of how to get most of those in their workforce actively and productively engaged. Obviously, few business books focus specifically on employee engagement and fewer yet include the term “employee engagement” in their title or subtitle. In fact, some of the best books on the subject at no time invoke the term. For example, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. I urge all EEN members to check out that book as well as the aforementioned Jennings book. Here’s a brief excerpt from my review of Hit the Ground Running for Amazon.

“The the focus in this book is primarily on the first-year performance of nine CEOs: Patrick Hassey (Allegheny Technologies), Marshall Larsen (BF Goodrich), Frederick Eppinger (The Hanover Group), Howard Lance (Harris Corporation), Jeffrey Lorberbaum (Mohawk Industries), Ronald Sargent (Staples), Keith Rattie (Questar), Mike McCallister (Humana Inc.)… my opinion, one of Jennings' most important points is indicated when he discusses how and why high-performance leaders (including the exemplary CEOs) view themselves as stewards. Their decisions are guided and informed by the Golden Rule or an equivalent thereof, they are authentic and humble, their ego is so healthy they do not hesitate to acknowledge their own limitations and ask others for assistance, they are purposeful listeners, they surround themselves with as many talented people as possible, they empower others to lead and sincerely and enthusiastically delighted by their success, they focus on what is most important now and will continue to be important in the future, they trust but verify, they never preserve their neutrality in a moral crisis, they are allergic to waste, (as Einstein suggests) they make everything as simple as possible...but no simpler, they always set an example for personal accountability, (invoking a football term) they "move the chains" toward each objective, they cultivate and sustain "a fierce sense of urgency," and they follow what Bill George characterizes as their own True North. As George explains, it is "the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you, your most cherished values, your passions and motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership."

[aaron]

ready set engage is a great book even has corresponding stuff on line