Keeping people engaged in tough times

[Karen Schmidt]

Greetings from Brisbane, Austraila. Here are some of my thoughts on keeping people engaged in tough times.

Karen Schmidt
Re-engagement expert
www.letsgrow.com.au

[Doug Shaw]

Visible leadership is cool, trouble is fear has a tendency to drop its heavy hand on the shoulder of the stressed senior exec and whisper "you don't want to go out there and actually talk to your people do you? They might not like you? They might ask you a question you don't have the answer to, or want to answer? Best just stay in your office eh?"

Woaahhh, scary. We all feel it, we must all rise above it. How? Well here's something I wrote a few days back. It's a bit tangential but it's about fulfilment, happiness and stuff like that. They're all vital ingredients in the engagement mix. See what you think:

A panel of scientists (I prefer the collective noun experiment but seeing as I just made it up…) has found that simple activities such as gardening or mending a bicycle, can help people lead more fulfilled and productive lives, and protect mental health. They’ve dolloped these activities into five categories, each with evidence of their success behind it. This group of scientists is part of a government think tank working in this instance on mental capital and well being. Oh. You might now be thinking, that’s handy, five steps to sanity to line up nicely with your five daily portions of fruit and veg. Well I agree that this kind of research is a little unusual but let’s leave the cynicism on the side for the moment with the sprouts and broccoli, follow this link and have a look at the five steps:

http://stopdoingdumbthingstocustomers.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/five...

I've got plenty more if you want it? Looking forward to reading other folks thoughts.

Cheers - Doug

[Terrence Seamon]

Good thoughts, Karen.
I like your "conversations that engage." When you look up the origins of the word conversation, you find:
- "act of living with"
- "to live with, keep company with"
- "turn about with"
- "having dealings with others"
- "manner of conducting oneself in the world"
It's more than just talk.
Thanks for sharing.
Terry