Closing the Engagement Gap: An interview with Julie Gebauer

[Susan Stamm]

My guest this month on Bookends is Julie Gebauer who will be discussing her book Closing the Engagement Gap. All are welcome to this free one hour interview on May 19 at 3PM.

To register: http://www.teamapproach.com/bookends/engagementgap.asp

[Polly Pearson]

I was delighted to have worked with Julie and a fellow authors, Joanne Gordon and Don Lowman, on this book on behalf of EMC. In fact, the interviews they conducted with our employees set in motion a more comprehensive and engaged body of employment branding work at our company.

It has a simple and brilliant framework for companies/managers to follow. I'd also recommend any company ask a question the authors asked of employees interviewed, "What inspires you about your company? or "What makes you proud about this company?" Magic truly comes from this. It will illuminate immediately what is special about your company's culture. You can then build on how to engage your folks more fully in it by following Julie's method for, "Knowing, Growing, Rewarding, Inspiring, and Involving" them!

So while EMC is highlighted in the book by being one of the "Engaging Eight" companies, I can also say we got better as a result of working with Julie, Don, and Joanne in the creation of the book.

I trust the interview went great! Warmest regards, Polly, VP Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement at EMC Corp.

[Susan Stamm]

Hi Polly, It is great to meet a member of the engaging eight! I told Julie how much I admired these companies by the time I had finished the book. The interview was wonderful and we will be posting it soon on our site here: http://www.teamapproach.com/bookends/bookendsarchive.asp

We invite anyone interested in EE books to join the "Bookends: the Discussion Group on Linkedin where we can continue the dialog following each interview. In 2009 on Bookends I am interviewing authors of EE books. The interviews run a full hour and offer a pretty good tour of each book. In June we'll hear from Lee Colan, author of: "Engaging the Hearts and Minds of All your Employees." Previous authors have included Dick Axelrod and Peter Block. We are also working on a new site where can download interviews as podcasts, but it is taking a time to get the backlog of last years interviews up first- we hope to catch up soon. Here is a link to that site where you can check out some of last years interview that are now posted: http://www.bookendsbookclub.net/Bookends/Welcome.html

Thanks again for introducing yourself Polly and all the best in your great work at EMC!