Employee Engagement as Stress Reduction

What do we do about employee engagement during difficult times or economic mayhem?

Tim Wright asked the following question about engagement during difficult times.

How do you recommend we keep employees engaged and performing optimally in times of crisis (economic, corporate, departmental, market, etc.)?

Here was my response:

I think one perspective that may be helpful is to see employee engagement as a stress reduction strategy. Here is what I mean. When we fully focus on our work it absorbs our attention and energy. Other things (worries, frets, the economy) disappear while we unite with what we do.

We don’t engage out of fear we engage out of caring and connection which will lessen or dissipate fear. Employees need help in realizing that engagement is of benefit to all and engagement is something they have control over. We cannot individually control the economy or a crisis but we can control our connection to our work and to others.

I guess my counseling psychology background is coming out here but in Morita therapy the person is encourage to “forget” about their problem and get busy doing something and preferably doing something for others.

We don’t suck out discretionary effort through engagement rather we work with it as an opportunity to be fully who we are, where we are, with whatever we are doing.

And that’s my Zinger.

Visit Tim’s Culture to Engage to read his insights into engagement and culture.

Photo Credit: Lookin’ Outside My Window by http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlco4/2976836580/