Strengths Based Employee Engagement (Daily Engagement)

Walden 2.0: A focus on daily employee engagement.

Employee Engagement Energy Symbol

Daily employee engagement. This is a regular reporting of a one year project monitoring, measuring, and assessing daily employee engagement. You can see the  original project plan, intention, measures and tools by  clicking here.

This specific entry will not focus on the ongoing data collection, I will offer that in a future post. Today, I  will focus on strength-based approaches to work.

Know your strengths – be engaged. I have been keeping track of my daily engagement from the start of the year. One variable I measure is how much I live and leverage my strengths. I have used both StrengthsFinder 2.0 and the VIA Survey of Character Strengths instruments to determine strengths. I completed these instruments years ago but find that I am not getting maximum leverage from my own strengths. In addition I believe we don’t engage in strengths just for strengths sake — we apply our strengths to results.

Overcoming strength myopia. I wanted to enhance my personal strengths applied to results. To enhance this I created a personal diagram applying my personal top 5 strengths from StrengthsFinder 2.0 to results. It is a visual aid and an identified pathway to meaningful results and helps me overcome any strength myopia. There was a refocusing of strengths by taking time to draw the diagram and now when I think about my strengths, I visualize them better while also seeing them more directed towards meaningful results.

Personal strength based management/leadership. My personal pathway of Gallup strengths is to fuse (1) maximizing strengths with(2)  strategic approaches to results with a (3) positive orientation with (4) generating many ideas with (5) empathy for others — all fused together to give strength and engagement to hit the center of my results target.

Click on the sketch below to see a larger version of the diagram:

David Zinger Strengths

Your personal and daily strength based employee engagement.

  • Do you know your strengths? (if not what is stopping you?)
  • Do you use your strengths daily? (anything less than daily an anemic)
  • Do you leverage them in the service of others and results? (strengths are for more than ourselves)
  • Sketch out your strengths to derive more engagement benefit from a strength based approach to work.
  • Start holding powerful and engaged strength based work discussions with co-workers.

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2170 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor, creating engaging approaches to communication, collaboration, and community within Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

In Gaudi’s Grip: If I was an Information Architect

What do you see?

gaudi small

If I was an information architect

I would imitate Gaudi

Expressing Spanish flair fused with Barcelona beat

Into artistic displays of moving information

The information would be beautiful

Creating towering displays of data

That would continue to be built well past my short shelf life.

I would wave information

Transforming data points

Into curved beauty

Abandoning myopic reliance

On straight lines.

I would invite my information patrons

To walk through the data build

Unable to keep their hands off of the implications

While grabbing hold of meaningful measures

Conveyed in waves of inspiring information

11 Questions for Employee Engagement based on Daniel Kahneman’s Work

Dual Selves – Stories and Experience – Employee Engagement – $60,000 Happiness

Employee Engagement Recognition Symbol

Background. Daniel Kahneman is a leading psychologists who created the field of behavioral economics. He is an expert on economics and irrational approaches to understanding ourselves and our world. Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves” perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy — and our own self-awareness.

Employee Engagement Questions. As you watch the video think about the implications of his views for employee engagement. For example:

  • How much of engagement is experienced?
  • How much of engagement is remembered?
  • What is the implication for this in regards to survey data or real time engagement measures?
  • What is the power of our engagement stories – the stories we tell ourselves about our experience at work?
  • How well do we attend to changes, significant moments, and endings in our engagement with work?
  • What is the role of time in engagement?
  • Are we making work memorable?
  • How engaged is the experiencing self?
  • How engaged is the remembering self?
  • How might the remembering self be skewing employee engagement survey results away from an understanding of the experiencing self?
  • When are employees more engaged or merely thinking they are more engaged?

The $60,000 Flat Line. Ensure you watch the last 3 minutes of this video. Lack of money can contribute to misery in America but once an income of $60,000 is reached there is no more increase in happiness with income earned.

If the video fails to load in this window, click here.

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2125 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor, creating engaging approaches to communication, collaboration, and community within Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

Employee Engagement: 50 Companies to Admire and Imitate

Finding Engagement in a Hay Stack!

Employee Engagement Drives Loyalty and Business Performance at World’s Most Admired Companies

The Hay Group and FORTUNE magazine completed their 13th annual World’s Most Admired Company WMAC survey.  They have done a wonderful job of offering elaboration and insight into top companies and employee engagement.

Employee Engagement Engage Symbol

Here area key conclusions from the study:

The study analyzed the connection between employee engagement and a company’s business development and consumer relationship.

Ninety-four percent of respondents from the WMAC believe employee engagement has created a competitive advantage in the market place, compared to 82 percent at peer companies.

Additionally, 71 percent of respondents from the WMAC believe their company has been successful at linking employee engagement to customer satisfaction, compared to 58 percent at peer companies.

“Employee engagement is increasingly being recognized as a major driver of business performance, revealing important information about an organization’s health and future prospects,” says Mark Royal, a Senior Consultant with Hay Group’s Insight Practice.

“Companies on the World’s Most Admired list are not only better at engaging employees in a way that reduces internal frustration and fosters loyalty, they are also better at sharing those metrics with influential groups outside the organization, and translating their success into new business and an enhanced customer experience.”

Additional Engaging Insights:

  • 94% of WMAC say employee engagement efforts reduced employee turnover, and 85% say employee engagement efforts reduced employee performance problems vs. 67% and 72% at peer companies respectively.
  • 90% of the WMAC identified their company as very effective or effective at fostering high levels of employee engagement vs. 71% of their peers
  • 73% of the WMAC say their ease of recruiting talent to fill key positions is much greater/greater than two years ago vs. 57% at peer companies
  • 69% of the WMAC say employee loyalty to the organization is much greater/greater than two years ago vs. 49% of peer companies
  • 86% of the WMAC say line managers have a very high/high involvement as owners of the organization’s engagement initiatives vs. 76% at peer companies

Making the List. FORTUNE determines the industry groupings by using the Fortune 1000 listing and the Global 500 listing. Companies in the 27 international industries must have approximately $10 billion in revenue and rank among the 15 largest by revenue within their industry. Companies in the predominantly US oriented industries must have approximately $2.0 billion in revenue and rank among the 10 largest in their respective industry.

How these companies got so admired:

  1. Ability to attract and retain talented people
  2. Quality of management
  3. Social responsibility to the community and the environment
  4. Innovation
  5. Quality of products or services
  6. Wise use of corporate assets
  7. Financial soundness
  8. Long-term investment value
  9. Effectiveness in doing business globally

The Top 50. Click on any of the names to go to FORTUNE’s profile of the company and why it was most admired (the first 25 state have a short section on why they were most admired companies):

1 Apple
2 Google
3 Berkshire Hathaway
4 Johnson & Johnson
5 Amazon.com
6 Procter & Gamble
7 Toyota Motor
8 Goldman Sachs Group
9 Wal-Mart Stores
10 Coca-Cola
11 Microsoft
12 Southwest Airlines
13 FedEx
14 McDonald’s
15 IBM
16 General Electric
17 3M
18 J.P. Morgan Chase
19 Walt Disney
20 Cisco Systems
21 Costco Wholesale
22* BMW
22* Target
24 Nike
25 PepsiCo
26 Starbucks
27 Singapore Airlines
28 Exxon Mobil
29 American Express
30 Nordstrom
31 Intel
32 Hewlett-Packard
33 UPS
34 Nestlé
35 Caterpillar
36 Honda Motor
37 Best Buy
38 Sony
39 Wells Fargo
40 eBay
41 Nokia
42 Samsung Electronics
43 Deere
44 L’Oréal
45 AT&T
46 Lowe’s
47 General Mills
48 Marriott International
49 DuPont
50 Volkswagen

. . .

Making Hay and a FORTUNE. To learn more about the Hay Study, click here or to read more about this work at  FORTUNE click here.

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2150 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor, creating engaging approaches to communication, collaboration, and community within Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

12 Employee Engagement Eclectic Resource Zingers (No. 11)

12 Employee Engagement Eclectic Resource to Improve Your Work and Your Life.

Eclectic Zingers 1

David Zinger offers you informative links and resources to enhance and improve your work and life engagement. This edition of 12 Eclectic Resource Zingers range from employee engagement and community to stop the busywork.

  1. Don’t try harder. Try Different. http://bit.ly/bkd9S2

  2. Podcast: The tyranny of excellence. http://bit.ly/ctwucY

  3. Employee engagement and community. The community maturity model. http://bit.ly/aBAZ9c

  4. Employee Engagement. Tom Peters 3 minute video on developing first line supervisors. http://bit.ly/diC7TC

  5. How to reclaim your attention. http://bit.ly/9YEW4k

  6. Employee Engagement Character Jazz. Play to your strengths. http://bit.ly/cN9FGJ 1

  7. Employee Engagement. Is positive psychology at work? http://bit.ly/cV3NuS

  8. “”What’s the Worst Advice You Ever Received?” http://bit.ly/9FGGUy

  9. Change This. Employee Engagement. Stop the Busywork!: Seven Ways You Can Do More Great Work. http://bit.ly/cxle2N

  10. How to exit a conversation gracefully. http://bit.ly/ajXIzc

  11. Can you pass this The 2-Minute Opportunity Checklist for Entrepreneurs. http://bit.ly/duuv51

  12. Employee Engagement: 8 things your employees want from you. http://bit.ly/9pnbgG

—–

David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2125 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor, creating engaging approaches to communication, collaboration, and community within Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

Today At Work – Episode 49

TodayAtWork_Number152.5

Employee Engagement: Connective Leadership

Zaana Howard offers an engaging, concise, and well designed 26 slide presentation on connective leadership.

Create space. Connective leaders participate, facilitate, and enable through conversation, collaboration and community. View the slides and determine as a leader how you can create space within your organization.

Connective leadership: participate + facilitate + enable

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2100 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is also very involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor,  engagement approaches to Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

Employee Engagement is Knot a Problem

Are you tied into employee engagement?

knots

We are

tied up in knots

trying to work ourselves free.

R. D. Laing called it

knots tangles fankles impasses disjunctions whirligogs and binds.

We have pulled employee engagement

into frayed thinking

creating and contributing to being stuck with a problem we actually never had.

Flashback to 1969 and R. D. Laing’s Knots

to determine what can be tugged at

to loosen the employee engagement noose

chocking off real inspiration for connected engagement

He does not think there is anything the matter with him
because
one of the things that is
the matter with him
is that he does not think that there is anything
the matter with him
therefore
we have to help him realize that,
the fact that he does not think there is anything
the matter with him
is one of the things that is
the matter with him.

Flickr Creative Commons Photo Credit: Trefoil knot intrication

Employee Engagement: 4 Ways to Belong

Employee Engagement: Do you belong?

Belonging is a key in employee engagement. How well does your work and your organization set up the conditions for you to experience these 4 longings.

Employee Engagement Connection Symbol

1. Be long. When you break belong into two you have be-long. When we are engaged we can work for long periods of time and have those periods seem short. We take a long view of our work, our peers, our organization, and ourselves. We don’t race to get things done but we demonstrate tenacious persistence to achieve results that matter to all. Our time frame extends beyond the next text message or trying to improve every quarter even if it means sacrificing the long term.

2. To belong is to be a part of the organization. Do you experience yourself as a part of the organization or do you feel apart from the organization? Strong organizations ensure that employees not only feel and know they are part of the organization —- employees experience and engage in being a part of something greater then themselves.

One of my favorite bloggers, Chris Bailey, expressed it so well with his image of the holographic organization:

Within a holographic image, each section contains a complete image of the original object. So the real beauty of the holographic perspective is acknowledging that the organization is a vibrant collection of all the individuals within it. It recognizes that each individual is fully reflected in the whole. The organization is the individual and the individual is the organization. The interests of each individual and the organization are interconnected and interdependent.This approach offers a more human organization. ~ Chris Bailey

In addition, Peter Block in Community: The Structure of Belonging stated: to belong is to be related to and a part of something…it is the opposite of thinking that wherever I am, I would be better off somewhere else. The grass is not greener elsewhere and in engaged workplaces we can give, grow and contribute right where we are.

3. When something belongs to us we “own” it. To belong also means to be an owner. Are employees owners of their own engagement and work? This could be economic – owning shares or being a part of an open book organization. It also refers to the psychological and emotional ownership of our work.  Again from Peter Block, to belong to a community is to act as a creator and co-owner of that community. What I consider mine I will build and nurture. As the pithy expression states: nobody washes a rented car. Don’t put employees on the bus — help them to own their work and their results.

4.  Belonging also means a longing to be.  Do you long for your work or do you feel you have just been working for far too long? To belong is a longing to be. Does our work give us the opportunity to be fully who we are? Is our organization infused with authenticity and genuine connection. Employee engagement can be a powerful pathway to our deeper purpose in all that we do. When engagement functions at the highest levels employee have gone beyond making their mark to making their work be a signature expression of who they are.

Let’s ensure that employee engagement belongs to all of us!

—–

David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2125 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor, creating engaging approaches to communication, collaboration, and community within Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

15 Employee Engagement Eclectic Resource Zingers (No. 10)

15 Employee Engagement Eclectic Resource to Improve Your Work and Your Life.

David Zinger offers you informative links and resources to enhance and improve your work and life engagement. This edition of 15 Eclectic Resource Zingers range from engagement adding shareholder value to how to keep employees in a bad economy.

Eclectic Zingers 1

  1. The people shift in employee engagement and management. http://bit.ly/aMdnFm

  2. Employee engagement adds shareholder value with striving, thinking and relating talents. http://bit.ly/aMdnFm

  3. Would you recognize yourself? By Martha Finney. http://bit.ly/bxQCt7

  4. The 5 Do’s of talent management with impact. http://bit.ly/b7Chkm

  5. Making Hay. The shifts in employee engagement and rewards. http://bit.ly/bUIkLI

  6. Large numbers of Irish employees plan to leave the country because they are dissatisfied at work. http://bit.ly/9KwA6X 7

  7. Employee disengagement. I quit – resignations on the rise in the UK. http://bit.ly/bc1VRw

  8. Semantics. Are we getting too wordy in employee engagement? http://bit.ly/cZJAIa

  9. Is this swell that swell? Surveys keep swelling in employee engagement. http://bit.ly/b83jm2

  10. MSR communications. Employee Engagement. The Joy of rolling downhill! http://bit.ly/bkvxpR

  11. Book Review: 42 Rules of Employee Engagement By Mike King http://bit.ly/amlxxM

  12. Score without focusing on scoring. Value of low employee engagement scores. http://bit.ly/aujQHP

  13. Employee turnover costs the US economy an estimated $5 trillion annually. University of Seattle case study. http://bit.ly/9lXJAF

  14. Solid Goldsmith on HBR: How to Keep Good Employees in a Bad Economy http://bit.ly/9emhHG

  15. Employee Engagement Karōshi -> @junson nails it with latest cartoon for Today at Work. http://bit.ly/aX6K0F

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2100 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is also very involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor,  engagement approaches to Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

Daily Engagement: Baseline Data and Goal Setting

Employee Engagement: The Walden 2.010 Project – Week 8.

Daily employee engagement. This is a weekly reporting of a one year project monitoring, measuring, and assessing daily employee engagement. You can see the  original project plan, intention, measures and tools by  clicking here.

Week 8: Baseline Data and Goal Setting

Rooster Vane 5

Week 8. This was an average engaged week. I am now 8 weeks into the project. I will make a shift to moving from baseline data and mindful engagement monitoring to more specific goals and active interventions.

Once again teaching is the biggest engagement activity for investing and getting a return on energy. Click on the image below to have a better look at the numbers:

Walden 2 Week 8

Assessment and Review. This project is keeping my engagement on track.

Conclusions and Recommendations. I will make two changes moving into the third month. I will report only every 2 to 4 weeks while continuing to do this on a daily basis. I will set specific measures to achieve by the end of week 12. This has been a good collection of baseline data.

Employee Engagement Overall Take-away. Gather good baseline data and be more intentional about engagement.

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2085 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com.

Today At Work – Episode 48

TodayAtWork_Number149.6

Employee Engagement Humor: Is Your Leadership Team Focused?

(Humor) Employee Engagement for Leaders.

Focused and engaged? How is your leadership team doing at setting direction as they strive for world domination. Do they have the drive to meaning? Enjoy this short Python video on the very big corporation leadership team meeting on domination and hat sales. Thanks to Johnnie Moore for posting this video.

If the video fails to load, click here.

Employee Engagement: The Zinger 2020 Vision

Predictions for employee engagement during  the next decade.

David Zinger Employee Engagement Model

20/20 Vision? What do you see as the future of employee engagement over the next 10 years? How will this concept and approach to work change during this decade? It would be nice to have 20/20 vision but the future is  murky at best. It is a risky thing to try and predict the future but I will suggest a few of the changes I believe will occur in the next 10 years. Of course,  I am biased and these are predictions I want to see occur. I encourage you to write your predictions in the comment section at the end of this post.

Sociometers and wockets will trump surveys. Surveys are  too anemic to measure and communicate  engagement. Long surveys or once a year surveys will become the dinosaurs of engagement measurement. Yes measurement is important and necessary but doing a survey once a year just does not cut it. We will see real time micro surveys based on portable technology, GPS systems, etc. To get a glimpse of the future of human real time measurement see sociometers and wockets.

Data will become more open and more linked. It will become important for data to become more transparent and open. I expect organizations will be less guarded, especially with their own employees. Employees should be the owners of the data they offer and be partners in assessing the results. To get a glimpse of the future of data (including employee engagement data) see Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web,  TED talk on the next WEB – linked data. By the way, I love how at this site you can click on the interactive transcript, scan the transcript, click on any phrase and the video will play from that point on!

Engagement will move beyond a fad.  I expect engagement will vastly mature beyond happy dances in workplaces and Christmas party feel good exercises to specific behavioral actions that are of benefit to employees, organizations, and customers. We must always ask ourselves — engagement in what? Engagement in work, relationships, customer service, results, organization, etc? I believe the cynics would say employee engagement is a fad that will go away within a couple more years. I believe employee engagement is here to stay but will go through criticism, revision, refinement, and  change over the next 10 years. We are seeing the word engagement attached to social media, student engagement, and many other phenomenon.

Enterprise 2.0 or Social Business Software will accelerate engagement. The use of social media within organizations and porous to external social media outside organizations will present new opportunities and challenges. The first task for many organizations will be to fully engage staff in this media and then to ensure these tools are used to enhance both engagement and results. Internal social media must be an engagement gain for the organization not an engagement drain.

Engagement will become more real and authentic. Employee engagement needs to be more robust, real, authentic, and honest. Trust is a must or employee engagement will be a bust. We have ways to assess authenticity and people’s social intelligence allows them to  see through phony in about an 18th of second.

Engagement will detach from a narrow focus on the role of employee. Employee engagement will need to detach the engagement part of employee engagement to more specific engagement. We will need to be more specific with such terms as work engagement, organizational engagement, community engagement, project engagement, , etc. Employee engagement is too narrowly attached to a role and can easily create an us/them experience in organizations with managers/leaders seeing themselves removed from employees. My preferred term would be work engagement but I am open to see how this changes.

We will witness stronger independent research on employee engagement. This is vital and important. Hopefully Dilbert will not have just one cartoon lampooning engagement but Scott Adams will run a series over a week or two. Academics and universities can make great contributions to the field with their objective, scientific, and independent research. Consulting companies have too much of a vested interest in specific results to place our faith in their research. We need more controlled studies with experimental groups. Although employee engagement is not a fad there has been too much hype making it seem like a magic management panacea — rather than a key vital tool and approach to work. As a side note I would love to see best companies or employers not identified by consulting companies with vested interests in selling services to the companies they identify.

The search for the single holy grail definition of employee engagement will be abandoned in favor of stronger behavioral and operational definitions of the term. Let’s drop the hope or search for one single definition of employee engagement. The MacLeod report found over 50 different definitions of engagement. Many writers seem to hunger for a common definition. I am not sure how important this is, and there are benefits to diverse definitions in the early years of this approach to work. I think we need more operational definitions of engagement so we know specifically how people are defining it rather than all of us defining it in the same way. For example, what is the specific score and questions that determines if an employee is placed in an engaged or disengaged category? We don’t all need to agree but we do need to understand fully how the term is being used. We still have not agreed on a common definition of love and love has been around a  lot longer than employee engagement.

Engagement will be woven into the fabric of management and tapestry of leadership. This decade will witness both a broadening and a deepening of engagement. Engagement will become the new term used for management or leadership. Engagement and conversation will not be leadership or management skills they will be leadership and management. Engagement is the logical successor to command and control. Henry Mintzberg made an excellent case for lessening our focus on leadership and suggested we should focus on “communityship.”

Engagement levels will increase. People are focusing on it, organizations are measuring it, managers are addressing it, unions are assessing it, individuals are enacting it. This is not so much a prediction as it is my full intention and application to play a vital role in the increase of employee engagement worldwide for the benefit of all: employee, organization, managers/leaders (who are also employees), customers, and all other stakeholders who have a role in work including the families of employees.

Engage along with me, the best is yet to be, let’s see not only where we end up in 10 years — let’s fully engage in our work to make it happen.

—–

David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2100 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 posts/articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is also very involved in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and the precursor,  engagement approaches to Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

A Primer in Employee Engagement and Enterprise 2.0

Employee Engagement and Social Business Software

Employee Engagement Relationship Symbol

From none of our business to it is our business. The use of social business software or Enterprise 2.0 tools for collaboration are growing within organizations. The challenge is to fully engage employees with these tools while ensuring their engagement in the tools is contributing to the value and values of the organization.

Historical overlaps. Having been very involved in social media for  6 years I see many parallels with the development of blogs and other social media tools. I will be writing regular posts on engagement and Enterprise 2.0.

Slide into Enterprise 2.0. As a visual introduction here is a well designed slideshow created by Acando Consulting out of Stockholm Sweden.

Preview. View the slideshow and pay attention to these sections:

  • Barriers to Enterprise 2.0 from ignorance to skepticism and power issues, etc.
  • Lessons to Learn:  Simplify and encourage communication and collaboration, etc.
  • Benefits of Enterprise 2.0 from improved discovery of information to collective intelligence, etc.
  • Key principles: Usability, conversation, freeform, recognition, etc.
  • Culture shift: Trust driven, etc.
  • Tools: Links, syndication, filters, etc.
  • Quotation from Tara Hunt: Data in the hands of a few make for order; but data in the hands of the many make for endless possibilities.

Enjoy the show:

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David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2085 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership. David is quite interested in the application of Enterprise 2.0 approaches to engagement and engagement approaches to Enterprise 2.0.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com

Daily Engagement: Engaged Strategic Improvisation

Employee Engagement: The Walden 2.010 Project (Week 7)

Daily employee engagement. This is a weekly reporting of a one year project monitoring, measuring, and assessing daily employee engagement. You can see the  original project plan, intention, measures and tools by  clicking here.

Week 7: The engagement of improvisation

Rooster Vane 5

Week 7. I got back on track this week. I gave a large speech to 400 people on engagement and 2 speeches to groups of about 100 each. In addition there was a first session of Enterprise 2.0 consulting to enhance engagement. Click on the image below to have a better look at the numbers:

Walden Week 7

Assessment and Review. I was more engaged this week than last week.  My scores rose by at least 10% on each category and overall engagement for week improved to 84% from 69% the week before.

Conclusions and Recommendations. Once again I was struck by the type of work having such a strong influence on engagement. I love giving speeches with heavy doses of improvisation on my part and interaction on the part of the participants. The consulting work was also very engaging especially when we produced some immediate results. Newness and novelty are very engaging and may be an important variable in our work to engage others…can we keep the work new or novel or find ways for their improvisation into their work?

Employee Engagement Overall Take-away.

  1. Find ways to increase improvisation for people who like newness or novelty in their work.
  2. Look to help employees see quick results for their efforts.
  3. Embrace impermanence and realize that engagement is in constant flux and change.

Leverage the power of strategic improvisation to boost engagement.

—–

David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement writer, educator, speaker, coach, and consultant. He offers exceptional contributions on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2085 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com.

Today At Work – Episode 47

TodayAtWork_Number146.2

Can I Drive? The Problem with Employee Engagement Drivers

A Zinger Employee Engagement rant.

Don’t drive me and don’t put me on the bus!

Employee Engagement Authenticity Symbol

It has become commonplace to talk about drivers of employee engagement. Abhishek on Mumbler wrote a nice summary on What Drives Employee Engagement.

Here is  the common  list from the Conference  Board’s work:

  1. Trust and integrity – how well managers communicate and ‘walk the talk’.
  2. Nature of the job –Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day?
  3. Line of sight between employee performance and company performance – Does the employee understand how their work contributes to the company’s performance?
  4. Career Growth opportunities –Are there future opportunities for growth?
  5. Pride about the company – How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being associated with their company?
  6. Coworkers/team members – significantly influence one’s level of engagement
  7. Employee development – Is the company making an effort to develop the employee’s skills?
  8. Relationship with one’s manager – Does the employee value his or her relationship with his or her manager?

I think it is helpful to have a number of factors to examine to determine how organizations can foster and enhance employee engagement.

Here is my mini rant: Don’t call them drivers!

The meaning of a driver is:

  • the operator of a motor vehicle
  • someone who drives animals that pull a vehicle
  • a golfer who hits the golf ball with a driver
  • a golf club (a wood) with a near vertical face that is used for hitting long shots from the tee
  • one who drives something, in any sense of the verb to drive;
  • driving – having the power of driving or impelling; “a driving personal ambition”; “the driving force was his innate enthusiasm”; “an impulsive force”
  • driving – the act of controlling and steering the movement of a vehicle or animal
  • driving – acting with vigor; “responsibility turned the spoiled playboy into a driving young executive”

I don’t want to jump on the employee engagement bus.

I don’t want to be driven around my organization and my work.

I want to get behind the wheel and drive my own work.

Drivers make me think we are putting too much in the hands of the organization.

Perhaps we fuel the vehicle, help to navigate, etc. — but let the employee drive their own engagement.

Could it be that the very use of this term actually lower levels of engagement?

19 Employee Engagement Eclectic Resource Zingers (No. 9)

Employee Engagement Eclectic Resource to Improve Work and Life.

David Zinger offers you great links and resources to enhance and improve your work and life engagement. This edition of 19 Eclectic Resource Zingers range from overcoming information overload and a great time lapse video of Vancouver to the Presentation Zen design book.

Employee Engagement Development Symbol

  1. The Employee Engagement Network. Free, Freeing, Forums, and Fantastic. Join Us. http://bit.ly/rKCXH

  2. Overcoming Information Overload – Engaged Learning. Focus and Filters. http://bit.ly/9IzQOx

  3. Having Lost Connection to Work, Nick Sarillo Found Purpose in Pizza. http://bit.ly/aItbXF

  4. Undercover Boss – Reinforcing Bad, Fake, Management? ~ Lisa Haneberg. http://bit.ly/aOTBPr a

  5. Watching the Olympics from Vancouver. Check out this great views of Vancouver in time lapse. http://bit.ly/9DLYKL

  6. Positive Psychology Daily: Becoming an Excellent Manager: Where to Start and 12 Clues, Kathryn Britton http://bit.ly/cH3YWu

  7. Presentation Zen Design The Book. It’s Garrrrrrreat. http://bit.ly/a169YF

  8. Dick Richards has this post in the palm of a hand. A leadership plague is upon us. http://bit.ly/afb9VH

  9. Is your gift power hidden? http://bit.ly/9ylXKH

  10. In today’s connected world trust is the new currency of power. ~ Paul Honeywell. http://bit.ly/b7UAx5

  11. Wisdom: Roundup of TED2010, Session 12. http://bit.ly/a1TrOp

  12. Great piece. Elizabeth Perry found it. http://bit.ly/ds9pI1

  13. Forget best in show. I just look forward to getting together with folks and playing our hearts out. http://bit.ly/dyErr4

  14. Too much leader future focus and not enough management seeing what is right in front of us. http://bit.ly/agamcP

  15. Perfectionism and the tyranny of excellence. An okay post! http://bit.ly/9v7ART

  16. Predictions For 2010 About Workplace Flexibility from Sloan Work-Family. http://bit.ly/bIWFPv

  17. Bob Sutton from Passhole to lazy bee. What’s your word? http://bit.ly/6aG41g

  18. Make a shift to more authentic communication. http://bit.ly/9nOP3M

  19. Leaders tell your story. http://bit.ly/ceFnvO

—–

David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement expert. He offers exceptional education and consulting on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2025 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com.

Lacuna

She came to work

but wasn’t there.

Focus blotched

by last night’s

Fear Filled Family Fight.

Invisible scars

deep inside

slicing into her sense of self

she valiantly but vainly

tries to do her job

like she knows she can- – -

But she can’t.

Last night’s cutting words won’t mute.

We cannot see

what isn’t there

But connect the dots

and we are drawn into an invitation

to punctuate the veil of silence

as we realize our co-worker

was diminished

knocked out of balance

by verbal violence flaring behind closed doors.

This is not the time to tuck our head

deep down into our cubicle shell.

…..

Lacuna n. pl. la·cu·nae (-n ). 1. An empty space or a missing part; a gap.

—–

David Zinger, M.Ed., is an employee engagement expert. He offers exceptional education and consulting on employee engagement for leaders, managers, and employees. David founded and moderates the 2025 member Employee Engagement Network. His website offers 1000 articles relating to employee engagement and strength based leadership.

Book David for education, speaking, and coaching on engagement today for 2010.

Email: dzinger@shaw.ca  Phone 204 254 2130  Website: www.davidzinger.com.

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