Tune Into the Employee Engagement Network This Weekend

The 286 member Employee Engagement Network continues to grow and get better by the day.

Here are a few quick recommendations if you would like to tune into the network or our network members:

A brilliant post by Carol Cole-Lewis to start a conversation on: Beyond Passion – What REALLY Motivates?

A conversation lead by Mike King on Sharing Your Autobiography for Engagement?

It Seems of Simple, a blog post in the EE-RSS Feeds by Tim Wright.

A Plethora of conversations in the 67 member group on Manager Tools for Employee Engagement.

If you are not a member already, what are you waiting for?

Tribal Leadership: An Interview with Dave Logan

Employee Engagement: Author Interview

by David Zinger

This is an interview with Dave Logan, one of the authors of the book, Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization.

Explain what you mean that the more your develop yourself as a leader the less of a leader you are?

Business books on leadership generally take the reader to stage three—through tips, tools and techniques.  These make you “the leader” (in your mind) but cause a separation between you and others.  A leader leads from where people are, not a position of superiority (that’s management).  To be clear, some leadership development programs are helpful in that they take people from stage two to three.  But to go from three to four—the whole point, where real leadership kicks in—requires people to focus on the tribe.  What do they want?  What do they think?  What are their aspirations?  Their gripes?  How can all of this get folded together into a leadership platform for the group that unites them.  People who can do this are leaders.

Define a tribe in the workplace?

A tribe is a group of 20-100 people, and a large company is actually a tribe of many tribes. What makes a tribe more effective than others is their culture, which are in one of five stages.

What are the stages of tribal culture?

1. At Stage One people believe “Life sucks” and they cluster together, expressing hostility, such as in a gang.
2. At Stage Two people believe “My life” sucks. They feel they are surrounded by people who have power, but they themselves do not.
3. Stage Three is “I’m great,” which implies “You’re not.” It’s a culture of loan warriors.
4. At Stage Four the “I” turns to “We” as those lone warriors group into value-based relationships.
5. Stage Five is “Life is Great” where there is no “they.” These are the history-making groups that have excelled beyond competition.

You say that each stage movement facilitated by a manager is specific, can you give one example of this?

Sure. To move a person from Stage Three (“I’m great”) to Stage Four (“We’re great”), the manager needs to assign projects that are bigger than he/she could ever do alone. That person needs to realize that what worked until now, will no longer be enough going forward. The manager can begin this process by forming “triads,” or three-person relationships based on shared projects and resonant values. That way the manager acts an anchor to the relationship of the two others.

How as a manager, do I apply the concept that: strong relationships always come in 3’s?

You’ll have far greater leverage managing people’s relationships rather than managing individuals. Build relationships between people around you, two and at a time (you are thus the third “leg” of the triad).  Do so on the basis of values they share, and a reason (mutual gain) that they want to work together.

Click into Tribal Leadership with the following resources from the website for the book:

• Click here to learn more about Tribal Leadership.
• Click here to complete the culture meter survey.
• Click here to learn more about the authors.
• Click here to read a PDF of chapter one.

Our Next Generation: Generation E – The Engaged Generation

Here Comes Clay Shirky: Where is My Mouse?

In my last post, I wrote about Clay Shirky and the importance of promise, tool, and bargain in social media.

Shirky makes me think. After watching the video below it made me think that the next generation could be called: Generation E – The Engaged Generation.

This is a 16 minute video with Clay Shirky (Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008) on dwelling in the architecture of participation. 

I believe Shirky demonstrates how social media creates the conditions for engagement and this makes social media a fantastic tool for employee engagement because social media itself is designed for engagement.

A few of the points from his video:

• It is better to do something than to do nothing.
• We like to consume, produce, and share. We will often take up the offer to become producers rather than passive consumers (engagement).
• We move from passive recipients of information to active constructions of knowledge with social media.
• Watch to the end of this video to hear his story of a friend’s 4 year old daughter who looked for a mouse on her DVD. This 4 year old expected to participate in what she was viewing not just sit and watch.
• We are looking for a mouse…carve out cognitive surplus to turn people into engaged participants.

Click To Play

 Click here if the video does not play in the post you are reading.

The Next Generation. With the newest generation now being embedded in social media I suggest we call it Generation E: The Engaged Generation.

Social Media Success: Promise, Tool, and Bargain

Clay Shirky - Here Comes Everybody

by David Zinger

I implore you. If you plan to use social media or Web 2.0 tools in your organization to foster or enhance employee engagement I implore you to read Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody. Read the whole book but ensure you study Chapter 11: Promise, Tool, Bargain.

My social network experience. I founded and host the Employee Engagement Network. We have grown to 275 participants in 4 months. I wish I would have read this book before I began but I am glad I have read the book now and can apply the concepts and ideas to make a strong and more valuable network.

A primer in social media and Web 2.0. Social media is becoming increasingly popular and embraced by organizations and business. If you are not familiar with Social Media or Web 2.0 you need to be and as a brief starter I recommend you read the Wikipedia entries for each term.

• Social Media Wikipedia Entry.

• Web 2.0 Wikipedia Entry.

Over 1700 social media sites. A recent comprehensive directory of social networking tools outlined over 1700 sites from 1K to Zypsy.

Adoption conundrums even for the keen. Even if you are keen in using or adopting social media it can be a daunting task. This brings me to Clay Shirky and his book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

3 Lenses. Chapter 11 on Promise, Tool, Bargain was very helpful in providing 3 lenses to look at social media. These lenses occur in the sequence listed below: The bargain comes last, because it matters only if there is a promise and a set of tools that are already working together (P. 270).

Promise. The promise is the reason why we join or contribute to a group.

• Do we believe in this social network?
• Is there a desire to participate?
• Does the promise offer higher value than other things we could be engaged in?
• What is the actual lived promise of the group rather than the stated or explicit promise?
• Will group members believe other people will also join and engage in this group?

Tool. The tool determines how the media will work.

• Which tool or tools will help people make and keep their promise?
• What are the best tools for the intention of the site or media?
• Will the tool help people do what they want to do?
• How do I choose the appropriate tool given the geometric growth of social media tools?
• Does the tool help deliver on the promise?

Bargain. The bargain sets standards of behavior and norms for and by the group.

• What bargain are we entering into if we join and participate?
• What is expected of us and what is the code of conduct?
• How do the users co-create the bargain of the group?
• What can you expect of others and what can they expect of you in this group?
• Do the users agree to the bargain and is it a lived interactive experience in the group?

Here is my promise. I promise if you create the right promise, work with the right tools, and co-create the right bargain with your social media group you will be well on your way to the successful adoption of social media and Web 2.0 approaches in your business or organization.

Who are you reading?

Employee Engagement articles. There are so many wonderful articles being written every day on employee engagement or related to employee engagement. Here are a couple I recommend:

Is Employee Engagement a Competitive Advantage?
By Michael Lee Stallard
Check out a wonderful column in today’s The New York Times written by one of my favorite journalists, Joe Nocera. The column is entitled, “The Sinatra of Southwest Feels the Love.” In it Nocera contrasts the sober atmosphere at American …

Sharing Vulnerabilities Builds Trust
By Mike King
I recently shared a brief life biography at my workplace as part of a team building and employee engagement emphasis at our monthly staff meeting. I was a bit apprehensive at the idea at first but once I prepared for it and wrapped my …

Click here if you want to keep track of the most recent blog posts relating to employee engagement. This is a special Netvibes page I set up to display lists of recent posts from Employee Engagement Network members.

Authors who are listed include: Terrence Seamon, Derek Irvine, Tim Wright, Steve Roesler, Michelle Malay Carter, Theresa Welbourne, Michael Lee Stallard, Rosa Say, Andrew Rondeau, Michael Kanazawa, Scott McArthur, Judy McLeish, Karl Edwards, Rocky Noe, Ajit Chouhan, Phil Gerbyshak, Anna Farmery, Deri Latimer, Ian Mckenzie, Scot Herrick, Kevin Eikenberry, Stephanie Oden, Keith Bossey, Michael Specht, Kris Robinson, Cindy Ventrice, and Barbara Truminski-Roberts.

Become an Employee Engagement Handy-man!

Are you HANDY with Employee Engagement?

by David Zinger

Charles Handy has done a wonderful job the past two decades writing about management. I appreciated “The E Factor” chapter in his book, 21 Ideas for Managers: practical Wisdom for Managing Your Company and Yourself.

His wife asked him what the E factor was and he responded:

They are all the things that trigger energy, excitement, enthusiasm, effort, effervescence, even expenditure.

I imagine he would add the word engagement if he was to write this chapter today.

Charles Handy goes on to add:

The messages, for me, are clear. Everyone is full of “E,” in all its forms. The trick is to release that “E” — the excitement as well as the effort, the enthusiasm as well as the energy. Everyone has a shopping list of what they want from work and life, even if they have not written it down. the more organizations can match these shopping lists, the more they can expect from people. Bread-and-butter offerings will inspire bread-and-butter work. Listen to what people really want and give it to them. No one will be disappointed; organizations that bubble with every type of “E” are fun to be in.

Here are a few questions Handy recommends that you asking working groups to release the “E” Factor:

1. What would you like more of in the organization?
2. What would you like to see less of in the organization?
3. What would you like to see change?

Go ahead if you are a manager or leader and transform yourself into an Employee Engagement “Handy-man.”

Our 20th Anniversary: Married for 20 Years Today

Although I write on employee engagement the most important engagement in my life was my engagement to Susan. Today we have been married for 20 years! Now that’s engagement that has sustained itself over 20 years!