10 Principles of Employee Engagement: MMP #39

Employee Engagement – The Monday Morning Percolator #39

The Monday Morning Percolator is a regular feature of Employee Engagement: Results That Matter. The purpose of the percolator is to start your week off with a post that gets you percolating for the remainder of the week.

At the start of the new year it is a good time to review the principles you believe and follow in employee engagement. What are your principles of employee engagement?

What are the key beliefs or perspectives that influence and shape how you look at the topic and how you act at work?

Here are 10 principles of employee engagement. I encourage you to determine your own or to add yours in the comment section.

Employee engagement is a human endeavour. Engagement is depersonalized when we refer to employees as human capital or human resources. I manage capital or resources, I work with people!

Employee engagement must create results that matter. This means results that are important to the employee, manager, leaders, organization, and customers. There is little point in having engaged employees if they are not contributing and creating significant results. In addition, if the results only matter to the organization and not the employee – or the employee and not the organization – employee engagement will not be sustained over time.

Employee engagement is connection. Connection is the key. Authentic employee engagement involves connection to our work, others, our organizations and ourselves. When we disconnect we disengage. Read this short post on employee engagement and connection.

Employee engagement is fueled by energy. We must pay close attention to mental, emotional, and spiritual energy at work. In addition we need to enhance organizational energy through meaningful connection and high quality interactions.

Employee engagement is more encompassing than motivation. Employee engagement embraces our emotions about work, how hard we work, how much we care about the organization, etc. I think it is a richer and more complex concept than simply using motivation to look at work.

Employee engagement is specific. We cannot sustain engagement all the time and everywhere. When we talk about engagement we need to ask: Who is engaged, with what,  for how long, and for what reason?

Employee engagement requires purposeful disengagement. We need periods of rest, recovery, and rejuvenation to sustain engagement over the long term. Theoretically we may be able to work 24/7 but practically we work best when periods of full engagement are punctuated with periods of disengagement from specific work or tasks.

Employee engagement makes a difference. Employee engagement can improve organizational performance while also contributing to individual performance and satisfaction.

Employee engagement is vital in recruitment, retention, and satisfaction. I believe the majority of workers want to be engaged and look for work that will engage them. People will often leave organizations when they feel disengaged. It may even be worse for all if they remain when they are disengaged.

Employee engagement is now. Look to the now. Don’t wait for some survey results or diagnosis from a management consultant. Look at the work you are doing right now and determine how you can engage with it more fully. Look at who you are working with and determine how you can help them to be more engaged. In addition, look at what you are engaged with now and make sure the results matter!

I encourage you to leave a comment about the principles you follow for employee engagement.

Photo Credit: Web Directions North by http://flickr.com/photos/andallthatmalarkey/389326015/

David Zinger is an employee engagement expert committed to moving employee engagement into authentic and significant workplace engagement with benefits for all.