Employee Engagement: Noun or Verb?
By David Zinger on Dec 4, 2008 in Employee Engagement
Is employee engagement a noun or a verb?
If you see it as a noun, it becomes static. It becomes something we can measure once a year and know that we captured it. It is something we have versus something we are doing? It is less likely to change and more likely to remain fixed.
If engage is a verb, it is an action. It is something we do — not something we have. It is dynamic and changing. We are skeptical of a once a year measure of engagement because we know it can change daily within the same person.
I believe we need to see and work with engagement as a verb. When we do this we change our approaches to the topic at an individual, leadership, and organizational level.
- The individual is more open to change and to change actions to engage.
- Leaders realize the important of engaging with their staff continually.
- Organizations become more fluid in their engagement measurements and interventions.
Are you ready to go beyond a static noun to a dynamic interaction of individuals, leaders, and organizations with work.
Engage!
Photo Credit: London in movement #13 by http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabbriciuse/2092867849/
Tim Wright | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
David,
Full agreement here…except for the grammatical truth that “engagement” is a noun.
So, I’m thinking of the beauty of the verb-based phrase: engaging employees.
That’s an action that belongs to and can be fulfilled by all concerned: leadership, management, and (most importantly) employees themselves.
Plus its a wonderful indication of what employees then become, especially to customers and clients: engaging!
What more could the company ask!
Tim
David Zinger | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
Hi Tim,
Hopefully that don’t ask much more but focus on what they can contribute as active verbs in the engagement process. Thank you for your comment.
David
Eric Klein | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
So true.
And the same goes for being a “leader”.
Leadership is a verb - something that we do. We don’t have leadership because of position. We practice leadership because of our sense of purpose.
Thanks for this reminder.
David Zinger | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
Eric,
I think it may be true for all of living. We need to be dynamic (verbs) over static (nouns).
David