The Employee Engagement Network

This is a republish from my blog. Hope you enjoy it! I promise to add more new content here soon. Thanks for engaging!

I like my collaborators to have a life! I’ll contribute to this as much as I can. I Also like them to love work and be inspired! We do that together. I admit I have sometimes had to bite my lip and remind myself what I want from them. The old ways seep in and I second guess my leadership if someone needs to leave early for personal reasons. I want to create a community in the workplace. Somewhere to share our lives as well as the work we do together. It usually works well and attracts the kind of independent, driven people I want in my company. Can this be abused? Yes. Are those people still on my team? No. My organization is of course a small operation, but still, I have seen the principle work in my corporate clients’ workforces. If you need to supervise the life balance of your team one way or the other, they are not truly engaged in work. Work that is attractive and makes people feel like they are offering significant contributions to the organization and the world rarely has trouble with finding engaged individuals. Results are commonplace and time is always used wisely. It is when work is handled like it is unimportant that people will do it only because of the pay or because there is the perception that they “have no choice”.
It is interesting to me how much we worry in the corporate setting about whether people are abusing the company and slacking off. Wouldn’t we be better off exploring how compelling our work offering is? After all, we all know people that love their job and do it with a heart regardless of what it entails. I know this valet guy at my club that takes my car and always has a smile and happy word for each person. I told them the other day that it looked like he enjoyed his work, in spite of the heat and running around all day. He said he felt he was helpful and liked greeting people so they could relax once they were here.
True engagement will leave you energized instead of depleted. I notice every Tuesday as all 20 of us come in from our day jobs to rehearse the BIG BRAZZ BAND. Some of us arrive a bit late and tired from traffic or the day’s work. As the music begins, our energy rises and by the time we take a break we are a lively group, ready to share laughs and musings and pizza! When you are enjoying yourself, even working hard at it – like a 2 hour rehearsal after a full day’s work – your energy rises and you feel like connecting and sharing and pitching in. Does this happen when you get home? Are you ready to play as hard as you work? Are you engaged with the people around you? Find engagement in your job and this will most definitely be the case!
So, you want your team to be engaged? Help them find joy and purpose in their work. Do it by first asking yourself if you have joy and purpose in your every day on the job. It is not the nature of work, but the way we interpret it that makes it a true extension of our life mission or a dull way to pass the time. So, seek until you find. Share. Have fun! Have purpose! And you may never have to talk about engagement again. You will be to engaged in life!

Tags: engagement, leadership, passion, purpose, teamwork, workplace

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Marty Jordan added a blog post
Wanted to share this Ivey Business Journal article with network members. http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/article.asp?intArticle_id=867 Here is introduction from the website to the author and the content of the article. Kenneth W. Thomas is a...
1 hour ago
Derek Irvine added a blog post
In the last few months, employee engagement has been derided by some as nothing more than the latest industry buzzword or HR bandwagon that everyone is rushing to jump on as the as the as the savior of employee loyalty and productivity from the re...
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6 hours ago
Understand the needs of your employees and make room to accommodate when you can, and be honest about why you can't.
9 hours ago
Communicate; honestly, plainly and often.
9 hours ago
Create opportunities for autonomy, Give your employees the "what" and let them come up with the "how".
9 hours ago
Make time to discuss Expectations: Both, what you expect of your employees and what your employees expect of you.
10 hours ago
I have not personally read the UK Government review of employee engagement titled "Engaging for Success". But a very dear friend of mine, one of the very few people I know who fully understands engagement having done it himself, did review it and...
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David Reeves, Maria and Polly Pearson joined The Employee Engagement Network
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New EE news posted for Tuesday.
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A discussion started by David Zinger was featured
Our last E-book on one sentence of employee engagement advice was very well received and many people wrote to say how helpful it was. Thank you all for contributing. It is time to compile our next contribution to employee engagement. Our commu...
19 hours ago
David Zinger added a discussion
Our last E-book on one sentence of employee engagement advice was very well received and many people wrote to say how helpful it was. Thank you all for contributing. It is time to compile our next contribution to employee engagement. Our commu...
19 hours ago
23 hours ago
Hi Anthony assume you are aware of the UK Government review of employee engagement? If not here's the link http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file52215.pdf Kate
23 hours ago
Let’s share favorite quotations that are somehow relevant to business. I frequently include them in letters, e-mails, proposals, and book reviews. They may not always provide a head-snapping revelation but do add some “seasoning” to the prose.
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This group is for anyone who want to talk about books on engagement, work, leadership or management. You can recommend a book, ask others about a book, or join in a discussion about a book.
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This group is for those who want to learn more about best practice employee recognition and to share ideas on this important engagement tool
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This group is intended for anyone who wants to help Managers do a better job promoting employee engagement. What skills does a Manager need? What tools can a Manager use?
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