Employee Engagement with David Zinger
The best in employee engagement...
This is a leadership employee engagement extra.
This is a 65 minute video based on Marshall Goldsmith’s presentation on leadership for Google. I encourage you to watch and learn from one of the world’s leading coaches.
If you don’t see the video in this post, click here to go to the Google video site.
I invite you to visit my site on engaged living and happiness: www.diehappytoday.com
This site asks the question: If you were to die today would you die happy?
I believe this question offers a sharp focus to each day and a focus to our work and our engagement in our work.
The posts on this site are very brief, the pictures are large, and a visit takes less than 30 seconds.
A recent study cited in the Globe and Mail suggested money can buy happiness — if you spend it on someone else. If you are looking to be happy please feel free to request my address and send some this way. You’ll be happy to know I’ll spend it on my children.
Photo Credit: Coin Toss by http://flickr.com/photos/therissymobile/329365993/
The Telegraph reported that money does not buy happiness.
What really caught my eye is that the Brits have a Lord of Happiness. See this from the article:
Lord Layard, a Government adviser on happiness, said: “There has been no upward trend in happiness despite the fact that we are richer, healthier, and have longer holidays. That is the challenge to government policy and to our own lifestyle.”
If we turn happiness over to the government and transform it into policy, might not this be part of our happiness conundrum?
Photo Credit: Smiley Face by http://flickr.com/photos/jvk/5403270/
Alltop collects “all the top” sites on the web with topics ranging from careers to dads to education and social media.
Employee Engagement: Results That Matter is listed in the Alltop career page along with with Slacker Manager, Brazen Careerist, Standout Jobs Blog, and about 70 other sites.
Click here to visit this ‘digital magazine rack” to take your career to the top with the career page of Alltop. Watch out because they have all the top stories covered all the time and you will see about 375 posts to move your career along much quicker than you thought!
Of course once you get to the top, you’ll want to stay on top with Alltop.
Photo Credit: Still top (really?) by http://flickr.com/photos/doegox/988751607/
David Zinger
Daniel Gilbert is a very clever happiness writer. In Stumbling on Happiness he stated:
My friends tell me that I have a tendency to point out problems without offering solutions, but they never tell me what I should do about it. ~ Daniel Gilbert
Photo Credit: Problems by http://flickr.com/photos/benjiborden/217152580/
How awake are you at work?
How long does it take you to fully wake up to work once you report to work?
How long is your lull after lunch?
According to Boots Co. PLC the average employee loses 2 and 1/2 hours a day through tiredness.
The average British worker has enough energy to only work for five hours a day.
Many workers only wake up 45 minutes into the day.
The post lunch slump can last one hour and 14 minutes.
Reading this is enough to have you go take a nap!
Photo Credit: Need some sleep by http://flickr.com/photos/mayr/371257935/
Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it. ~ William Feather
Photo Credit: And Then I Blacked Out by http://flickr.com/photos/alvarez/316223786/
Here are 26 keys to employee engagement from A to Z.
Acceptance. We must begin with acceptance of the current state of engagement and begin to make changes out of our full acceptance of what is as we move to what can be.
Benefits. If employee engagement is to be sustained over time it must benefit employees, leaders, managers, organizations, and customers.
Connection. Employee engagement is created through caring connections with others in the workplace and connections to our work — stay connected and you will stay engaged!
Disengagement. Although chronic disengagement is a workplace scourge we need to balance engagement and disengagement to maintain productive work over the long term.
Energy. Energy is the raw material of employee engagement and those who master energy management have a huge resource to draw upon for their own engagement and for energizing others.
Flow. The ideal state of work is when we experience flow – we engage so completely in our work that work, time, and self are transformed by the experience.
Gumption. Balancing flow is old fashioned gumption – sometimes we just need to engage in work even when we don’t feel like it, yet this very gumption will act as the primer to experiencing higher levels of emotional engagement.
Human. Employee engagement is human, not human capital or human sigma or human resources, just HUMAN, period.
Integrity. Our work must stem from integrity and our connections with others is strengthened by our integrity fused with their integrity.
Joy. Fully engaging in work can produce joy as work becomes love made visible.
Keys. If we carry too many keys we can feel weighed down - each organization and individual will need to determine the keys or vital behaviors that produce authentic and genuine employee engagement.
Leadership. Leaders need to create vision, direction, and strategy that fosters engagement and also communicate this fully to all employees while also being open to employees helping to co-create the organization’s vision and direction.
Management. In many studies, the single biggest contributor to employee engagement is the relationship people have with the person who manages them so managers must manage their own engagement while connecting fully with their staff to prime employees’ engagement.
Networks. Employee engagement works better together – create a network of best friends at work, create a social media network to communicate with each other at work, or join the free Employee Engagement Network at www.employeeengagement.ning.com.
Oprah. You know how engaged Oprah is in her work, imagine yourself on the Oprah show and she is asking you how you engage in your work, how would you answer her so that her audience would take notice and be inspired by your response?
Purpose. Employee engagement must be directed at achieving a purpose for the organization such as: productivity, profit, recruitment, retention, project success, high functioning teams, quality, customer engagement, etc.
Questions? We are all looking for answers to enhance and improve employee engagement but never overlook the value of a good question, such as: Who is engaged, with what, for how long, and for what reason?
Results and Relationships. Employee engagement works best when results are woven with relationships.
Strengths. Engagement levels increase when we know our strengths, hold strength-based conversations, work with our strengths, work strengthens us, and we move from listing strengths to fully living our strengths in the service of others and our organization.
Today. Employee engagement is about today, don’t wait for some magic measurement or better time – do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.
Understanding. Employee engagement requires comprehensive understanding of the uniqueness of each individual and each culture within each workplace – seek first to understand and demonstrate that understanding before seeking to be understood.
Values. Make employee engagement a value or promise to all employees that their work matters and makes a difference and you will see economic value come out of this value.
We. In the co-created world of work the old line: If it is to be it is up to me must be rewritten to, If it is to be it is up to we.
X-ray. We must get to the bare bones of engagement and avoid using anonymous surveys that at times seem to measure engagement but actually produce disengagement.
You. This alphabet list of employee engagement from A to Z will only become alive if you take the ideas from this article and put them into practice — did you notice the only thing missing from the Corporate Alphabet picture at the start of this article was “u”?
Zen. Zen teaches a person to engage with their breathing, their mind, and their world — as you let yourself become more mindful in daily activities, including work, you will find yourself becoming more and more engaged.
Photo Credit: Corporate Alphabet by http://flickr.com/photos/undercover_surrealist/2314668364/
Contact David Zinger (dzinger@shaw.ca) to engage David for coaching, consulting, or presentations about employee engagement. He can also be reached at (204) 254-2130.
We need to disengage intentionally to re-engage with more vigor and energy.
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Perry
http://www.elizabethperry.com/woolgathering/archives/2008/01/cafe-chair.html
Life would be infinitely happier is we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen. ~ Mark Twain.
Photo Credit: Reverse Thrust by http://flickr.com/photos/caribb/252856639/
Bill Jensen wrote a wonderful book - Work 2.0 – the new contract.
Bill talks about the new contact for work being how to use life’s precious assets. The book is a call to attention to the human dimension of getting things done. Bill states: “it is no longer acceptable to say that there’s work and there’s life and it’s up to employees to balance the two. The very act of using someone’s time assigns some accountability to you, me, and everyone in every workplace. (p 1 & 2)”
The key question for any organization or leader is:
Do I waste any of my people’s talent, time, attention, ideas, knowledge, passion, energy, or social networks.
If you do…don’t.
Photo Credit: Garbage Pile! by http://flickr.com/photos/matteo-mazzoni/1135487854/
David Zinger from Winnipeg Canada is an expert on engagement. He founded the 4500 member Employee Engagement Network. His work is designed to increase engagement for your organization.
He is a management consultant with over 25 years of experience. His education services are enhanced by his 20 year background as a University educator for the University of Manitoba and over 15 years managing an employee assistance program for Seagram Ltd.
David's services mix current research with practical approaches to build authentic relationships and achieve powerful results. To learn more about David, click on "About David" on the link bar near the top of this site.
Contact David Zinger at:
Phone (204) 254-2130.
Email dzinger@shaw.ca
