According to work done by Hewitt Associates and communicated in the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, Wellington West Capital Inc. placed first in the list to Top 50 employers in Canada.

They were number 2 last year, they did try harder, and now they are number one.

Congratulations Wellington West!

To be the winner Wellington West had to score high on 17 areas of employee satisfaction. Some of the factors that create employee engagement are:

1. All the basics of HR are done well.
2. Leaders inspire workers and develop winning strategies to attain company goals.
3. Employees are engaged both intellectually and emotionally – willing to exercise extra effort as they work beyond the basics.
4. The culture is clear and there is a good fit between people and culture.
5. There are exceptional relationship between supervisors and employees.

In addition engagement is not just a feel good issue, employees don’t just feel like owners, they are owners. Here is a quote from Charlene Birdsall, an investment adviser in Winnipeg:

Birdsall says that, in part, the No. 1 rank­ing stems from the fact that Wellington is still private, and advisers and other em­ployees own 91% of the company. “Being an owner, you want to make sure the firm looks good,” she says.

Engagement occurs strongly when we own our work and even own some of the company.

Well done Wellington West – You are a terrific exemplar of the Engaged Way.

Technorati Tags : employee engagement, Wellington West, ownership

Can you imagine co-creating engagement in your workplace?

Jennifer Rice defines co-creation as: “an open, ongoing collaboration between employees and customers to define and create products, services, experiences, ideas and information.”

Co-creation is often a collaboration between employees and customers. Co-creation is a pathway to fuller employee engagement where the organization, management, and employees work (and play) together to create a full engagement picture on the canvas of work?

James Cherkoff and Johnnie Moore  completed a manifesto on co-creation rules this December at Change This. The “Change This” site is producing extraordinary manifestos on a wide range of very helpful topics.

Apply these 17 rules for co-creation and engagement:

1. Yes, and
2. Make an offer
3. Set the scene
4. Make your customers look good
5. Create opportunity
6. Play
7. Understand the environment
8. Work at it
9. Love the 1%ers
10. Get vernacular
11. Make mistakes
12. Lower barriers
13. Let the mess show
14. Share your secrets
15. Be changed
16. Show the humanity
17. There are no rules

Get engaged:

1. Click here to read more about Cherkoff and Moore’s co-creation rules. Determine how you can apply these rules to employee engagement.

2. Select the top 5 rules that have the most leverage to engage everyone in working at creating a co-engaged workplace.

Technorati Tags : co-creation, Zinger, employee engagement

Engage!

After a very full fall and unanticipated delays I am pleased to announce that my blog on employee engagement is well underway.

This site is dedicated to personal and workplace engagement. I encourage you to make this site your primary source of tips, information, insights, actions, and research on employee engagement.

I have been giving numerous speeches on the topic and conducting a variety of workshops for a wide range of organizations and businesses. The participants at these events have been instrumental in shaping some of my perspectives and practices in employee engagement.

I look forward to providing you with helpful information.

Grab a coffee or a snack and take a seat as you make yourself at home in David Zinger’s Engagement Cafe.

Click into Engage! right now to read a post on the importance of making engagement an invitation not an imposition.

How do you feel when you receive an invitation?

Make employee engagement an invitation to others, don’t allow employee engagement to become an imposition.

Successful employee engagement is based on invitations not impositions. Although both words start with the letter “i” the similarities end there. Full engagement cannot be coerced or forced.

Invitation is defined as a request to participate, to be present, to take part in something, or tempting allurement. When we work with employee engagement do employees feel the urge to take part in something?  Do we invite employees to be fully present at work? Do they feel a part of something meaningful?  

Have you ever thought of engagement as tempting allurement and what this would mean for the workplace?

Imposition means a compulsory order that does not originate from a voluntary agreement.  It is the act of imposing something or an uncalled-for burden. Do employees feel that engagement is a compulsory order — get engaged or else! How successful will engagement be when choice is limited and it feels like a burden to the very person we are trying to foster engagement with?

One of the most common reasons people resist change is because they feel coerced. Don’t be an agent of coercion when you are trying to change the workplace to higher levels of engagement.

Engagement as invitation has parallels with caring and respect for others. Engagement as imposition has parallels with coercion and human resources more as resources than as humans.

Get Engaged:

1. Do you feel invited in your workplace to engage in work that will make a difference?

2. Notice where and when engagement may feel like an imposition or burden to employees and determine steps to transform coercive imposition into caring invitation.

3. Compose an actual invitation to engagement and send it to employees. Put RSVP on the invitation and prepare to host a workplace where everyone is invited to be fully engaged.

Technorati Tags : employee engagement, Zinger, invitation

Thanks to Bud Bilinach for his post on this topic.

The second strength in strength based leadership is love and caring.

Bud wrote about Debra Benton’s 7 courtship traits that we can apply in our personal life and that cross the boundary into love and leadership:

1. Assume acceptance as a human regardless of rank or role. Never put yourself below your partner or your boss.

2. Ask questions. Know what people need and want.

3. Use humor. No one will fault you for lightening the mood.

4. Touch. Figuratively and literally pat people on the back.

5. Initiate. Don’t wait to be asked or prodded.

6. Slow down, shut up, and listen. When you play hard to get they want you more.

7. Look good. Stand up straight and smile.

You can visit Debra’s website here.

Jack Welch believes the best picture of a company’s well-being comes from, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. By the way, cash flow comes third. Jack believes that employee engagement is perhaps the most telling indicator of competitive advantage.

Here are some statistics from ISR, a Chicago firm that studied engagement of 664,000 employees from 71 companies around the world.

• 52% difference in one-year performance improvement in operating income between companies with highly engaged employees compared to companies with low engagement.
• Operating income was up 19.2 percent in high engaged companies versus a decline of 32.7 percent in low engaged companies.
•  There was a 13.2 percent improvement in net income growth over a one-year period for companies with high employee engagement.
• There was a 27.8 percent improvement in EPS growth in companies with high engagement.
• Read more about the research in the October 10th. Chief Executive.

Get Engaged:

1. What are your engagement numbers?
2. Do you stand “Tall” like Howard Schultz of Starbucks who was more interested in creating the right work environment for employees than the price of coffee.

Marcus Buckinghm wrote an insightful book: The One Thing You Need to Know: … About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success.

I liked the book but was surprised that it took over 280 pages to state the one thing.

Many blog readers are not willing to take that much time to read (unlike Avis, why try harder when you are working with number 1).

Here is a short list of of questions to get you thinking about the “1 thing” in strength based leadership.

The 1 Thing:

1. What is the 1 thing you would say is your greatest strength?

1. What is the 1 thing you value the most?

1. What is the 1 thing you most need to do for someone you lead?

1. What is the 1 thing that energizes you the most?

1. What is the 1 thing you would like others to say about your style of leadership?

1. What is the 1 thing you need to focus on to get results?

1. What is the 1 thing you need to do right now?

Do it!

Go Canada(Post) Go

Moya Greene, the President of Canada Post, has made employee engagement a top priority in the corporation.

Since she took the top spot 18 months ago she has engaged in the work of employees –  from delivering mail to sorting parcels. She writes a blog and answers all of the employees questions. I have not seen this internal blog, but I imagine it make engagement a Priority Post.

Moya has also shed some of her own perks including trading in the corporation limousine for a Subaru station wagon and a mini van. She felt her office was too big so she had a meeting room placed in it and would not get the work done until she had a reasonable estimate. And much of her time is spent out of the office connecting with employees.

She has devoted much of her energies to fostering better morale, improved working conditions, and better communication with employees.

Get Engaged:

1. What stamp have you put on engagement where you work?
2. If you are a leader how have you demonstrated your commitment to engagement?
3. If you are a follower how has your leader demonstrated a commitment to your working engagement?

Technorati Tags : Canada Post, zinger, employee engagement

Micheal Stelzner has written a very informative book on: Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged. Not only do we strive to gain workplace engagement and personal engagement we can benefit by learning how to keep readers engaged.  Here is a quote from Micheal on white papers:

We live in a world where thousands of documents are vying for prospects’ time. Writing White Papers will help you cut through and rise above everything, attracting that ideal reader. This is a key challenge: How do you grab eyeballs through words? One of the core premises of the book is capturing readers and keeping them engaged.

I think this book will be a fabulous resource for anyone who is thinking about writing a white paper or anyone who wants to improve how they engage readers with this medium.

To read a sample chapter visit http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/book/Sample-WritingWhitePapers.pdf

Click here to visit Micheal’s White Paper Blog if you want to stay current with his latest thinking and developments on writing white papers.

Look for a powerful white paper on personal and workplace engagement at www.davidzinger.com appearing early in 2007! I will follow Michael’s principles to keep you engaged in the paper on engagement.

Get engaged:

1. Read Michael’s sample chapter and develop a topic for your own white paper.
2. Engage in this blog by leaving a comment and creating a dialogue.

Beth Horowitz, chief executive officer of Amex Bank of Canada gets it.

Engagement is more than simple employee perks. Perks may contribute to employee satisfaction but they don’t necessary percolate into employees heating up the workplace with fully engaged performance.

Ms. Horowitz, according to Virginia Galt’s September 18 Globe and Mail article, is part of a trend of Chief Executive Officers taking a bigger role in engagement and talent management. In her case, CEO, stands for both Chief Executive Officer and Chief Engagement Officer. She has lead a corporate initiative aimed at creating a “culture of engagement” from the top down.

Ms. Horowitz believes some of the intangibles are the biggest producers of engagement — feeling valued and listened to  — that transforms good performance into great performance.

Get Engaged:

1. How are you accountable for engagement where you work?
2. Does engagement have the support and actions of all levels of the organization?
3. Are you being heard? Are you being valued?
4. Are you listening, are you valuing?
5. Are you working and living in a “culture of engagement?”