Remember The Good Old Days

[Mike Healy]

I often ask people to recollect from their lives those events or circumstances which made them happiest. Having pondered the question for a while, more often than not people recall the feeling of joy, pride, love or acknowledgement created through interaction with another person(s) ( children, partner , friends, colleagues) whether it be a wedding, graduation or holiday. They rarely mention a new car, house or an acquisition of some kind.

It strikes me then that the true test of what will get us engaged will be those things that stay in our memories for a while.

What will live on in your memory about the most engaged times you had at work? What memories are you building for the future right now? What memories are you helping others build?

[Terrence Seamon]

Mike,
You have a unique way of looking at employee engagement.

I was at a conference yesterday (the 10th annual New Jersey Organization Development Sharing Day) where one of the speakers, author and consultant Geoff (The Consultant's Calling) Bellman, spoke about this topic.

He asked us to think about a time when we were part of a group that accomplished something that we recall favorably. It could be a work group or a non work group such as a family, or a ball team, or a string quartet. Further, he asked us to distill from that memory, some of the factors that contributed to that successful group outcome. He then asked us to share those factors as three bullet points.

Mine were:

- Trust
- Collaboration
- Risk taking

He then further challenged our thinking, to peel the onion back further than we ever tend to go, to try and delve deeper into why we as humans form into groups, why we work together, and what it all means to us.

Fascinating OD stuff.

Terry

[Mike Healy]

Thanks Terrry.

I guess what I try to do is look at the subject a little differently but I am clearly not alone.

A fresh perspective can be useful, but it can also be a pain in the neck for those embroiled in trying to actually implement change. They need to stop , think, reconsider and question whether any new perspective supports or flies in the face of the activities they are undertaking.

However, I think it is always useful to keep testing and re-examining why we are following a particular path so that we don't just follow a routine or habit.

I completely agree........it is fascinating stuff

Mike

[tasneem hameed]

we created a ducumentary comprising impressions/thoughts and small stories of our employees havig longest service with the company regarding the happenings of our earliest days so as to let know latter employees about our historical evolution and how we developed from scratch to our present.together with the above we prduced our companys anthem written and sung by our employees as an intrument of engagement of both old and new employees.

[Mike Healy]

Hi Tasneem

A documentary sounds like a great way of recording the views of the founders and early pioneers in an organisation. Recording the dreams, hopes and aspirations is an effective way of sharing these with others. If your people are happy to sing the company anthem this suggests there is high engagement.

I notice a lot of brands have referred to the early history and development of the brand to encourage customers to buy, so I can understand the effect of sharing the history of the company on employees.

I am sure many of your employees will look back and remember their experiences in your company as being good ones, which would suggest they were engaged.

Thanks for sharing this with us.