From Business Week: It's Not the Economy, Stupid Focusing on unemployment isn't the key to fueling innovation and job growth

[Alan Smith]

Consider this a call to arms for all leaders.......... http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2009/id20090817_671...

[Ben Simonton]

The author is correct that engagement is a prerequisite to high performance. But the author infers that management's responsibility is to "engage" its workforce.

Management cannot engage its workforce. It can only disengage them. Every employee wants to be engaged, some more some less. But management more often than not causes them to become disengaged.

Disengagement occurs when management fails to meet the employee's basic needs of being heard and being respected. Not providing them more than enough opportunity to state their complaints, suggestions and questions AND responding to these in a timely and respectful manner is the most common error.

Ordering them around as if they are robots and not humans constitutes the height of disrespect and is extremely damaging to engagement.

These two management failures are why the top-down command and control approach to managing people is so inimical to high performance, to high levels of engagement. Swift and sure discipline is necessary to high performance, but that is the only aspect of top-down that is needed. Goals, targets, orders and the like are all destructive. Replace those with helping employees by providing them with whatever they need to do a better job.

Best regards, Ben
http://www.bensimonton.com/articles.html

[Alan Smith]

Hi Ben, great points.

I would only add that it IS managements responsibility to provide and foster an environment that allows employees to become more passionate about what the company is trying to accomplish. Management can't force engagement, but they can provide the tools and training that encourage this type of personal growth.

The first step for companies is to accept that fact that the need exists to have an engaged and passionate work force if they wish to be more successful than their competition. The second step is to proactively seek out ways to help raise these levels of passion.

Take care. Alan

http://passionwerx.com

Take care

[Ben Simonton]

Thanks, Alan.

Fostering the correct environment is the key. Employees who are allowed to become engaged in their work will have passion though management can help them to become passionate.

I say this having managed people for over 30 years. I did it wrong by using the top-down approach for the first 12 years. But then I started listening to my people and they taught me how to create the correct environment. In the process, I successfully turned around four different management disasters including a nuclear-powered cruiser and a 1300 person unionized group. Lots of fun and huge increases in productivity per person, >300%.

Thanks again, Ben
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