20 / 20 Big Targets

[Craig Althof]

I’ve ranted several times elsewhere about the need to get our hands on the essentials, the high-impact levers that will best help us reach the 20/20 Promised Land (OK, David…Land of Milk and Honey). Been trying to digest all the great discussions here, seeing all kinds of excellent actions as well as some of those heavy-hitter, high impact levers.

Below are just a few veins of gold that I feel will lead us to the Mother Lode if we work them. Just my interpretations and certainly not an all-inclusive list!

Would love to see input from others: what are the Big “Sticks” we need to wield? Wondering if we can keep this conversation up in the clouds…it’s human nature to zone in on specific to-do’s to accomplish today, maybe tomorrow.

I’ll have to circle back when I find more time to dig more. But for now…

 

Big Targets

Arm ourselves with a common elevator speech… “get on the same basic page” by crafting a succinct, hard-hitting, defensible case for WHY decision-makers should even listen to these practitioners / witch doctors, why they should even mess with this stuff. This item is supported by / closely related to having a spot-on response for decision-makers when they ask “what exactly are you trying to accomplish, what exactly are you recommending anyway, what will it cost?” Forget Kumbaya, show me the cash.

 

Engage young people-the foundation for our future. We “older” folks must plant the seeds and nurture the young crops as they take root.

 

Help people find their zone: inner engagement / flow. Why important? Engagement by nature is a highly individual state. If we can lead people to understand what their personal buttons are, they will know what environments work for them. People will more easily find their special niche, be that much more engaged, happier, more productive.

 

Focus on the Greater Good. Right there among my personal favorites. What are the impacts of engagement outside of the “employee engagement” realm / the workplace? Societal impacts? Education system, communities etc.

 

 

[David Zinger]

Mike:

 

Thanks so much for doing this. As I said to you, I love the idea of us working in and through community, which does not preclude members looking at organization, certification, etc.

 

I am no expert on project management so to those from PMI and other organizations I apologize if I have this wrong but I see the whole community as the project sponsor. This does not preclude us from individually and together taking direct and specific actions, I know that I will over the next 10 years!

 

Mentally, I have been pondering the idea of an employee engagement charter that we write together next year. See how easy it is to slip into wanting quick action.... I would love to see something similar to the work  of the Charter of Compassion but with a focus on work.

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

 

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

 

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Have a great December everyone.

 

David

[Craig Althof]

Wow....that is humbling and extremely 'engaging' at the spirit / soul level. Must print / save and go over very slowly again and again to appreciate the depth and connect.

 

Must also share this with my senior leader. He'll get into it, we've had these dialogs but this is very well put together..

 

Thank you, David.

 

"Mike" (?)

[David Zinger]

Craig:

 

Not sure where Mike came from, I'd like to cover it up and say I was thinking or a microphone and mike was short for it but even I can't believe it!!!!!!

 

David

[Mark Ibison]

Craig,

 

Some comments on your 4 – I’m conscious that my responses are picking holes, so I’ve come up with a few of my own ‘big targets’ below.

 

1. My feeling is that senior management will ‘get’ this before front-line and middle managers.  The idea of EE is gaining traction and at some point, senior managers will give this more attention (because who doesn’t want more profits, fewer accidents, less turnover).  My hunch is that cynicism increases as you move down an organisation.  That said, this is unquestionably one of the big levers (I just think we need to keep some focus on what’s in it for middle managers).

 

2. Do younger people naturally enter the workforce more engaged?  Do we instead need to focus on not disengaging them?  Maybe this process starts before the next generation comes to work for us?  Perhaps institutes of education have a role to play?  Those at school/university now will not only be the managers of 2020, they’ll be the disengaged employees of 2018.

 

3. ‘Flow’ seems to me to be the Holy Grail.  But for a decent percentage of the workforce, that state of flow comes from somewhere else.  People should do what they are passionate about but I think that’s a pipe dream.

 

4. I think we are several years away from this becoming mainstream.  It still feels too fluffy even for me and I’m a big believer in engagement.

 

My own to shoot at:

 

1. No more tools!  First time here on this site – I’m encouraged by some of the passion, but somewhat put off by the steady stream of sales pitches.  Too many people selling too many solutions could actually hinder efforts to move this on to where it should be.  This isn’t really a lever (well, it’s not at all, it’s a mini-rant).

 

2. Rethink management: this is a fundamental step as far as I’m concerned.  We’ve still got an awful lot of 20^th century management practices which just aren’t equipped to deal with the management challenges of the 21^st century.  The most engaged workplaces seem to me to be those which have started to abandon the old ways.

 

3. Focus on the customer: employee engagement isn’t the end game.  It should be a happy consequence of getting to a happier customer.  This is a big, big lever and one that can be easily missed in our quest to make the workplace more engaging.

 

4. Open Source Solutions: the future world is ‘Wiki’.  Let’s start sharing the successful tools/stories so people can start proving the concept before they have to shell out a load of cash.  Momentum is key to a change effort.  This community could lead to real-life visits to share ideas, and see the positive change in action.

 

5. Start a revolution: instead of waiting for the higher ups to figure it out, why not encourage the disengaged to ‘rise up’.  I don’t mean that in a unionised kind of way – I mean why not get the disengaged to say, ‘Hey, I’ve had enough of this.  I expect more from my organisation’.  Isn’t it a numbers game?

[Craig Althof]

Welcome to the EEN, Mark, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Plenty to discuss in your response.

(1) I think your “hunch” that cynicism increases as you move down an organization is validated by a good deal of data, as it makes sense to correlate higher levels of engagement with lower levels of cynicism. And I’ll buy into your observation that serious attention needs to be given to middle managers, and by my book first line as well, as these are the levels closest to the “critical mass”.

(2)  Regarding engaging youth, I didn’t double check the study but I believe Gallup has identified significant disengagement in students starts to hit around seventh and eight grades. The disengaged students of 2012 will likely remain the disengaged employees and members of society of 2020 and beyond. Institutes of education have everything to do with enabling engagement.

(3)  I lumped flow and engagement in the same breathe, probably inappropriately. But some of the attributes of flow per Csíkszentmihályi are very “engaging”… clear goals every step of the way; immediate feedback to one’s actions; balance between challenges and skills. But altogether, flow is much more voodoo-sounding even than engagement. So your “Holy Grail” assessment is valid. But the concept sure is sexy.

Engagement’s fluffiness and lack of mainstream pzazz is a recurring theme here! What can we do about it? Mark, you noted “Too many people selling too many solutions could actually hinder efforts to move this on to where it should be.” A related thought from Ambrose Bierce…“the covers of this book are too far apart”. Who wants to fight all the way through it? What is our Engagement Elevator Speech?

Last comment on your reply Mark: two of your Big Targets are the real ticklers for me: rethink management and start a revolution. Let’s expand on those!