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Employee Engagement 3 Word Theme for 2014/2015: Engage, Engage, Engage

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Engage Logo David Zinger

History of the 3-word theme. I first read about the 3 word theme from Chris Brogan. I have been using a 3-word theme for my work for six years and will be entering year seven in 10 days. Previous themes included:

  1. In 2009 my theme was: authentic, connect, engage
  2. In 2010 my theme was: engage, mobilize, produce.
  3. In 2011 my theme was: engage, educate, enliven.
  4. In 2012 my theme was: stop, focus, and finish.
  5. In 2012/2013 my theme was: discern, invite, engage
  6. In 2013/2014 my theme was spark, grow, write

Benefits of a 3 word theme. A three word theme is succinct, easy to remember and leverage as a tool for work. It offers a quick guide and evaluation for work completed. It is a nice reflection tool for work and progress. It is also a great planning tool to get a tighter focus on the year ahead while offering flexibility in how those 3 themes are actualized.

3-Word Theme for 2013/2014. My new 3-word working theme is: engage, engage, engage. I know, this is the same word used three times. In my mind, the repetition adds emphasis. Also, this is the last year I will construct a three word theme. After this year I will reduce and simplify to a one word theme.  Engage, engage, engage will govern my work from September 1, 2014  to August 31, 2015.

Why I chose engage, engage, engage. I have spent the proverbial 10,000 hours towards expertise on engagement over the past 10 years. It has been my primary focus and frequently my exclusive focus over this time. I am much fonder of the word engage, a quick verb to initiate action, than the longer noun of engagement that seems more passive and removed. During the year ahead I plan to engage myself fully in my work, I want to help others engage fully in their work, and I want to expand the depth and breadth of engage in our workplaces and our wellbeing. Using just one word three times is easier to remember and provides a more succinct focus for my efforts. So engage along with me, the best is yet to be.

A sample of engage projects for 2014/2015

  • I will engage fully in thousands of fifteen minute periods of work.
  • I will be presenting  in Singapore on employee engagement
  • I will be speaking and conducting a Master Class on engagement in Dubai in December
  • I am creating a virtual three week intensive course on engagement in conjunction with a university for February 2015
  • I will continue to write about engagement at this site, further refining the term and practices.
  • I am in the midst of writing a twelve part series on the Halogen blog on the wheel of engagement
  • I plan to unite people in Manitoba interested in engagement/engage into a community of support and practice
  • There will be many more projects, tasks, and endeavors that embrace the theme of engage.

How to Write Your Own Three Word Theme. I encourage you to compose and act on your own 3-word theme for work. Here are 9 steps to create and apply your own unique 3 word theme:

  1. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Take time to mull over 3 words that are personally meaningful.
  2. The process of doing this may be of equal value to the outcome.
  3. View a number of other people’s 3-word themes by clicking here.
  4. Voice your intended 3-word theme to other people to get their impressions and input.
  5. Once you find the 3-words that fit for you for the year ahead declare them to both other people and yourself.
  6. Create an image for your theme to keep it in focus for the year ahead.
  7. Leverage the 3-words to contemplate more focused and productive work.
  8. Apply the 3-word theme as your internal work GPS.
  9. Use the 3-words to evaluate your work.
David Zinger is an employee engagement speaker and expert.

Employee Engagement: My 3 Word Theme – Spark Grow Write

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Three Word Theme for 2013/2014: Spark, Grow, Write

SPARK GROW WRITE 3 WORD THEME

History of the 3-word theme. I first heard of the 3 word theme from Chris Brogan. I have been using a 3-word theme for my work for five  years and will be entering year six this month.  Previous themes were:

  1. In 2009 my theme was: authentic, connect, engage
  2. In 2010 my theme was: engage, mobilize, produce.
  3. In 2011 my theme was: engage, educate, enliven.
  4. In 2012 my theme was: stop, focus, and finish.
  5. In 2012/2013 my theme was: discern, invite, engage

Benefits of a 3 word theme. A three word theme is succinct and easy to remember and leverage as a tool for work. It offers a quick guide and evaluation for work completed. It is a nice reflection tool for work and progress. It is also a great planning tool to get a tighter focus on the year ahead while offering flexibility in how those 3 themes are actualized.

3-Word Theme for 2013/2014. My new 3-word working theme is: spark, grow, write. These 3 words will govern my work from September 1, 2013  to August 31, 2014.

Spark. I like the the compact and cogent image of a spark. I love what we can do in moments to spark ourselves and others at work. A spark, to me, can range from a word of encouragement or a few moments of conversation to a short e-book or one hour keynote. I will focus very strongly on creating many sparks over this year.

Grow. I want to grow both myself and others. One change in my career this year is to grow others through individual coaching. My growth theme is moving in two directions at once: singularity and community. I will grow others through individual coaching and development and I have committed a strong focus to grow the global work on employee engagement and to grow the 6000 member Employee Engagement Network.

Write. Writing has been both growing and sparking me. I have spent well over 10,000 hours writing and it is getting a little easier. I enjoy the medium. I enjoy the impact it can have on others. I believe writing is one of my gifts to my employee engagement community. Look for multiple publications coming from me this year and most of them will be small e-books intended to grow and spark others (always nice to braid the three themes into the various ways I work).

Write Your Own Three Word Theme. I encourage you to compose and act on your own 3-word theme for work. Here are 9 steps to create and apply your own unique 3 word theme.

  1. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Take time to mull over 3 words that are personally meaningful.
  2. The process of doing this may be of equal value to the outcome.
  3. View a number of other people’s 3-word themes by clicking here.
  4. Voice your intended 3-word theme to other people to get their impressions and input.
  5. Once you find the 3-words that fit for you for the year ahead declare them to both other people and yourself.
  6. Create an image for your theme to keep it in focus for the year ahead.
  7. Leverage the 3-words to contemplate more focused and productive work.
  8. Apply the 3-word theme as your internal work GPS.
  9. Use the 3-words to evaluate your work.
David Zinger from Canada is an employee engagement speaker and expert. To access his services and workshops email him at david@davidzinger.com

Number 2 – 3 Word Theme (Five Zingers From 2012)

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The Three Word Theme: Number 2 of the top 5 blog post from David Zinger in 2012

History of the 3-word theme. I first heard of the 3 word theme from Chris Brogan. I have been using a 3-word theme for my work for four years and will be entering year five this month.  Previous themes were:

  1. In 2009 my theme was: authentic, connect, engage
  2. In 2010 my theme was: engage, mobilize, produce.
  3. In 2011 my theme was: engage, educate, enliven.
  4. In 2012 my theme was: stop, focus, and finish.

Benefits of a 3 word theme. A three word theme is succinct and easy to remember and leverage as a tool for work. It offers a quick guide and evaluation for work completed. It is a nice reflection tool for work and progress. It is also a great planning tool to get a tighter focus on the year ahead while offering flexibility in how those 3 themes are actualized.

2012/2013  3-Word Theme. My new 3-word working theme is: discern, invite, and engage. These 3 words will govern my work from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013.

Discern. This word will guide me to distinguish what is important from what is unimportant. I will exercise more judgement with my social media time. I will ensure I know my audiences better for presentations. I will look at all the information I encounter with much more discernment. Overall, I look forward to being more discerning in the coming year.

Invite. I don’t impose, I invite. I don’t like being told what to do but I am always open to an invitation. I will ensure that I extend more invitations during 2012/13. I will invite my audiences to take action. I will invite my readers to engage with me and take action. I will invite new clients to engage with me and invite old clients to re-engage. I love the idea of inviting and inviting more into my life with full discernment.

Engage. Engagement is a noun while engage is a verb. This will be the fourth year out of five that engage has been one of my key 3 words. My close alliance with engage is what sustains me in my work in employee engagement, engaging management, and engaged leadership. I love the final word to start a rugby scrum, “engage.” Engage is a word that strongly invites both connection and action.

DIE? You may have noticed that this year’s 3-word theme create the acronym “DIE.” This is deliberate on my part. Embedded within discernment is to let unimportant projects and activities die – to separate the wheat from the chaff. Being more invitational in my work will require that I accept that many invitations will die or not be accepted. As powerful as engage is, we can only engage for so long without letting our engagement die to allow for change, rest, recovery, and rejuvenation.

Invitation. I invite you with a sense of discernment to engage in writing and acting on your own 3-word theme for work. Here are 9 steps to create and apply your own unique 3 word theme.

  1. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Take time to mull over 3 words that are personally meaningful.
  2. The process of doing this may be of equal value to the outcome.
  3. View a number of other people’s 3-word themes by clicking here.
  4. Voice your intended 3-word theme to other people to get their impressions and input.
  5. Once you find the 3-words that fit for you for the year ahead declare them to both other people and yourself.
  6. Make an image for your theme to keep it in focus for the year ahead.
  7. Leverage the 3-words to contemplate more focused and productive work.
  8. Apply the 3-word theme as your internal work GPS.
  9. Use the 3-words to evaluate your work.
David Zinger is an work engagement expert who will be operating with a full sense of discernment, invitation, and engagement for the coming year. To access his services and workshops email him at david@davidzinger.com

Employee Engagement and the 3 Word Theme: Stop, Focus, and Finish

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Do you have a 3 word theme for your work?

History of the 3 word theme. I first heard of the 3 word theme from Chris Brogan. I have been using a 3 word theme for my work for 3 years and will be entering year four  in 2012.  Here are my themes from the last 3 years and for next year:

  1. In 2009 my theme was: authentic, connect, engage
  2. In 2010 my theme was: engage, mobilize, produce.
  3. In 2011 my theme was: engage, educate, enliven.
  4. In 2012 my theme is: stop, focus, and finish.

Benefits of a 3 word theme. A three word theme is succinct and easy to remember and leverage as a tool for work. It offers a quick guide and evaluation for work completed. It is a nice reflection tool for work and progress. It is also a great planning tool to get a tighter focus on the year ahead while offering flexibility in how those 3 themes are actualized.

2012: Stop, Focus, and Finish.  I usually begin to mull over next year’s theme starting in September until I find the perfect 3 words to encapsulate my intentions for the year ahead. I was fortunate to find the theme for 2012 in September of this year. Overall, I believe I have been trying to do too many things and need to focus on what work I chose to do. In addition, while taking on many tasks it becomes a challenge to finish specific tasks. With an early theme for 2012, I can determine what I need to stop doing, focus strongly on what I choose to do, and work towards a completion of the limited number of tasks I take on for 2012.

3 Word theme images.This is the first year I have added an image for each theme. A big thank you to my good friend and brilliant online designer, John Junson,  for creating colorful images to keep me  “on the button.” In previous years I have put the three words on the wall of my office so that I can see them and be reminded of them. For 2012, I now have 3 strong images to offer me visual and colorful guidance and focus for the year ahead.

10 steps to create and apply your own unique 3 word theme.

  1. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. Take time to mull over 3 words that are meaningful for you.
  2. The process of doing this may be of equal value to the outcome.
  3. View a number of other people’s 3 word themes to get ideas by clicking here.
  4. Voice your intended 3 word theme to other people to get their impressions and input.
  5. Once you find the 3 words that fit for you for the year ahead declare them to both other people and yourself.
  6. Make an image for each word to help you remember the 3 themes for the year ahead.
  7. Leverage the 3 themes to contemplate more focused and productive work.
  8. Apply the 3 word theme as your internal work GPS.
  9. Use the 3 themes to evaluate your work.
  10. In September, begin work on your 3 word theme for the following year.

What’s your personal 3 word theme? If you create  a 3 word theme please comment on this post or email me  and let me know what you created to guide your work engagement. All the best on building a strong and productive theme for the year ahead.

David Zinger is completing this year’s work on the theme of engage, educate, and enliven as he also transitions into 2012 with his powerful productivity troika of: stop, focus, and finish.

My 2011 3 Word Theme: Engage – Educate – Enliven

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A One Year Focus in Just 3 Words

For 3 years now, I have been setting a 3 word theme. These themes have been helpful in giving me focus and helping me determine if each project, task, and piece of work is in line with and advancing my theme. I usually begin to ponder a possible theme for the following year starting in September. I keep playing with the words until I latch onto the perfect fit.

  1. In 2009 my theme was: authentic connect engage
  2. In 2010 my these is: engage mobilize produce.
  3. In 2011 my theme will be: engage educate enliven.

2011. My intention for 2011 is to keep the theme of engage alive while moving in a stronger direction to educate others for engagement and to enliven the noun of engagement into the verb of engage.

If you have never written a 3 word theme before, I encourage you to engage in writing your 3 word theme to encapsulate what you plan to achieve in the year ahead. I find it can take weeks to get the 3 words that exactly fit my plan.

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David Zinger, M.Ed., works with organizations and individuals to increase engagement.  He is a writer, educator, speaker, and consultant who founded the 3100 member Employee Engagement Network.  Connect with David today to improve engagement where you work:  dzinger@shaw.ca  –  204 254 2130  –   www.davidzinger.com.