Teaching for Engagement

Did your teachers fully engage you in learning? Did you sit in a brain numbing lecture, absorbing little, and waiting for the class to be over?

The Globe and Mail wrote an article on Carl Wieman. Dr Wieman, an Nobel laureate, is on a mission to change the way science is taught. He wants to engage the learner. He claims that universities are doing a terrible job of teaching students and it is time to shift to student engagement in learning.

He wants professors to stop lecturing and begin to engage students through questions and group discussions and teach them to think like scientists, rather than just recite facts.

In today’s workplace are you engaging employees in their work? What Dr. Wieman is attempting to do for the science classroom, I encourage you to do for your workplace.

Don’t just stand at the front of the room teaching or preaching, foster engagement with direct and meaningful interactions with the people you work with.

And that’s the end of my lecture!

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Employees want to be Engaged

According to the latest research from the Towers Perrin Global work force study of 90,000 workers, including 5,000 Canadian workers, employees want to be engaged.

• 84% said they enjoy challenging work
• 83% look for new opportunities to develop skills
• 58% tend to invest time and energy beyond what is required

The majority of employees felt they needed more organizational support to perform to their full potential.

There was a lot more in this report and future post will elaborate on some of the findings and conclusions.

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Free Newsletter: Take-5 with David Zinger

Do you want to stay up with the latest information and developments on employee engagement and leadership? Read more

Be Grateful for Employee Engagement (MMP#30)

Employee Engagement: Monday Morning Percolator #30

Robert Emmons wrote a lovely short book on thanks! or how the new science of gratitude can make you happier. I am thankful for the book and thought about it in relationship to employee engagement. Read more

Employee Engagement with Mission Minded Management

Michelle Malay Carter writes an engaging and clear blog about management. She wrote a recent post on Misguided Motivation Attempts – Put Down that Carrot and that Stick and that Hot Dog.

Thank you Michelle, I am so tired of seeing books or articles that pair motivation with carrots. We are not rabbits and the only carrot we are looking for is a diamond or high quality level of workplace engagement for all. Read more

Employee Engagement News: Employee engagement = Customer Loyalty?

Does employee engagement = customer loyalty?

Here is a short snippet from PR News Online:

I see this as an enormous opportunity for communications executives, as they are the common denominator – at least they should be – in every business function; after all, they have their hands in employee, customer, media investor and human relations, internal and external outreach, and issues management. Because the connection between employee relations and customer relations is obvious, if not quantifiable – Matt Gonring, a consultant with Gagen MacDonald, has conducted research that inextricably links employee engagement to customer loyalty – it should be natural to address one in order to positively impact the other.