Thanks for taking the time to drop by. If people like reading Zoomstart half as much as I enjoy writing it, that’s huge.

You’ve got a great collection of categories here. I’m looking forward to rumaging through the archives.

I believe your linking courage, conversation, and engagement is well said.

I love the line about “courage to ask hard questions and experience to know that’s the only way real answers are found.”

It does not surprise me that you write well after visiting your site Zoomstart.com. The site is insightful, crisp, and clear.

I encourage people to visit your site to appreciate the beauty of the layout and the breadth of your writing. I put it in my bloglines right away.

Well done,

David

Courage is the key word David. Or maybe it’s ‘inexperience’.

Leaders don’t talk to their people because they’re afraid of what they’re going to hear. And they’re afraid it’s going to cost them more money.

It takes courage to ask the hard questions. It takes experience to know that’s the only way real answers are found.

It takes both to answer the questions that come back at you and make it a truly engaging conversation.

If you read and tell, especially as an executive, then you could be seen as lacking in your own engagement.

Good point Cheri.

David

I agree. I’ve seen great engagement develop when the whole team is put in charge of engagement, and really crappy results when the group’s executive simply reads survey results and tells the team what to do.

Cheri

I appreciate your line about the “heart of engagement.” Can we put our hearts into engagement and engagement into our hearts.

I also agree that in some ways this is so simple…face to face, heart to heart. Conversation is so important. It seems to me that when it comes to people that often approaches that are simple and eloquent are the most powerful.

I believe many managers are running with so many tasks they need some guidance on this and some encouragement. Also some caution not merely think of relationships as another task.

Thank you for taking the time to comment and the “Son of Rant” will be coming to a blog near you next week.

David

Well, a good, well-deserved rant (or two) is good for the soul. And yours is particularly well-placed.

Just had a talk this week with an exec that is looking to do a broad-based survey. My advice: don’t spend and waste the money.

The heart of the engagement issues will be quickly surfaced by face-to-face conversations. We can show the managers how to do that and how to follow through. I know that seems simplistic to some readers–but lots of experience tells me that good things happen face-to-face; nothing happens as the result of a survey until you go back and talk to the people who did the survey. Duh.

Wow. I think I am starting a “comment rant.”

I send you much encouragement to continue down this path and will look for “Son of Rant” soon.

All the best,

Steve